In two previous articles I commented on how some churches and laity, on the one hand, and the United States government, on the other, coincided in judging that Cuba was going through a critical situation in terms of religious freedom.
However, Pedro Álvarez Sifontes and Yunier de la Rúa, from the Center for Psychological and Sociological Research (CIPS), two Cuban sociologists of religion with whom I spoke, argue that we are living in the moment of the greatest number and concentration of movements, denominations, creeds, associations and churches in the history of the country. And, although they still lacked an exact map of this religiosity, field data collected throughout the island in the framework of a long-range study on religious freedom, showed that there were more than a hundred.
Álvarez and De la Rúa added that it is incongruous to assume — as is done by those who deny that freedom — that the majority of Cuban parishioners is Catholic. (By the way, Evangelical sects have experienced a much faster growth rate than Catholicism.) And to ignore the extension of the Regla de Ocha, Palo Monte, the Abakuá associations, for the mere fact that they are not vertically structured — as churches are, inside and outside the island — or speak with a hierarchical voice, does nothing but reproduce the underestimation and contempt that has accompanied these Cuban religions over the centuries.
In the course of the conversation, other topics of special interest arose for a balanced vision of the religious question in Cuba. So I decided to take the opportunity and put together these reflections from both sociologists of religion as the coda to my notes. Here goes our conversation:
We are very far from the Day of Our Lady of Charity in 1961, when the Auxiliary Bishop of Havana called a procession that turned into a political demonstration in which anti-communist Catholics and revolutionaries violently clashed; and the government ended up expelling the bishop, along with more than a hundred priests, most of them Spanish.
Looking at that long historical perspective, to what extent could we say that the conflict of the Revolution with the churches was surpassed, and when did it move on to a different relationship?
Yunier de la Rúa (YR): When we went out to do our research on religious freedom, we verified that the majority of religious leaders distinguish three times in Church-State relations. First, the conflict, which evolves from the violent confrontation of the early 1960s, and extends to scientific atheism, in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Second, when relations stabilized. And a third, current, in which there are differences and sometimes tensions; but things are on a more measured level.
Some high dignitaries, especially the Vatican representatives in Cuba, saw that the very frontal way in which that conflict had derived in the 1960s had been counterproductive. The Nuncio, Monsignor César Zacchi (1967-74), had the initiative to seek a new communication with the State. On the government side, José Felipe Carneado would be in charge of managing that communication, since the mid-1970s, for three decades.
The modernizing impact of the Second Vatican Council had arrived very late in Cuba, due to the same process that was being experienced. On the other hand, the impact of Christian thought on the liberation movements in Latin America was a key factor in changing Cuban policy. Finally, Frei Betto’s book Fidel and Religion (1985) marked a milestone in that relationship.
The stabilization was marked by the existence of an institutional communication channel, where the churches could go and express their demands and even disagreements. This relationship has been very important for religious people.
The revolutionary leadership became aware that the religious phenomenon had been maintained, despite an atheist policy that was sometimes quite ironclad. This policy had led to a double standard, which fostered false attitudes and simulation.
Between 1986 and 1989, our Department of Socio-Religious Studies carried out a nationwide research, with a representative sample. We found that more than 86% of the Cuban population had religious elements in their conscience. The result caused a kind of scandal among those who thought it could not be. But finally, it was accepted. And it influenced the changes that were made regarding Party policy and religion in 1992.
Freedom to believe? Four notes on faith, politics and people (I)
How would you describe to a newcomer the way religion is practiced in Cuba? What regulations exist for religious cults here?
YR: Law 54 regulates associations. But it turns out that most religious institutions do not consider themselves associations, but religions. That law is also outdated. Based on our investigations, we recommend considering a Law on Cults, although many countries do not have it. Work is currently being done on a bill on associative forms, which would produce more complex and comprehensive legislation.
Pedro Álvarez Sifontes (PAS): There is no legal and regulatory body for religious activity in the country, and everything is referred to the Constitution, in particular articles 15, 16, 42 and 57. Unfortunately, there have been internal regulations towards some religious groups, or that touch them indirectly. Let’s say, in the TRD stores there were no problems with the employees who had an iyabó done, when they used the white headdress. But there were with the Muslim headdress, that is, the hijab. On the one hand, there is a lot of ignorance. On the other hand, the constituted cultural canon admits elements and customs that are familiar to it, and considers others alien, strange, weird.
