Bermuda

Bermuda consists of 140 islands and islets located in the North Atlantic Ocean east of North Carolina and north of Puerto Rico. These islands, named after Juan de Bermúdez, the Spanish navigator who discovered them in 1505, remained uninhabited for most of the 1500s and early 1600s. All this changed in 1612, when the English officially claimed the islands. As the first residents, the English were to have a significant impact on shaping all aspects of life within these islands. The religious life of the islands was primarily Protestant Christianity—consisting initially of the Church of England, then the Church of Scotland, and much later the Puritans who were fleeing persecution in England.

Two additional features that also played a significant role in shaping life in the islands were land and emigration. Due to the limited land area, the islands were constantly grappling with the issue of overpopulation. This resulted in the need for a continuous stream of emigrants to maintain a manageable population. How did this play out in terms of religion? It produced a context in which conformity to the views of the majority superseded the toleration of a diversity of opinions. Thus, following the Bermudian civil war in 1649, when the majority of the colonists had a strong devotion to the English crown, those among them who would not swear such allegiance, specifically the Puritans, were forcibly exiled to the Bahamas.

In the years that followed, the religious life of the islands was oriented around the practices and beliefs of both the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. However, in many ways, the faith practiced by the colonists was lax—that is, not garnering any significant amount of attention in their daily lives. With the implementation of slavery, a debate ensued regarding the religious instruction of the slaves. For some planters, such [Page 137]information would produce restlessness among the slaves; for others, it was necessary. These lessons did not begin until 1800 with the work of the Methodist missionary George Stephenson, who was imprisoned for 6 months for engaging in such activity. It was only after this that the Church of England began to engage in teaching the slaves about religion.

During the rest of the 19th century, the religious landscape of the islands began to diversify due to the introduction of Roman Catholicism and the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. The growth of Roman Catholicism received further support through the importation of indentured Portuguese laborers beginning in 1839 and continuing until the 1920s.

In the second half of the 20th century, as some Bermudians began to challenge many of the ways in which the African Caribbean population was discriminated against within society, there was also the call to address the manner in which religion had fostered, and continued to foster, such practices. In seeking an answer, many Black Bermudians turned to Rastafarianism, a religion they saw as providing them with a symbol for revolutionary political engagement and cultural solidarity. This process of social, political, and religious change continues with the infusion of West Indians from Jamaica and other islands.

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