According to the CIA fact book, 80% of Haitians are Roman Catholic and over 50% of Haitians also practice Voodoo. Why would I bother to look that up? I wondered what Pat Robertson was blathering on about this time, but it raised another question. The only thing I knew about Voodoo was learned from really, really bad movies, something I apparently have in common with Robertson.
So I also looked that up on good old Wikipedia, and one must always take Wikipedia with a healthy degree of skepticism. In any case, the author described the Haitian form of Voodoo as a syncretic combination of West African religion with Roman Catholicism that involves a universe of greater and lesser gods along with a belief in the presence of many spirits, including those of the dead. One might even be able to draw some interesting parallels with the Christianity of mediaeval Europe. I also learned that all those cool Voodoo dolls tourists can buy are used mostly to lure money out of gullible tourists, and if conjuring up zombies was ever practiced, it seems to have become a lost art. What a disappointment! What will become of B movie plots?
We, of course, are far too sophisticated for that sort of nonsense. Right? I certainly hope so, knock on wood.
The best thing about being away for a weekend in some places is the ability to avoid hearing news of the good reverend Robertson's latest message from God. I wonder if he considers himself as minor or a major prophet?! Major, no doubt!
I am so glad I managed to miss Brother Pat's most recent foot-in-mouth episode. The loudest amens I ever got from the pulpit was when I openly spoke out against Jerry Falwell's judgemental comments about the victims of the Tsunami & AIDS.
There is an interesting post in Christian Century about this topic.http://theolog.org/2010/01/letting-god-off-hook.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Theolog+%28Theolog+posts%29