Is voodoo evil?

[ChristineM]

Maybe it depends on where they are excersizing their beliefs. I have two friends who preach and have schools/orphanges in Haiti. What you mention and what they experience and see are two different animals.

You need to consider the possibility that a preacher will have a bias to their own faith.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Maybe it depends on where they are excersizing their beliefs. I have two friends who preach and have schools/orphanges in Haiti. What you mention and what they experience and see are two different animals.

I dont have the culture part. Vodou has a lot of initiation involved. Im up north and a lot of my extended family are hush hush about it.

Christianity and "southern vodou" (not a term) is mixed together down south to those who practice. They do believe in god and the devil and jesus. They also believe that (as catholics some are in part catholic) the spirits and ancestors talk on their behalf to god.

I wanted to go to a ceremonial ritual for the Lukumi tradition here near where I live. The link I gave the OP above explains the differences and similarities.

Demons etc are your personal belief but I find it more appropriate to understand define other peoples religions how they would define it. Facts are different than beliefs and opinions. I disagree with christianity but that doesnt mean they dont teach human sacrifice regardless of how much I disagree. Its respect to let christians define their own faith.

I honestly dont understand why christians in general find the need to define other peoples religions in relation to their own. People were killed all throughout history because of it. Why reinvent the wheel?

 

[Stanyon]

Here is something you might find of interest:
Third-World Folk Beliefs and Practices: Haitian Medical Anthropology
from the Institute of Haitian Studies University of Kansas
medical_anthropology.pdf

 

[Dieudonne Bokor]

It's interesting to see the juxtaposition between Ignorance and Understanding in folk's perceptions of Voodoo/Voudon. And it's fascinating to observe the spectrum of opinions, too.

Having said that: both American Voodoo and Haitian Vodou can be viewed as religions - tho' when asked, many practitioners will respond "I am Catholic/Protestant." And tho' such self-identities are origined in the syncretic practices of the African slaves, as a means of survival, the blending and absorbing of other religious practices and cosmologies continues today, and Voudisants who identiify as Christian are entirely sincere nowadays.

In fact, I'm a Nichiren Buddhist! My Buddhism enhances my Voodoo/Vodou - and my Voodoo/Vodou enhances my Buddhism!

No, we do not go 'round tossing hexes and curses at folks. Yes, there are some practices that can do things like make an abusive husband stop abusing, or go away. And some "magickal acts" performed by some folks can be very darks indeed. But, sadly for those folks, the consequences of such activities always "come back at them."

No, we do not worship Satan - a Judeo-Christian persona of utter evil. Who wants that one in their heart? No, we don't go 'round having illicit sexual relations.

Are we all good people? No.
Are we all bad people? No.

We are people. And some people are more good than others, while some people are more bad than others. That's how it is in any Church, in any Vodou/Voodoo society, and in any Walmart store, too.

Oh, and animal sacrifices are not the ordinary, frequently done act. In fact there is an ever-increasing interest in, and practitioners of dry sec un-bloody offerings of food, and objects enjoyed by the individual Lwa ("spirits").

And, finally (for now) we are not all atheists. "Bondye" is one of the popular "names" of God. It means "The Good God."

Ok, I'm stepping down off my soapbox now.

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You),
Dieudonne Bokor