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It's funny that religion, a means of transcendence and a connection with the divine, can cause human conflict and oppression. Religious intolerance sure is a hell of a paradox! And in a religiously diverse region such as the Caribbean, the possibility of conflict is certainly heightened.

Continuing from where we left off in the last post, "Religious Unity in Diversity", with Dr. Rowley's quote on the success of Trinidad and Tobago as a religiously diverse society living in harmony, "he believes, "we all need to go further"" (Regis).

Religious tensions often stem from our colonial history. Khan (139) reflects that there are strategies for the formation of “personhood” in each religion. Personhood in this respect has some transcendent or divine aspect. For instance, following the five pillars of Islam will allow a “human individual to become fully a person” as they would be opened up to transcendence (Khan 140). Religion, then, preaches a mode of life central to one’s identity. Thus, when intolerant behaviours are shown by individuals of one faith to people belonging to others, they become controversial issues.

For example, just this week, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service's ban on female police officers wearing their hijabs while on duty was challenged by a Muslim Special Reserve Police. She took the matter to court as she saw the policy as a blatant disrespect to her religious mode of dress. She was supported by a High Court judge and awarded a hefty compensation sum for her rights being imposed on (Achong). This goes to show that the justice system takes various stances on religious diversity and tolerance.

Across the Caribbean, there are many more instances of intolerance, mistrust and controversy. According to a report by the U.S. Department of State, in Haiti, the dominant religion is Catholicism (55%), and other religions are minorities. The Haitian religion of Voodoo is not even recognized by the state, and most funding allocated to religious bodies goes toward the Catholic Church. Also, Islam is not recognized because of certain beliefs in the faith with which the government does not agree (qtd. in Jamaica Observer). Thus, we can still see colonialism deeply entrenched in society, as Catholicism, the religion of the colonizers, dominates the religious landscape, while other groups are minorities. These neo-colonial government policies marginalize culturally rich religions and breed mistrust between the dominant and 'subordinate' or non-mainstream religious groups in the society.

You can see the mark of dominance of the mainstream religion of the colonizers in Trinidad and Tobago as well, where 26.5 % of the population was Protestant and 21.6% was Roman Catholic in 2011 (U.S. Department of State).

Although tolerance of Rastafarians across the Caribbean has improved, the U.S. report states they continue to experience discrimination when applying for jobs or attending school, and there is still a negative stigma against some of their practices, like the use of marijuana, and wearing dreadlocks (qtd. in Jamaica Observer).

The dominance of religions of the 'mother country' is a contemporary Caribbean feature rooted in our history. You see, in the period of slavery, in order to make the enslaved Africans more docile, the Europeans would try to erase their culture and all aspects of their personhood, effectively making them the "chattel" or property that they defined them to be. Thus, the Africans were no longer allowed to practice their religions. Instead, they had to adopt the dominant religion of the hegemonic Europeans in power, in order to be accepted. In the case of the Spanish, this was Roman Catholicism, for the British, Anglicanism and so on. So, one would find large populations of people in the Caribbean belong to a mainstream Christian faith.

How ironic, that the clergymen in the colonies preached doctrines of Christianity; to accept and love others, yet they took advantage of the enslaved and deprived them of their very humanity by trying to erase their religion. This moral paradox is centuries old.

Further, persons belonging to non-mainstream religions were (and still are today) ostracized and their practices labelled as 'evil'. For instance, many Caribbean people think that Voodoo involves worship of the devil. However, it is an African syncretic religion, and does not involve any devil worship. In media, these African based religions are often stigmatized. Did you ever watch the animated movie, "The Princess and the Frog"? If you noticed, the bad guy was a man who was practicing Voodoo, and his "black magic" caused Princess Tiana to turn into a frog. Thus, Caribbean people develop mistrust and intolerance towards religious groups in their own society because of inaccurate media promoted by metropolitan countries.

As I mentioned above, Voodoo, like, Santeria, Cumina, Orisha, the Spiritual Baptists and Shakers, among others, is a syncretic religion, which was necessitated to allow the African enslaved to "retain their sense of identity, culture and religion" in the face of cultural hegemony (Jabir). The enslaved practiced their African religion, masking it behind Christian worship and quoting the Bible, so that the planters would believe that they were succumbing to the religious cultural hegemony imposed on them.

Because of the incorporation of African rituals and traditions, these religions are thus marginalized and discriminated against. Again, in Haiti, Voodoo marriages are not even recognized by the state.

Similarly, the Winti of Suriname practiced by persons of African descent is commonly seen by outsiders as “witchcraft” or “nonsense” (Nation Dance 32).

We can see that the planters have sown the seeds of mistrust between Caribbean people to conquer and rule them, and it still exists today.

Nonetheless, in spite of religious discriminations and tensions that have scarred the region for centuries because of colonialism, the people of the Caribbean are generally tolerant to and accepting of each other's religions. Religious tolerance is certainly something we should strive for, since we can relate to being oppressed by others who have marginalized us and we do not want to do the same to others.

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Traditions...a wedding car at a Hindu wedding.

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Putting up the Christmas tree every year...

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Because of the beliefs of certain religions, their stance on certain issues can cause marginalization and intolerance of other groups in society.

