Foreword

This book entitled « Two Centuries of Protestantism in Haiti (1816-2016): Implementation, Conversion and Secularization » is the result of the symposium of the bicentenary of Protestantism organized by the Institut universitaire de Formation des Cadres (INUFOCAD) from 15 to 17 August 2016. Under the auspices of the Protestant Federation of Haiti (FPH), this scientific event was a space for citizen reflection allowing to take a scientific look around a jubilee religion established in Haiti since 1816. It was an opportunity for academics and researchers to share with the scientific community and leaders of the Protestant sector critical knowledge about this religious phenomenon in order to contribute to the development of the sociology of religion in Haiti.

Historically, three religious systems have structured Haitian religious facts: Catholicism, voodoo and Protestantism. From Ayiti to Hispaniola, through Santo Domingo to Haiti, religion has become a powerful social link in time and space. In this book, it is a matter of marking the Haitian religious fact, apart from repentance, but articulating it in the social framework that gives it meaning.

The relationship between politics and religion cannot leave us indifferent. Are there causal relationships between Christian citizenship and their place in politics? Can we talk about little or too much place given to politics in Protestantism in Haiti? How to find a balance that would be necessary? Can civic education at school accompany this articulation, if it is not contiguous to the realization and satisfaction of the commons, especially in neighborhood life? How can the faith and the urn be reconciled in the unfolding of evangelization? These questions refer to the difficulties, both cultural and cultic, that are manifested in the social usages relating to the modernization of the country. The answers to these questions are certainly collective. Each of the authors, at their level, provide answers to these questions.

BN: The positions and views expressed in the texts presented here are those of the authors. The expression of these points of view is in keeping with the principle of « freedom of conscience » which Protestantism has always claimed and advocated.

Vijonet DEMERO
Chancellor – Institut universitaire de Formation des Cadres (INUFOCAD)
Vice President – Fédération Protestante d’Haïti (FPH)