Dominican Republic

As with most Caribbean nations, the religious setting in the Dominican Republic is changing rapidly. Still, the predominant religion is Christianity, specifically Roman Catholicism. Officially, roughly 90% of the population practices it, and the Church still exerts enormous influence on the country, through strong linkages with the government, a well-established education system, and the legal sanctioning of marriages. For a brief period in the 1950s, religion and the Church were suppressed under the oppressive rule of Rafael Trujillo. But after his assassination, Catholicism quickly reclaimed its dominance.

While most citizens practice traditional Roman Catholicism, through a process known as syncretism, it has melded with African (Benin, Congo, Yoruba) and native Amerindian (Taino) religious elements to produce a form of Dominican Catholicism. A heady mix of African religious symbolism and gods with Roman Catholic ritual, this hybrid form is otherwise known as Dominican Santería, or Congo del Espiritu Santo. The unabashed inclusion of African drums is a distinctive feature of Dominican Catholicism and other religions as well.

In addition, there is an approximately 5% Protestant presence. Because of the efforts of missionaries, Protestants from the United States and the West Indies have established footholds in the Dominican Republic since the mid-20th century. As in the rest of Latin America, though, Evangelicalism is presently the fastest growing form of Protestant belief among the population. Evangelical churches have sprung up rapidly throughout the country and are quite strong in the rural and poor areas. Some see this rise in Protestant belief as a direct result of the failure of Roman Catholic churches to satisfy the material needs of the poor. Evangelical churches tend to promote a disciplined and frugal lifestyle, a personal conversion experience, public confession of sins, spiritual healing of illness, relief from poverty through prayer, and demonstration of faith through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, namely, the ecstasy of speaking in tongues.

In addition to the evangelical churches, there are Baptist, Mormon, and Seventh-Day Adventist communities. Also, there are some non-Christian communities as well; synagogues have been present on the island since the arrival in the 1930s of World War II Jewish refugees. More recently, mostly due to immigration, there is a growing presence of other, perhaps less expected, faiths, each with a less than 1% share of the population; Baha'i, Buddhist, Chinese folk religion, Islam, and Hinduism have well-attended centers of worship on the island.

Perhaps the most controversial form of spirituality in the republic is the practice of Vodou. Borrowed from neighboring Haiti, Vodou has historically been looked down on by many professed Dominican Christians because of racial and social pressures (many view it as a Haitian practice). And yet it is becoming more popular and openly practiced as resistance to it is reduced through multicultural education. In the Dominican Republic, Vodou has been recast as Las 21 Divisiones and is a more fluid version than its Haitian counterpart, which is also practiced (though naturally less popular). Again, the main difference between the two is the use of different African-inspired musical instruments during the ceremonies.

...