History of Religion in Communist Cuba
Introduction:
The evolution of religion in Cuba, after Castro’s insurrection in 1959, has included much suppression by its proclaimed atheist, communistic government. There are several reasons that account for why this suppression has occurred, coupled by a recent trend (beginning in the late 1980s) of a religious revival, and more importantly, a growing Christian population within Cuban society. This growing spirituality can be attributed to many aspects of the Cuban economy and society. Also, it is important to observe how Castro’s negation of religious and human rights was perceived by Pope John Paul II during his pilgrimage to Cuba in January of 1998. The suppression which has existed in post-revolutionary Cuba has not necessarily subsided, rather it has been manifested to suit the political desires of Cuba’s pontiff, Fidel Castro.
Cuba's Religious History:
Cuba has long since been considered as an island-nation without any necessary affiliation with the Catholic Church. In fact, prior to the 1960s, Cuba was considered the most "secularized" country within Latin America, with only a mere six percent of the population attending church on a regular basis. Instead, the practice of the African based voodoo religion of Santería has prevailed. Experts estimate that 70 percent of the Cuban population practices Santería. This religion was brought to Cuba by African slaves and combined the virtues of Christianity and with their native African beliefs. It is associated with Catholicism because Afro-Cuban deities have been associated with Catholic saints since colonial Cuba. The Afro-Cubans did this in order to evade religious persecution by the Spaniards who considered a...
... middle of paper ...
...nded at the conclusion of his reign as Cuba’s dictator.
Works Cited
Bohlen, Celestine. "The Pope In Cuba: The Two Men; Pope Captivates His Marxist Host." The New York Times. 26 Jan. (1998): A9.
Kennedy, John W. "Cuba’s next revolution: how Christians are reshaping Castro’s Communist stronghold." Christianity Today. 42.1 (1998): 18-33.
Larmer, Brook. "Cuba’s real religion." Newsweek. 131.3 (1998): 42-43.
Olshan, Marc A. "Return of the repressed." Commonweal. 124.18 (1997): 10-12.
Robinson, Linda. "Catholics, Cuban style: Castro stands to gain, not lose, from the
Pope’s visit." U.S. News & World Report. 124.3 (1998): 42-44.
Rohter, Larry. "After the Visit: Mission Lies Now With Cuban Church." The New York Times. 27 Jan. (1998): A3.
Rust, Michael and Wagner, David. "Bearing Witness Against Intolerance." Insight on the
News. 14.8 (1998): 31-44.
In 1898, three big events got in the way of any peaceful resolution in Cuba. The New York Journal received a letter from the Spanish minister in Washington, Enrique Dupuy de Lo...
‘The Sources of Soviet Conduct’ also known as the “X” article is an imperative document that are needed to understand United States foreign policy in the Cold War. Written by George F. Keenan, a U.S. diplomatic staff in the Soviet Union, the “X” article turned into an influential document after the U.S. realized that the Soviet Union would no longer be allies in peacetime and it was necessity to figure out the nature of the Soviet Union so the U.S. could form precise foreign policies to prevent Soviet threats. This paper attempts to assess the “X” article’s influence in U.S. foreign policy in the early days of the Cold War, especially its role in Truman’s doctrine.
All the laws, which concern with the administration of justice in cases where an individual has been accused of a crime, always begin with the initial investigation of the crime and end either with imposition of punishment or with the unconditional release of the person. Most of the time it is the duty of the members of constituted authorities to inflict the punishment. Thus it can be said that almost all of the punishments are an act of self-defense and an act of defending the community against different types of offences. According to Professor Hart “the ultimate justification of any punishment is not that it is deterrent but that it is the emphatic denunciation by the community of a crime” (Hart P.65). Whenever the punishments are inflicted having rationale and humane factor in mind and not motivated by our punitive passions and pleasures then it can be justified otherwise it is nothing but a brutal act of terrorism. Prison System: It has often been argued that the criminals and convicted prisoners are being set free while the law-abiding citizens are starving. Some people are strongly opposed the present prison and parole system and said that prisoners are not given any chance for parole. Prisons must provide the following results: Keep dangerous criminals off the street Create a deterrent for creating a crime The deterrent for creating a crime can be justified in the following four types Retribution: according to this type, the goal of prison is to give people, who commit a crime, what they deserved Deterrence: in this type of justification, the goal of punishment is to prevent certain type of conduct Reform: reform type describes that crime is a disease and so the goal of punishment is to heal people Incapacitation: the...
