CUBA:
Churches Tackle
Divisions by Discussing
Ethics, Not Doctrine
By Dalia Acosta
CÁRDENAS, Cuba, (IPS)
- A group of Christian
denominations and
ecumenical organisations
in Cuba have launched an
ethical dialogue aimed
at smoothing over their
historical differences
and fomenting mutual
understanding,
knowledge, and openness
to debate.
"We want to be part of
the solution, and that’s
why we’ve taken this
step. This doesn’t mean
we will be at the centre
of the ethical dialogue,
but we’re going to
promote it," Baptist
pastor Raimundo García,
the head of the
Christian Centre for
Reflection and Dialogue
(CCRD) in the city of
Cárdenas, 160 kilometres
from Havana, told IPS.
"We don’t intend to
discuss doctrine, but
rather ethical and moral
issues. How is it
possible to disrespect
fellow-Christians, to
recognise no limits, to
seek to convert members
of a different church,
and to poach pastors and
leaders with offers of
higher salaries?" said
García.
"Social action is part
of Christian life, but
we don’t see it as a
means of attracting new
members for the church,"
he said. "Some Christian
groups are distributing
material goods and other
things in order to bring
people into their
church. Some even
disparage other churches
and religious leaders."
Baptists from the
conventions of Western
and Eastern Cuba,
Presbyterians,
Episcopalians and
Methodists are
participating in the
discussion process, as
are the Christian
Reformed Church, the
Brethren, the Apostolic
Church of Jesus Christ,
the Unitarian
Universalist Church, the
School of Practical
Christianity, Caritas
and the Catholic
community of San Egidio.
About 40 people attended
the workshop on
contemporary problems
affecting relations
between Christian
churches and
institutions, in Cuba
and in the world, held
at the CCRD from Oct. 16
to 18, including several
experts on
socio-religious issues
and a representative of
the Cuban Council of
Churches.
A World Council of
Churches document,
handed out to people at
the meeting, recognises
church unity as a
permanent priority of
the ecumenical movement
and rejects inter-church
proselytising as
destabilising and
creating tensions,
scandals and division.
"Lack of unity is
leading us to take
arrogant, selfish
postures with
spirituality that is
divorced from reality,
manipulation of the
Bible and the gifts of
the Spirit,
disagreements and
prejudice," said Adolfo
Ham, rector of the
Higher Institute of
Biblical and Theological
Studies (ISEBIT) in
Havana, delivering the
keynote lecture at the
workshop.
According to Ham, this
crisis of unity imposes
the need to work out a
code of ethics for
inter-church relations,
and to apply a strategy
that includes spreading
information and
knowledge, practising
tolerance in the context
of a plurality of ideas,
and dialogue within a
framework of respect.
After decades of tension
following the January
1959 triumph of the
Cuban revolution,
relations between Cuba’s
socialist government and
churches took a radical
turn for the better in
the wake of an Apr. 2,
1990 meeting between
President Fidel Castro
and 70 evangelical and
ecumenical leaders.
As a result of this
meeting, the ruling
Communist Party opened
up its membership to
people of faith;
discrimination for
religious reasons
diminished; and new
opportunities for
religious organisations
to work in the social
arena were created.
"In the 1990s, there was
a change, in the sense
that internal obstacles
were removed. Christian
denominations became
stronger, some that had
disappeared reappeared,
and many new ones
arrived. In 1967 it was
estimated there were
about 50 denominations,
but in the 1990s there
were over 100
denominations and sects
nationwide," said García.
The growth in the number
of churches coincided
with the worst period of
the economic crisis in
Cuba, which was
triggered in the early
1990s by the dissolution
of the Soviet Union and
the East European
socialist bloc, this
Caribbean island
nation’s main aid and
trade partners.
Participants at the
workshop in Cárdenas
said the surge in church
membership occurred
because many people were
drawn to religion in
search of hope at that
time, and were seeking
ways of satisfying their
spiritual as well as
material needs.
The causes of the crisis
in inter-church
relations include lack
of understanding of
other denominations,
poor theological
training, personality
cults and indiscriminate
ambition for power,
strong sectarian
fundamentalism and the
divorce between the
Christian message and
practical living,
according to
participants.
"Lack of dialogue and
the absence of an
expression of unity are
confusing for society.
People ask ‘why, if they
are all Christians, are
there so many different
names, and so much
division? Why does each
denomination make an
exclusive claim to the
truth?’" Baptist pastor
Gisela Pérez told IPS.
Other flaws tabled at
the meeting were
inter-generational
conflict, failure to
include women in
meaningful roles,
economic dependence on
foreign churches, and
competition between
church authorities,
causing divisions within
different denominations.
As well as analysing the
situation, the Cárdenas
workshop produced a set
of strategic working
proposals including
actions to encourage
better knowledge of each
other, uproot prejudice,
accept the right to
dissent and to be
different, and foment
dialogue with all who
are willing to join in,
without exclusion.
"A church not obsessed
with making converts,
that looks outwards at
the community and
identifies with its
problems," was the
proposal from one of the
working groups, after
acknowledging that an
open attitude within a
church is not always
applied equally in the
community.
On the contrary, some
churches and individuals
isolate themselves from
society, as if to avoid
"contamination," they
said.
According to Gloria
Rebustillo, of the B.G.
Lavastida Christian
Service and Training
Centre in Santiago de
Cuba, 847 kilometres
from Havana, "churches
are divided over the
need to enter into
dialogue with the
community, in order to
prepare the churches to
relate to their reality
and respond
appropriately."
"The church is part of
the positive forces in
society, and must see
itself as one community
organisation among many.
Church people come from
that community and they
can’t be split in two. I
can’t belong to the
Federation of Cuban
Women and, separately,
to the church. I am not
two people," she said. |