YR: Although there are regulations, in our research we found that one of the main claims of the religious groups, both leaders and believers, was that the officials who deal with religious issues in the provinces or municipalities often made decisions based on their proximity or relationship with the person. If this was good, everything flowed. If not, it was stuck. The application of the regulations is decided at the base, where problems emerge, always mediated by the subjectivity of the decision maker.
We have inherited many penal provisions contrary to religious practice. For example, the Abakuá have to ask the police for permission for their activities, while no other religious institution is required to do so. That unwritten restriction is nowhere practiced. Changing the visions implanted by scientific atheism in the decision-maker’s mind does not happen overnight. Every time a religious leader comes to the decision-maker at the base to say “I want to rent a bus, a theater, a stadium,” he or she responds “bring me a letter” before saying if they can authorize it. The decision-maker acts in this way by protecting himself, or by ignorance, and in the end creates obstacles, which result in a negative balance.
PAS: By creating a kind of government office to attend to religious affairs last year, some of the dilemmas that exist today, related to immobility, ignorance, verticalism, could be overcome. The practice that everything must be consulted. Although we have verified that at the highest level the answer is usually: “Why do they consult me, if you can decide it yourself.”
Some churches complain that they do not have the means of dissemination or to carry out their own educational activities. How do they get their message across to the population, to promote the culture and values of religious faith?
YR: They have a lot of means. And now they have expanded much more, with the Internet and the distribution of digital media. El “paquete” (a package of digital media) distributes a Christian television channel, Luz Visión: the Christian family channel.
For a long time, the Catholic Church has had publications of national reference, Vitral, Espacio Laical, Palabra Nueva. The oldest of all is Vida Cristiana, which has been published since 1962, Sunday after Sunday. Some are more recognized or have a greater impact.
PAS: At some point, Espacio Laical printed 40,000 copies, while Bohemia magazine only had 27,000. Distributed in all the temples of the country. At its peak, it was characterized by a new message, typical of an alternative medium, not just religious; a very controversial, participatory, plural message. Its pages covered authors ranging from Ricardo Alarcón to any open opponent of the Cuban system.
There are twenty-six Catholic publications, including five or six that have a national scope. Also, several Evangelical churches have their own. The Pentecostals, the Matanzas Theological Seminary, the Caminos magazine from the Martin Luther King Center, which also promotes their debates.
There are three radio spots, two for the Catholic Church, and one for religions in general, on Sunday morning, the Plataforma Interreligiosa, in the CMBF programming, between 8:00 and 9:30 in the morning.
Every fortnight, the Catholic Church has a space on the provincial stations. Where there are no religious programs is on television. However, during the pandemic it was given the facility to say mass. In any case, religion is the end of the year mass, the mass for Our Lady of Mercy, the mass for Our Lady of Charity, which do appear on television.
This has been the cause of controversy on the part of some churches, because the Catholic one has more visibility than the Evangelical ones. For their part, religions of African origin are based on religious-philosophical principles and doctrines that are unknown. What is most widely disseminated emphasizes the folkloric dimension of these practices. Not to mention other very small religious expressions, which have a minimal presence in the Cuban religious panorama and lack the prominence and strength to reach a station. For example, those of the Bahai Faith or the Hare Krishna. They would also love to have a space in the media.
The biased, fundamentalist reading of the Bible repudiates the homosexual condition, but not the use of ICT. On the contrary, the television stopped being the box of the devil; now it is rather the box of God, the evangelical box. The change dates from when television was assumed as an instrument of evangelization.
Very few evangelical expressions were against digital technological development; all the others saw it and are using it in an increasingly better way.
The researchers think that these Evangelical churches in Cuba are modernizing and have found the advantages of a cyber-temple, in which cyber-grace is granted, through virtual contact with the leader, if they want to adopt it.
YR: COVID-19 helped a lot in the migration to the digital environment of many Christian institutions. WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube groups, which the main evangelical expressions, and other denominations, used daily to worship, and also expose their positions, openly. Among the Pentecostals, especially the Assembly of God, they gave their message every day. By comparison, Catholics have been lagging behind.
PAS: At the beginning of the pandemic, there were many apocalyptic messages, especially from evangelicals, announcing that the world was going to end. New millennium; the Messiah; you have to repent urgently; and the best way is to participate in the digital cult.