For instance, the issue of sexuality has become a controversial one, and many religious groups disagree with the concept of same-sex unions. In Trinidad last year, leaders of various religious organizations joined to call on the government to stop amendments to the Equal Opportunities Act which would recognize members of the LGBTQIA community (Hassanali). This is an example of intolerance of religious groups towards other groups in society who go against the norm.

Religion may also breed intolerance in other aspects of society. Denominational schools have a history of being prejudiced over secular government schools. Children of higher classes in society usually attend these denominational schools. This stems from our history. During and after slavery, only the rich, white elite in the plantation society could afford to attend the schools available in the colonies. These schools were based on the religion of the mother country. They received higher quality education at these schools since the teachers at secular government schools were often not present. Thus, they succeeded and went on to get higher paying jobs, therefore maintaining the status quo. In effect, the religious-based schools were used as a tool in achieving the colonial agenda, which was to maintain the Europeans' dominance at the top of the social hierarchy. Today, we can still see most of the Trinidad and Tobago island scholarships going to Christian-based denominational schools. Government schools are discriminated against. However, this is being eroded, as more students from government and denominational institutions that are based on religions other than that of the colonizers, are attaining passes and scholarships. For instance, Lakshmi Girls' Hindu College won the President's medal (highest award) and the highest number of scholarships for 5 years in a row (Paul). Also, El Dorado East Secondary School, a government school, was on the scholarship listing this year.

Thus, religion may bring about tensions in other areas of society, like education and sexuality,

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Parang is a "folk music of Spanish origin brought to Trinidad in the 19th century by Venezuelan peons" (Raymond 57). The music is usually played around Christmas time as it celebrates Mary giving birth to Jesus.

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Performing parang at school.

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Hanuman murti, Trinidad. It is the statue of the Hindu god, Lord Hanuman.

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Indian wear at Hindu prayers.

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Dressing up in Indian wear at school for Divali.

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A mosque in Trinidad.

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Assalamualaikum, Sita ram, Irie I and a good day to all the readers!

Yes, I just greeted you the way Muslims, Hindus and Rastafarians greet each other! (Let me know any unique ways people of other religions greet each other in the comments!)

In the Caribbean, as a result of our eventful history, there is a plethora of religions in the region. Christianity, with multiple sects, Islam, Hinduism and many African syncretic religions, such as Voodoo in Haiti and Pocomania in Jamaica, exist. People of various faiths are generally tolerant of each other’s beliefs here in the Caribbean. I see many examples of it in my day-to-day life.

In Trinidad and Tobago, there are religious public holidays that each faith observes, for instance, Christmas Day, Divali and Eid-ul-Fitr. Going a step further, many people take part in the festivities of other religions, like attending the Divali Nagar, Hosay and going to parang concerts at Christmas. (I used to love performing parang with my school, even though I'm not even Christian!) Thus, we embrace the multiplicity of faiths in the Caribbean.

Yet another example of religious tolerance can be seen in the education system of Trinidad. The faith-based denominational schools, like the Convents, inculcate values in students particular to that religion.
Consequently, students belonging to the religion upon which the school is based will attend the school, however, these schools are also accepting of students of any faith. In fact, I, a Muslim, am a past pupil of a Roman Catholic secondary school. At my past school, Muslim students are allowed to modify the uniform to comply with the dress code of their faith. That is, they can wear long sleeved shirts and skirts, as well as a hijab. This is in accordance with the Trinidad and Tobago Constitution, which states in section 4 that “an individual must be allowed to practice his or her religion” (qtd. in Douglas).

In Trinidad, at political campaign meetings, there are often leaders representing various faiths that will say an opening prayer, a prime example of our religious tolerance.

Further, according to a report by the U.S. Department of State, Rastafarians in the Caribbean find that "acceptance of their views and practices "have improved markedly..."" (qtd. in Jamaica Observer). This is a great improvement in the Caribbean, compared to the unaccepted views of this group of people in the 1930s.

The history of the Spiritual Baptist Faith in Trinidad shows a profound growth of tolerance to this previously marginalized religion. In 1917, the Shouter Prohibition Ordinance was enacted, banning the practice of the Baptist's religion. (The derogatory term 'Shouter' was used to refer to them because they often shouted during their worship as part of their African traditions (Trinidad and Tobago National Library and Information System Authority-NALIS)). They were discriminated against because their religion involved African cultural elements, like drums. However, this act was repealed in 1951, and the Baptists are now referred to as Spiritual Baptists (NALIS). In fact, they have their own public holiday to commemorate the abolition of the Prohibition Ordinance.

You can see that our history of intolerance imposed on Caribbean people by the hegemonic European groups is being eroded with greater acceptance of our native diversity of religions.

Thus, tolerance of various faiths is a necessity in contemporary Caribbean society due to our past experience of discrimination and oppression by the colonizers.

As the honourable Dr. Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago said at Divali this year, "T&T [Trinidad and Tobago] is one of the most successful multicultural and multi-religious societies where there is tolerance and respect for “each other’s beliefs and ethnicity..."" (Regis).

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Attending church at my primary school.

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Imam says prayers with family.