Vodou: Religious Acoctrination In Colonial America

The Puritan community of the Massachusetts Bay colony was primarily focused around church and faith. In 1630, a mass exodus of Puritans moved from England to the colonies in an attempt to isolate themselves and focus on their own religion. Puritans believed that they had a covenant with God, meaning they were predestined for heaven.

In 1682, Pennsylvania, the twelfth British colony, was formed. This colony, like the eleven others already founded, was instituted with a comparable style of government and its own questionable religious prejudices. Throughout the colonies, levels of religious understanding fluctuated, apart from a few exemptions. For example, the Middle Colonies had a great deal of open-mindedness when it came to religion, whereas New England had a scarce amount, if any toleration for religious independence at all.

Compare the ways in which religion shaped the development of colonial society (to 1740) in TWO of the following regions: New England

Convinced of the superiority of Catholicism to all other religions, Spain insisted that the primary goal of colonization was to save the Indians from heathenism and prevent them from falling under the sway of Protestantism. The aim was neither to exterminate nor to remove the Indians, but to transform them into obedient Christian subjects of the crown. To the Spanish colonizers, the large native populations of the Americas were not only souls to be saved but also a labor force to be organized to extract gold and silver that would enrich their mother country. Las Casas’ writings and the abuses they exposed contributed to the spread of the Black Legend-the image of Spain as a uniquely brutal and exploitative colonizer. This would provide of a potent justification for other European powers to challenge Spain’s predominance in the New World.

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of

For this essay I will be talking about the book “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” by Bartolomé de Las Casas. Whom wrote this to the King of Spain, Prince Philip II, in 1542 to protest what was happening in the New World to the native people. I will be explaining many things during this essay. The first thing I will go over is what the books tells us about the relationship between Christianity and the colonialism. The second thing I will talk about is if it was enough to denounce the atrocities against indigenous people. Next, if it is possible to

Throughout history, a variety of religions have came and gone due to dislike and uncomfort. Before 1492, a majority of Europe was a part of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church controlled every aspect of a human’s life, for example: education, social status, and family matters. In 1517, Martin Luther had created the Protestant Reformation, which limited the power of the Catholic Church. Europe was now religiously divided, which created a larger diversity of religion to the colonies. Reasons such as Henry VIII decisions with the Catholic Church, English immigrants, and religious groups affected the relationship between religion and the colonies.

Religion in this period began to be forced on South Americans during the time of the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) came in to this region, but failed in converting many people to the monotheistic religion of Christianity. Before the Jesuits, South Americans believed in a polytheistic faith, such of that of the Inca “Sun God” and “Thunder God”. Jesuits, originating in French Canada or Spain, worked hard to convert those to Christianity by mastering native languages, along with creating boarding schools for young boys and girls, along with setting up model agricultural communities for converted Americans. They established churches throughout the region such as in in Huron and Algonquin territories. While the culture never really adapted to that of the Christian faith but instead continued to have faith in their deity’s. Due to the lack of acceptance, the church in the end redirected its missions and resources to different countries such as French settlements, founding schools, hospitals and churches.

The culture of Haiti is a various mix of African and European elements due to the French colonization of Saint Dominguez. I chose to research this culture for two reason one reason being that I have a friend who is Haitian and I never understood why she did what she did, or even her mother. The second reason is because many people in Haiti is associated with voodoo, and that’s something I personally wouldn’t get to involved with due to my religious views. Throughout this essay we will see in detail the differences in culture from ours to theirs. We will learn about their primary language, religion, their different values and beliefs and last but not least their social practices. While reading on Haiti I started to appreciate their culture more due to the fact that know.

The greed for gold and the race for El Dorado were the main inducements of the Spaniards who, at the peril of their lives, crossed the ocean in unfit vessels in a mad pursuit after the gold and all other precious property of the Indians” (Peace 479). The royal rulers of Spain made it a rule that nothing would jeopardize their ability to rob the land from the native people of Latin America. The missionary process, “had to be encouraged, but the missionaries could not be permitted to dominate the colony at the cost of royal rule” (Gibson 76). The European governments established missionaries to cleanse their minds of any guilt aroused by the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children. When European “ships arrived in the 16th century to colonize the land and exploit its natural resources, they killed indigenous people and brought black slaves from Africa. Millions of indigenous people were slain and their cultures completely destroyed by the process of colonization” (Ribero). The overall devastations caused by the Christianization of the native inhabitants created a blend of cultures within the indigenous civilizations which gradually isolated old native ways into a small population of oppressed people. The Christianized people became a symbol of loyalty to the European powers and were left alone simply on their religious status. This long term mission of total religious replacement caused very strong and advanced

The year is 1515, the Yoruba people, an African ethnic group from Nigeria, and their religion is strong rooted, but the people are enslaved and brought to Cuba where the influence of the Roman Catholic religion starts to influence and impose on the African religion, creating a unique blend of cultures and traditions resulting in a newly developing religion (Torre). This allows the enslaved group to preserve their own culture, beliefs, and traditions in a way that blends and melds with Roman Catholic tendencies and beliefs as the group is forced to conform to Christian ways, worshipping a God and saint’s unknown to them and following strict rules. This new religion of the enslaved people comes to be known as Santeria, a name given for deviant

Before Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, The Spanish Inquisition made it known to anyone within Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not of the Catholic religion, they were to be punished severely and sometimes even fatally. This influence would undoubtedly be brought over to the Americas a century later, as the colonization of the New World would begin by then. While it was very essential for the Spanish (as well as the Portuguese) to improve their economy by using the resources they found in Latin America, it seemed to a number of them as if that was the only reason for being there, or the main reason at the very least. During the Spanish Inquisition and from that point after, it was the Pope’s main goal, to

By 1510, many Africans slaves populated the soil of Saint Domingue. Due to the very small population of original natives of the island, estimated at 3% by Daniels, one can see that influence from indigenous culture was not a strong one. Thus, one could argue that even with the marron communities that allowed runaways slaves to create and continue religions outside the realm of Spanish (and later French) rule, these religions, including vodou was not shaped by indigenous peoples. The historical process of the extermination and exile of Haiti’s original natives by the Spanish contributed to the shaping of

The African society in Cuba has been looking for solace in their history of torture and discriminating experience: “The slave seeks a bit of peace and hope after much suffering and harassment. With rites, offerings and the sacrifice of blood, he invokes the gods of redemption, from whom he has been brutally separated by inhuman slavery” (Marshall 235). The religion makes them feel more human and therefore helping them live their lives the way the “gods” what them to live.

The Christian faith became more wide spread into the Caribbean from the slaves bringing their own practices and beliefs after being traded into the varying Caribbean regions. The end of slavery gave the region encouragement and help in allowing other religions and practices to be brought into the expansion of the islands. Majority of the Spanish and French immigrants believe in Roman Catholic and in Trinidad and Tobago about one-quarter of the island is of the Hindu faith. Rastafarian is a belief that is a form of Christianity that believes in the bible, but has distinct Caribbean attributes to the religion and practices. The creole faith was brought to the island also by the slaves that were traded during the slave trade. Creole has two different religions in its own being Vodou or Voodoo created by the French-speaking natives of Haiti, and Santeria created by Spanish-speaking natives in Cuba.