[To carry out educational, cultural, and social activities organized by churches and religious associations] there are all the possibilities within the space of the temples. Activities carried out by religious institutions outside their spaces do require government authorization. To do an evangelizing action in a park, you have to ask permission from the municipality.
In addition, it is possible to rent a theater, a movie theater, even stadiums and sports areas. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, in order to meet with one of their important superintendents, rented the Multipurpose Room, in front of the Bus Terminal, where almost 5,000 people attended.
The Cuban State, through a secular education, ponders the scientific vision of society. Religious institutions complain a lot about this, especially the Catholic Church. But also the evangelicals, who exert greater pressure than before. As researchers, we consider that the secular position of the State should be maintained; that is, the separation between education and religion. It avoids conflicts such as those derived from imposing and excluding attitudes of the type “my faith is the one that counts; the others are diabolic.” It is worrisome that these values permeate the education of citizens.
On the other hand, churches can carry out cultural or festive activities with the community that wants to participate. In fact, they have been by the Martin Luther King Center, the Methodist church, the Yoruba Cultural Society.
YR: The spiritualists have their center, the Yoruba Cultural Society has theirs. And within the institutional churches there are educational centers, Sunday schools, evangelical-theological seminaries that function and graduate people who, although they are not recognized in Cuba as university degrees, graduate them as high school graduates, BAs, and PhDs in Theology.
Not just religion courses. Business, computing, languages are also taught…
PAS: Cuba Emprende is the pioneer private sector training institution, under the protection of the Archbishopric of Havana, founded in 2012. As soon as the government opened the third opening for the private sector, in 2011, they created an entire business preparation program in which, by the way, prominent professors of economics and marketing, Cubans and foreigners, participated.
In your research experiences, have you found that ordinary believers do or do not feel free to believe?
YR: 70% of those surveyed said that there was religious freedom in Cuba, 25% that there was not, and almost 5% that there was to some extent. As we commented before, the conditions of religious freedom in Cuba today are superior to those that ever existed before. Among the non-religious, almost 80% considered that there was religious freedom.
Have you been able to identify if those who consider that there is no religious freedom are concentrated in certain churches or creeds?
YR: Those who complain the most that they have to ask permission from the Party or those in charge of public space for their activities outside the temples are those who practice institutionalized religions. They say they do not have access to the media as they would like, nor to create and control their own general education schools.
They do not want to have a radio or TV program, but their own channels; not one, but many. A religious leader once told me: “We want fifty television channels for all the religions that exist in Cuba.”
Another complaint refers to the construction of temples, especially Christian churches, which have the most. It is a problematic area. For example, we found a six-story church in Moa that was under construction and was going to continue going up. There are claims of the type: “If they don’t let me build the way I want to build, I don’t have freedom.” Freedom, in order to materialize, must have a regulatory framework. And since that framework is not clear, there are many similar complaints.
Christian religions, institutionalized and vertical, have their needs; popular or African-derived religions have others. Their practice has gone through adverse situations for hundreds of years, and they have been adapting their liturgy to small independent cells, each one with its kingdom, with its family; in fact, they call them that: my family of saints, my family of spiritualists, my family of Palo Monte, my plante Abakuá.
So that 70% who believes that religious freedom exists corresponds to that proportion of believers who practice popular religiosity? And those 30% who deny the existence of that freedom would be Christians?
PAS and YR: It’s not like that at all. In our research we could not conclude that it is leaders or religious people who make these claims, nor that they are Christians. Those who recognize that there is religious freedom, that 70%, includes Catholics and other Christians; and there are also leaders among them. We do not have a defined profile of those who are for or against.
PAS: Regarding the Family Code, for example, in the same Protestant church we have found people in favor and others against it. And also diversity of opinion among leaders of the same church.
YR: Labeling is always easy, but it’s always wrong. Just as we find Evangelical leaders who are for and against, we have found homophobic people in the same Party committee and others who are diverse.
For us, the Code has brought to light the contradictions that existed or were occurring within Cuban society. Religion is nothing more than a mirror of the contradictions that are lived today, of the multiplicity of thought and positions that cross the Cuban social fabric.
Previous installments of this series:
Freedom to believe? Four notes on faith, politics and people (I)
Freedom to believe? Four notes on faith, politics and people (II)
Authors
Rafael Hernández,
OnCuba Staff
