Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 28 March 2017

Despite some tensions, evangelical churches booming in Cuba

An Associated Press exami- odists, 100,000 Baptists and
nation has found a more 120,000 members of the
complicated picture. Pas- Assemblies of God, which
tors and worshippers say had roughly 10,000 mem-
Cuba is in the middle of a bers in the early 1990s,
boom in evangelical wor- when Cuba began eas-
ship, with tens of thousands ing restrictions on public
of Cubans worshipping un- expressions of religious
molested across the island faith. The church council
each week. estimates there are about
While the government now 25,000 evangelical and
recognizes freedom of re- other Protestant houses of
ligion, it doesn’t grant the worship across the coun-
right to build churches or try. About 60 percent of
other religious structures. the population is baptized
It has demolished a hand- Catholic, with many also
ful of churches in recent following Afro-Cuban syn-
years, but allowed their cretic traditions such as
members to continue Santeria.
meeting in makeshift home Naranjo was part of that
sanctuaries. And like the opening. After the work
Roman Catholic Church, camp, he returned to a
the island’s dominant de- church whose worshippers
In this March 19, 2017 photo, people leave the Fuente De Vida Church after Sunday worship in
Havana, Cuba. While the government now recognizes freedom of religion, it doesn’t grant the nomination, evangelical were barred from many
right to build churches or other new religious structures. It has demolished a handful of churches churches have begun pro- state jobs.
in recent years, but allowed their members to continue meeting in makeshift home sanctuaries. viding social services once A thaw began in 1984
(AP Photo/Desmond Boylan) monopolized by the Com- when visiting American civ-
munist government. il rights activist Jesse Jack-

ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Carey Baptist Church was religious freedom is one “There’s a revival of these son stunned Cuba by tak-
Associated Press packed and noisy. Govern- of the key demands they churches, of the most di- ing Fidel Castro to a Prot-
estant church service. In
verse denominations in the
HAVANA (AP) — Fidel ment doctors treated dis- will make of Cuba when
Castro’s government sent abled children at a clinic they finish reviewing former country, and all of them 1990, Naranjo was among
a group of pastors who
are growing, not just in the
the Rev. Juan Francisco inside. A Bible study group President Barack Obama’s
Naranjo to two years of discussed Scripture in one opening with the island. number of members, but met with Castro to push
in their capacity to lead
for a greater freedom, and
work camp in the 1960s corner of the building be- The administration has nev-
for preaching the Gospel fore a service attended by er been more specific, but and act in society,” said his own church worked on
building ties between reli-
Presbyterian pastor Joel
in a Cuba where atheism 200 of the faithful. outside groups have ac-
was law and the faithful “In the 1960s, the few broth- cused Cuba of systemati- Ortega Dopica, president gious groups and the Com-
munist Party.
of Council of Churches
were viewed as suspect. ers and sisters who came cally repressing the island’s
For years, Naranjo’s church here had to hide their Bi- growing ranks of evan- of Cuba, an officially rec- The opening culminated in
the 1998 visit of Pope John
ognized association of 32
was almost abandoned, bles in brown-paper cov- gelicals and other Protes-
with just a handful of peo- ers,” said Esther Zulueta, tants with acts including Protestant denominations. Paul II, which led to new
“There is religious freedom
liberties for both Catholic
ple daring to attend ser- a 57-year-old doctor. “It’s the seizure of hundreds of
vices. night and day.” churches across the island, in Cuba.” and Protestant worship-
pers.
Clergy and academics say
Naranjo died in 2000 but on Trump administration offi- followed by the demolition
a recent Sunday, his William cials have repeatedly said of many. Cuba’s 11 million people The Cuban constitution
include some 40,000 Meth- now recognizes freedom
of religion, but the law is si-
Chile leader visits Haiti as UN prepares for troop pullout lent on the issue of church
construction. In a system
where the government has
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) meetings with President elet’s office now says the President Jean-Bertrand long monopolized public
— Chilean President Mi- Jovenel Moise, the U.N. gradual pullout will begin Aristide. U.N. Secretary- life, virtually all activities are
chelle Bachelet traveled special envoy to Haiti and April 15. General Antonio Guterres presumed illegal unless the
to Haiti on Monday for talks the nearly 400 Chileans That is the same day the is recommending the U.N. law says otherwise. Author-
with government and U.N. currently serving in the U.N. U.N. Security Council is due peacekeeping mission ities in some areas have
officials weeks before the stabilization mission. to decide the future of the as a whole wrap up with prohibited new churches,
start of her country’s an- Chile’s government an- U.N. stabilization mission in the departure of all 2,370 even as they allow worship
nounced withdrawal of nounced last year it would Haiti, military personnel by Oct. in religious buildings erect-
military peacekeepers. begin withdrawing its which was established af- 15. Troops come from 19 ed before Cuba’s 1959
Bachelet’s stop included peacekeepers, and Bach- ter a 2004 rebellion ousted countries.q revolution.q