Caribbean Diaspora in the USA: Diversity of Caribbean Religions in New York City

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Caribbean Diaspora in the USA
Universal, for instance, has excluded Afro-Brazilian orixás from its canon though
in Brazil they have been part of the worldview of the Brazilian ‘mother’ church as
demons. In sermons in Brooklyn and Queens ministers prefer to demonize Catholic
saints instead. The other communities I presented in Chapter 3 are undergoing a process
of ‘africanization’ at the moment and increasingly stress the African elements of the
Diaspora, for instance the Yoruba-Orisha Baptist Church with its specially developed
African festivals. Santería in particular discusses its African heritage. Many believers,
especially African-Americans, try to revitalize their lost connection to Africa – as
the foundation of the Yoruba temple in Harlem shows. This development is not an
integration of new elements but a shift of emphasis on elements already present. For
instance, the worldview of the Shouter in Trinidad and Tobago also includes Shango
elements, but by choosing the name Yoruba-Orisha Baptist Church, the founder openly
demonstrated the importance of its African and Baptist traditions.
In addition, all the religions I have discussed react to their surroundings with the
integration of new elements such as the Buddha in the Yoruba-Orisha Baptist Church.
Though he is still not present in the pantheon of the believers, the presence of his
statue already symbolizes the polytheistic framework of the church and the strategy
of the leader to make his church cosmopolitan: all are welcome, all believers as well
as all religious entities. Often, there are differences between the leader of a group
and the members about this integration; in particular members of the original ethnic
core group are sometimes more reserved than their leader about foreign influences as
well as foreign visitors. While the founders and leaders of communities encourage
openness and try to bring in new members, established members often demonstrate
their scepticism and their distance from the newcomers with their body language or by
using dialects. After initiation the newcomers assist in opening up the community by
attracting new members as well as by including new elements. As converts they are
often much better informed about the religion than the older members and support the
leader in his or her effort to modify the community and to integrate new elements. 7 The
exception is again the Iglesia Universal in which the members seem to be more open
towards new elements than the leaders who, when they want to increase their position
in the hierarchy, follow the rules strictly while ordinary members can attend to any
other religious ritual in addition to the one offered by the Iglesia Universal.
Even the function of these religious communities shows some similarities. They
offer help in every situation, including medical or physical problems as well as
social, familial or mental problems. One important role they play is to affirm to
troubled persons that they are not responsible for the disturbance, hence they are
not guilty. Only after the imagined guilt is taken from the troubled person is he or
she able to participate in the healing, which is an important aspect of the cure. The
Iglesia Universal even advertises this functional effect of rituals on TV; but the other
communities attract new members with this offer as well, though not everyone will
continue to practise for a long time.
Because of the increasing number of members, most groups have to
institutionalize. While some still do not want to become such a formal church as the
Iglesia Universal, the pressure on the communities is getting stronger. Hence some
7 African-Americans are often more than reserved towards new members who do not
have a visible African heritage.