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“The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels.” Exploring our history, society and concepts of identity, give your informed perspective on this statement.

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“The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels.” Exploring our history, society and concepts of identity, give your informed perspective on this statement.

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Introduction:

The Caribbean is diverse which ranges from the mainland territories to the archipelagos. There are many ways one can define the Caribbean. The location of the Caribbean is one reason which contributes to its diversity. However, the European colonizers have made a significant impact on the Caribbean from the exploitation of the indigenous people to independence, this influence can be seen today. The Caribbean today is impacted by intolerance and mistrust on a large scale. One can understand this by relating history, society and its impact on identity. One aspect of intolerance and mistrust can be viewed through religion.

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The Caribbean is dominated by Christianity which was the acceptable religion that emerged from the arrival of the Europeans during their exploration. Spain, France, and England were the governments of maritime nations. These nations financed seafaring trips which consisted of numerous ships and sailors who ventured out into unexplored and dangerous waters. One of the main factors which influenced the exploration of the New World was the religious, economic and political ideologies at that point in time. Other factors included the development of nautical techniques, reconquest, and renaissance. The reconquest can be seen in the eleventh century when the Muslim empire declined because of the conflict which leads to division. The Spaniards took advantage of the fall of the Muslim stronghold of Granada and were successful in reclaiming Granada. Also, the Spanish attempted to convert the people on the newly found land to Christianity. In 1492, the Spaniards were successful in completing the religious was against the Muslim  Moors in Europe. The Spaniards were also interested in bullionism and the three G’s: God, Gold, and Glory. This is evidence of intolerance because the Spaniards were unwilling to accept the beliefs of the Muslims. However, to a small extent, religious intolerance can be viewed from the perspective of the East Indian indentured labourers. Hindu and Islam religion was viewed as paganism and their laws were criticized. Although the Europeans views were negative towards the indentured labourers, they were still able to exercise their religious freedom. In the colonial era, Roman Catholicism was used by the Spaniards to establish colonial dominance towards the enslaved and the indigenous people in the Caribbean region (Edmonds and Gonzalez 44). In accordance with history, there has been a significant amount of religious intolerance towards religions that were not in keeping with Christian beliefs.

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The Encomienda system also played an important role in relation to religious mistrust of the indigenous people into the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus rediscovered the New World on the quest to of God, Gold, and Glory. The Roman Catholic Church funded the conquest of the Indies. The system was used to spread the doctrine of the church and Spanish acculturation. It was also used to control and convert the indigenous people to Christianity. However, the system did not meet the expectations of the Spaniards. Due to the exploitation of the indigenous people, the system led to genocide. The Spaniards blamed the Encomienda system to account for the death of the native people. The system failed to spread Christianity and ensure the protection of the people.  The system was centered around the Crown but failed to meet to physical and emotional needs of the indigenous people. Bartolome de Las Casas was the Encomendero, who was in command of converting the native people to the Christian faith. Instead of attempting to convert the natives, Las Casas was exploiting them to search for gold (Davis, 2017). This is one aspect of mistrust since the Crown was misinformed regarding the progress of the system in relation to Christianity.

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The LGBTQ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, which is a growing community in the Caribbean, but it is discriminated against by numerous religious organizations. Homosexuality is viewed as illegal in nine of the Caribbean countries, such as Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica. Presently, the anti-buggery law has been decriminalized in Trinidad and Tobago. Before this issue was brought to the parliament, there was a joint group of various religious leaders who disproved the removal of the law. The Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, and Seven-day Adventists created a Faith-Based Network where they could voice their opinions. However, the government ignored the opinions of theses religious leaders. The religious organization was significantly intolerant towards the LGBTQ community because it opposes the teachings of their religions.  On the other hand, a person who is viewed a non-religious are more tolerant and even involved in the LGBTQ community. In some cases, an individual who grew up in a home where there is a predominant religion- they are frowned upon because of their choices and intolerance. The Archbishop asked a member of the government to amend the act on marriage to exclude members of the LGBTQ community (Sambrano et al, 2018). The level of intolerance is significant in relation to the religious leaders. However, there are varying views present in society. Some persons are accepting and tolerant of the LGBTQ community. Others agree with religious leaders that LGBTQ should not be tolerated and should not be given the same rights as ordinary citizens.

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The emergence of religious bodies affiliated with different schools is due to the mistrust amongst the Caribbean people. Throughout the Caribbean, there are many religious boards that contribute to the education of the nation’s children. For example, in Trinidad and Tobago, there is the  Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), Anjuman Sunnat ul Jamaat Association (ASJA) and the Presbyterian Board (Maharaj, 2014). These are some of the religious bodies that are associated with schools at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.  There is also debt that some of these bodies are more favorable and are more inclined to receive funding from the government. The secondary schools governed by the Presbyterian board are viewed as prestigious schools. These schools have a reputation for being “first choice schools”. Some parents put their trust in these groups by wanting their child to attend the best secondary institution despite its religious affiliation.  However, there is mistrust associated with these organizations because they prefer to accept students of the same religion as opposed to others. There is also mistrust with parents who make the decision not to send their children to schools that practice a different religion. There is a belief that their child will be converted to a different based on the teachings of the school. Overall, in society, there are various views as opposed to mistrust in the education system.

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Religion in the Caribbean can be a unifying or divisive factor that developed from both the euro-centric views and the protestant religions. History has a significant impact on Caribbean identity in terms of religion. For example, religions such as Judaism and Christianity had a negative impact because it facilitated the cultural erasure of the Caribbean people (Bousquet, 2019). These religions were also viewed as inferior to the Europeans. Christianity was a weapon used to oppress and spread inequality among the African people. The colonizers knew the importance of religion in relation to culture. They forced their religion on the African people to control their minds and their ability to move up the social ladder. The European colonizers were intolerant towards the enslaved people because they were threatened by their religious beliefs. Intolerance is still present in society today but to a small extent. Seldomly, in some Caribbean countries there are religious wars based on despites between religions However, in society today there is religious freedom where persons can partake in a religion of choice or no religion at all. To a large extent, tolerance of religion can be seen by the involvement of religious festivals. For example, in Trinidad and Tobago Divali, Eid-ul-Fitr and Christmas are celebrated by most people despite the different faith. This could be a result of their family being of a different religion, so they are more inclined to celebrate different festivals. Intolerance was present to a large extent especially with the European and the enslaved but presently society is more tolerant towards identity and religion.

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Previously, there was slave resistance towards Europeans which led the colonizers to be mistrusting towards the enslaved. The African culture consisted of dancing, playing of drums and telling of stories. The Europeans believed that these religious practices were used as a method of communication from one plantation to the next. The European were fearful that the enslaved could outnumber the colonizers if there worked together. The Europeans found different ways to separate the slaves from their families. There were some cases of resistance where the slaves would run away from the plantation (maroonage), they also sabotaged the plantations and malingered. In society today there is a small level of mistrust in relation to identity and culture.

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The Caribbean in relation to history, society, and concepts of identity has a significant amount of intolerance and mistrust. In terms of history, the Europeans were not tolerant of the enslaved. Also, they did not trust them because of the fear that the enslaved would cause a revolution. However, in society, today intolerance and mistrust are still present but to a smaller degree. The Caribbean identity consists of a mixture of different elements from both the Europeans and the colonies. The fact that the Caribbean is graved with intolerance and mistrust is subjective.