Religion was brought to the Caribbean and was spread through the colonizing period. Christianity was brought and split into many sub categories there are the Baptist, the Methodist, the Presbyterians and roman catholic. They each practice a form of the Christian religion. Hinduism though does not have many sub categories it has many gods and goddesses that they worship, some of the gods they worship are Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer and Ganapati the remover of obstacles to name a few. Islam the religion of Muslims has only one god and one place of worship but they have four main categories of Islam and several smaller sects. The main four branches of Islam are Shia, Sunni, Wahhabi and Sufi (unnamed writer 2019). The smaller sects are numerous such that there is over 150 if them (unnamed writer 2019).

On the topic of mistrust and intolerance, religion embodies both aspects of mistrust and intolerance. Religion is defined as a set of beliefs agreed upon by a number of persons or sects. Religion is influenced by the stratified nature of society where different religions cannot see eye to eye due to their different practices and traditions, the mistrust and intolerance underlying in politics also, where politicians use religion to attract the masses to their side and finally religion in modern days is seen as a way of tricking the population out of their pay cheques as they usually require a small offering.

People of different religions practice different things and have different traditions for example those who are Christians practice Christianity and go to church and those who are Muslim go to the mosque and those who are Hindu go to the temple or in their homes (Ganeri 2016). The way the different religions pray are also different where the shape of the body id different, Christians generally play kneeling with their hands clasped and Muslims generally pray in a crouching state and Hindus generally pray in a similar hand clasped form. These religions were brought from outside the Caribbean either through colonialism or through slavery, like the encomienda system. The new peoples arriving would threaten the position of the already enslaved which resulted in a race for dominance. The different religions tend to look down on each other as they are not like each other, they fear each other and their practices as it is seen as a curse or Voodoo which is in addition another religion brought by the African slaves among others. Another form of mistrust in the Caribbean is through the forcing of conversion onto other people who are not religiously active or on those who are of a different religion in history this has happened after Spain won the religious war over the moors and forced them to convert to Christianity. The force of conversion is anything but pleasant, in trying to convert they are more or less saying your religion is inferior though not conversion another case of mistrust is where families forbid the mixing of religion thus breaking up relationships or instead of breaking up the relationship they flat out disown their children and family members for doing so. On the flip side sometimes, the religions see eye to eye leaving the mistrust behind. They actively embrace each other complimenting their practices through understanding. They do not discriminate against the way they pray, talk and what they eat. In comparing the different religions mainly Christianity, Hinduism and Islam there are several similarities. They all have a place of worship. They all have a period of fasting. The force of conversion can be seen in the light as beneficial since many of those who are not religiously inclined seek guidance on how they can get closer to god in whichever way or religion they choose. Religions can coexist but it surely depends on the people if they are willing or not. If the coexistence of religions is made possible then the people from their respective religions can educate themselves on the other religions and create a tension free religion-based environment. This type of environment could also be an addition to curving the growth of negative influences in the Caribbean.

Religion is used in politics often to attract the masses towards their side. By having a common factor it is easy to discriminate against others in a group rather than doing it alone. Politics overall has become a war of some sorts between religions where some citizens would only vote for a political party because the respective party’s leader or the party itself follows a certain religion. This is seen in Trinidad and Tobago on a regular basis for elections, problems of racial profiling arise also where if your skin is a certain colour you must vote for the party of your skin colour. The problem runs deep in the families also so bad that you can be disowned if they discover you did not vote as they say. In these terms the politics takes the righteousness out of religion and feeds the negative aspects of humanity. In the Caribbean history many were forced to convert from their original religion to that of Christianity after Spain had won the religious war against the Muslim moors in 1492, which would have caused the separation of the people back then. Back then certain parts of the religion was selected out of it to control the masses. Opposing this one-sided view religion in politics can be a positive thing as gathering the population to political parties to create a religious approach of their country’s affairs and problems. Instead of attracting just one type of religion the should represent all religions to get a broad handle on the people. There should be less conflicts about religion and an increase in political efficiency where energy is not wasted on trivial wars and is focused on current and past affairs of the country. Although it is unrealistic it is quite possible to achieve where everyone is on the same page and can move forward. 

In modern days religion is seen as a way of controlling the masses to collects funds like in the time of bullionism and mercantilism where some religion is always selling something for example if you don’t buy a certain chain you are  not a proper worshiper or that it will protect you, these objects sometimes cost large sums of money where it is in high demand which is where the mistrust and intolerance comes in. Why should one buy an item to portray their devotion to their religion? It all seems like a scheme to get money. God, Gold and Glory as it is said the three G,s that are still active in this modern day, in addition the offerings that some religious strongholds acquire it is unknown to the people as to what is being done with the funds, evidently when their religious leader of the respective religion acquire expensive personal objects the suspicion and mistrust lingers. In hindsight where the offerings on the other hand is a choice of the people no matter what amount is accepted it goes to the upkeep of the religious stronghold. After a period of time the religious buildings form a trusted bond with the people where they see no problem contributing to the cause as they have verified for themselves. This practice can be seen in catholic churches, a basket is passed around and who ever chooses to contribute will contribute no matter how small the donated fund.

The Caribbean through religion is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust to some extent since not all religious followers of a religion look down on other religions, they coexist and understand each other through their similarities and differences while there are some that cannot see eye to eye through a miscommunication and lack of knowledge causing discrimination and the separation of the people. One religion is not better than the other but they are equally virtuous as seen by a different perspective. Intolerance breeds hatred and hatred breeds mistrust (Usmani 2016). Where there is mistrust there is discrimination where there is discrimination there is intolerance. Trusting and tolerating other religions in the Caribbean can lead to stress free and productive environments without the hostile tension. In terms of religion in politics it is necessary to some degree but the politicians abuse the fact that they can gather followers without putting in much political effort which inhibits the economical growth of a country. As for the monetary factor no one really knows what happens to the donations given to the religious stronghold nut it depends on how much you trust and believe in the fellows of the stronghold.

In terms of mistrust and intolerance in the Caribbean the topic of religion is rooted deep through our history as fellow of the Caribbean. It embodies the discrimination of others through the lack of knowledge and fear where it is influenced by the stratified nature of society. Where the different religions cannot see eye to eye due to their differences which leads to the separation of the people and the separation of people causes mistrust and mistrust develops into hate and hate inevitably changes to intolerance and in politics for the second point it is used to attract people ethnocentrically where certain ethnic groups follow a certain religion and the politicians take that fact to exploit the voting system hence pitting different religions against each other this is where the mistrust is so to say leveled up from its already high standing to a higher standing to where when exaggerated the situation may not be resolved. The last point contained mistrust and intolerance within the religious strongholds where they sell merchandise to the followers of the religion to gain profit not benefiting to the religious stronghold but for personal use. As stated these are the causes of mistrust and intolerance in the Caribbean hrough religion. The Caribbean has the potential put aside differences and come together to solve the topic of mistrust and intolerance historically and present day. Where there is mistrust there is hatred and where there is hatred there is intolerance (Usmani 2016). With tolerance and trust problems like these would be obsolete and controllable which in turn creates a better society.