Haiti's voodoo priests talk of war with Christian fundamentalists

Voodoo priests condemn mass burials and attacks on their religious practices and are calling for retaliation against Evangelical Christians, who they say are imposing their beliefs unfairly.

While some leaders of voodoo are outraged about Christian fundamentalists (many from the United States) attacking voodoo practices and beliefs, one writer seeks to understand the issue so people don't have misconceptions that might interfere with their responses to Haitian leaders. G. Jeffrey MacDonald has written a piece for Religion News which he entitles 10 Minutes with Claudia Michael. In it he interviews this expert on voodoo and gives the reader some insights into this mysterious and often-misunderstood religious practice even as some of its leaders call for equitable treatment following the massive earthquake that happened in Haiti just a few short months ago. The article describes a complex set of beliefs and practices through its interview with Michael and dispels some misconceptions about it. One of the first questions the author asked of Michael was about the existence of zombies, who there are and how this phenomenon occurs. Michael explained,

It has been established that there are some drugs, a poison that can be given to someone who has hurt the community. It’s a way of bringing that person maybe back to balance by removing some powers in that individual. Those drugs have a power to remove people’s memory. It’s a way of putting somebody to work. That phenomenon is such a rare phenomenon. It might be one or two cases per year."

She goes on to say how dead people can't return as zombies. Whereas some might wonder if improper burial might bring back a relative to haunt them because of the mass burials that took place, Michael puts to rest these worries. She observes that rather than the improper burials creating zombies, the problem has to do with the lack of respect for the dead, the cultural concerns, and that improper burial brings imbalance into the world. Michael goes on to say that souls don't return to haunt the living, as some people might believe, but the condemnation of mass burials comes about because voodoo practitioners believe that it dishonors the dead and creates bad energy on the planet since all human souls are interconnected. But is the practice of voodoo popular in Haiti? According to an article on Blackspin, it isn't. Actually the author maintains many Haitians actually oppose voodoo practice. There are those, however, who maintain other religious organizations are getting aid money while voodoo leaders aren't being recognized. One voodoo priest, Jean Claude Bazil, claims "Without us, there is no Haiti," , underlining voodoo as the country's true faith, but ending with the statement, "We have to pull ourselves together to save Haiti." Bazil's statement comes in the wake reports of clashes between Christian fundamentalists and practitioners of voodoo. One voodoo ritual honoring the dead was reported attacked by Christians who declared God had caused the earthquake to punish Haiti for practicing voodoo. Voodoo priests declare, in response, "It will be war -- open war," Max Beauvoir, supreme head of Haitian voodoo, reported to the foreign press during an interview near the capital. "It's unfortunate that at this moment where everybody's suffering that they have to go into war. But if that is what they need, I think that is what they'll get."