I was waiting for some religious nutcase to link the Haiti disaster to a punishment by God and Pat Robertson, a certified nutcase, did not waste any time.
It is true that the island of Hispaniola is divided into Haiti on the left (West) and Dominican Republic on the right (East) and yes, the Dominican Republic has resorts like Punta Cana (loved our vacation there) and Haiti, on the other hand has nothing but poverty, corruption, squalor and now massive destruction and death.
Both countries are poor (we went off the resort to visit the countryside and it was pretty bleak) but Haiti is especially poor and the reasons for that poverty can easily be explained by their type of corrupt, non-functioning government and that the few rich, dominate and exploit the poor, just like in colonial slave days.
Pat Robertson seems to know something about history since he blamed Haiti’s plight on a historic rumor of a pact made with the devil to help them overthrow their French masters, how else could they have overthrown the Christian French; their Voodoo religion is obviously a satanic religion.
This historic myth, long discredited by historians, was promoted and spread by Christian colonial powers and colonists to explain how this could have possibly happened. Those same powers then blockaded the new country, plunging it into chaos and poverty.
The point here is not what really happened in history; it is that a supposedly educated American could possibly have equated the Haiti disaster to a punishment by God. Well, all disasters have been equated the same way, remember 9/11 was for us allowing abortions and Katrina was for us allowing gay marriage. So what does this tell us about fundamentalist Christian leaders and the masses of followers that they control. To me, these people are regressing to a time when such stupid notions were taken as fact and I will throw in the never disappearing stain of racism that some people cannot and will never wash out of their being.
How does this make us look on the world stage; as religious cave men living in the richest nation on earth?
Also, did you notice all the Christian missionaries in that country – what gives? Why are they trying to convert all those people to Christianity – what good will that do them – the Christian God brings disasters on Christians – lots of them – so what good is it to become a Christian?
Brit Hume of FOX NEWS told Tiger Woods that he needs to convert to Christianity from his Buddhist faith if he wants forgiveness for his misdeeds and a chance at heaven. This is a highly educated, very rich man and he is spouting off such nonsense? Do people loose their rationale minds when they become Christians?
I am not down on Christians, I am down on religion which is preventing this world from becoming a human world with all humans as brothers and sisters of earth, willing to help each other because they are fellow humans and not because their respective gods tell them that that is what they should do to enter into heaven.
It is true that the island of Hispaniola is divided into Haiti on the left (West) and Dominican Republic on the right (East) and yes, the Dominican Republic has resorts like Punta Cana (loved our vacation there) and Haiti, on the other hand has nothing but poverty, corruption, squalor and now massive destruction and death.
Both countries are poor (we went off the resort to visit the countryside and it was pretty bleak) but Haiti is especially poor and the reasons for that poverty can easily be explained by their type of corrupt, non-functioning government and that the few rich, dominate and exploit the poor, just like in colonial slave days.
Pat Robertson seems to know something about history since he blamed Haiti’s plight on a historic rumor of a pact made with the devil to help them overthrow their French masters, how else could they have overthrown the Christian French; their Voodoo religion is obviously a satanic religion.
This historic myth, long discredited by historians, was promoted and spread by Christian colonial powers and colonists to explain how this could have possibly happened. Those same powers then blockaded the new country, plunging it into chaos and poverty.
The point here is not what really happened in history; it is that a supposedly educated American could possibly have equated the Haiti disaster to a punishment by God. Well, all disasters have been equated the same way, remember 9/11 was for us allowing abortions and Katrina was for us allowing gay marriage. So what does this tell us about fundamentalist Christian leaders and the masses of followers that they control. To me, these people are regressing to a time when such stupid notions were taken as fact and I will throw in the never disappearing stain of racism that some people cannot and will never wash out of their being.
How does this make us look on the world stage; as religious cave men living in the richest nation on earth?
Also, did you notice all the Christian missionaries in that country – what gives? Why are they trying to convert all those people to Christianity – what good will that do them – the Christian God brings disasters on Christians – lots of them – so what good is it to become a Christian?
Brit Hume of FOX NEWS told Tiger Woods that he needs to convert to Christianity from his Buddhist faith if he wants forgiveness for his misdeeds and a chance at heaven. This is a highly educated, very rich man and he is spouting off such nonsense? Do people loose their rationale minds when they become Christians?
I am not down on Christians, I am down on religion which is preventing this world from becoming a human world with all humans as brothers and sisters of earth, willing to help each other because they are fellow humans and not because their respective gods tell them that that is what they should do to enter into heaven.
The truth is that they did make a pact with the devil.
ReplyDeleteNow the significance you put on that pact I guess has to do with whether you believe the devil is real or not.
But it is one of Haiti's founding myths.
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/small_axe/v009/9.2laroche.html
According to Haitian national history, the revolutionary war was launched on the eve of a religious ceremony at a place in the north called Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman, in French). At that ceremony on August 14, 1791, an African slave named Boukman sacrificed a pig, and both Kongo and Creole spirits descended to possess the bodies of the participants, encouraging them and fortifying them for the upcoming revolutionary war. Despite deep ambivalence on the part of intellectuals, Catholics, and the moneyed classes, Vodou has always been linked with militarism and the war of independence and, through it, the pride of national sovereignty.
So, yeah if there is a devil, Haiti made a pact with it. Might explain why even though Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island, the Dominican Republic has been far more successful.