The Yoruba people, who were brought over from Nigeria as slaves, came to the Caribbean in the 1500’s with their own religion, which was seen as unfit by the white slave owners. Most plantation owners in the Caribbean were members of the Roman Catholic Church, so they forced their slaves to disregard their native religions and become Catholic. Soon, the slaves realized that they could still practice their West African religion as long as it was disguised as Catholicism, and Santería was born. Now it’s practiced in the United States, Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, Canada, Venezuela, and Panama.
Clarke, Philip. “Cuba’s Newest Revolution Bloodless but Plenty Bewildering as New President Breaks Army Grip, Aims at Democracy.” The Washington Post. 22 July. 1945: B3. ProQuest. James Madison University library. 16 September 2003
"Fidel Castro(a)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
At one point in history punishment and incapacitation were seen as the only logical ways to respond to crime (Pollock, 2010: 318). The majority of people used a religious perspective when viewing criminals. Criminals were believed to be sinners with no ability to change their behavior (Pollock, 2010: 318). From early on punishment was a topic that demanded an intellectual understanding. Two major criminologists from the Classical School were Jeremy...
Cuba’s economy became stagnant, private businesses were confiscated, and due to fear of their leader and further collapse, the people fled for the United States in waves. As Charlip discussed, to keep the economy afloat, Castro had to open the country to foreign investment and introduce components of capitalism to the economy. These factors enabled Cuba’s economy to stabilize. It is interesting that when socialism failed, capitalism was the solution, particularly because Castro once said, “I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating... because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.” His frustration with the fall of the Soviet Union and the humiliation he faced with the U.S. for turning to capitalism was
Whitney, Robert. "The Architect of the Cuban State: Fulgencio Batista and Populism in Cuba, 1937-1940." Journal of Latin American Studies 32.2 (2000): 435-59. JSTOR. Web. 24 May 2014. .
American policy was a mess from 1946 through 1950. The Cold War had begun, and there was a lot of conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. American forces were small however, and the defense budget was too small to meet the Soviet threat. American decision makers didn’t think the Soviets were necessarily seeking a war, but almost no one thought the peace would last. There was an overall gloomy outlook, however the Soviets were counting on several years of peace. Even though the Soviets were not actively seeking conflict, they were still using political means to achieve their goals. No one knew how a war might start and there was fear of miscalculation:
Anorexia is a disorder that goes much deeper than the trite image pushed by the media. Anorexia occurs most often in young, adolescent females, can be caused by biological, socio-cultural, and psycho-developmental factors, causes considerable damage to the body and the heart, and treatment is not often attained and is long and difficult for the patient when it is.
Catholicism is the major religion of Cubans, which accounts for the 47% of the population, Protestants, 4%, Santeria, 2% and other African cults which are also being practiced by Catholics. The island’s political structure is Socialist republic and its official language is Spanish. The climate ranges from sub-tr...
Thomas Pynchon's novel, The Crying of Lot 49 is a one of American after modernism writing. As the story proceeds, the writer initially introduces the torment of existence after explaining on the essential idea “existence precedes essence” in Sartrean existentialism, and then talks about the torment of insignificance and of isolation ensuing from lack of essence and the irrationality. Approaching torment, the central character is required to inspect the condition of her existence, therefore recognizing that she has to eliminate the situation of missing meaning in order to attain genuine human being. Inside Sartrean existentialism, open selection is the precondition for selecting one’s condition of existence. It is all the way through free choice that the central character of The Crying of Lot 49 selects to run away from the unreal existence and put efforts to rebuild a proper identity by running away from the domination, imprisonment and conventionality of developed nation, through which the main character wishes to discover the sense of existence and breathe in real living. Though, all the pains completed by the central character lastly finish in breakdown, which makes her wish of rebuilding her individuality. The failure of individuality breaks down the central character into separation and desolation. For the meantime, she can't anticipate to discover the denotation of existence. What the main character has to look is confusion, disarray, invalid and illogicality of existence. The writer of the theory depicts the discussion that The Crying of Lot 49 provides a methodical display of the quandary of the human existence in modern world.
...re, Robin D, (2006) Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba. University of California Press: New York
The Korean War explicitly portrayed the atrocious battle between both the North and South side which gave the United Nations its military role for the first time, thus expanding the war from a domestic to an international scale. Sometimes called “The Forgotten War”, the Korean War was mainly overshadowed in historical terms by the conflicts that occurred before and after it, World War II and the Vietnam War. The Korean War had raged for years without a true resolution and after years of battles, even the compromise that was made was not a complete one. The current situation regarding North and South Korea is quite volatile. In order to apprehend the Korean War, one has to look at events that took place before the war, how the war was conducted and the aftermath of the War.