- ATD Fourth World

Prayer is an enormous source of courage and strength for people in Haiti as it has always been for many people around the world. At the same time, ATD Fourth World’s team in Port au Prince says that the prayers and songs they hear shouted through megaphones regularly are mixed with religious condemnations of sin. In the US, just a day after the earthquake, the evangelist Pat Robertson blamed the catastrophe on the Haitian people, saying they had made “a pact with the devil” in order to throw off their French colonial rulers.

The group of American Baptists who were arrested for trying to arrange for the illegal adoption of 33 Haitian children have said: “God has laid upon our hearts the need”; while a pastor who supports them says that those who stopped them are making “the accusations of Satan.”

ATD Fourth World strongly unites with all those who refuse to accept that a whole population be accused in such a way. Max Beauvoir, a chemist who leads Haiti’s national federation of voodoo priests, says of the American Baptists, “They were trying to buy souls. There are many who come here with religious ideas that belong more in the time of the Inquisition. These types of people believe they need to save our souls and our bodies from ourselves. We need compassion, not proselytizing now, and we need aid — not just aid going to people of the Christian faith.”

Some light in this shadowy confusion

It is important to remember that in every part of the world there are people of different religions, including evangelical Christians, who find ways to be close to and supportive of people living in extreme poverty. This was the case at an ecumenical gathering on 12 February on the Champs de Mars in Port-au-Prince where a minister showed his sense of community by asking everyone present to pray for the person next to them, to look one another in the eyes, to ask each other their names, to embrace each other and to exchange addresses. This was his way of creating the unity that Haiti needs in order to rebuild without leaving anyone behind.

This attentive gesture by a religious leader is one example of a way to bring people together, whatever the cultural differences that shape each of us. There are many different ways of showing solidarity to be found in the diversity of religious and secular practices: spending time with people who are ill; celebrating life’s milestones, building a community together, appreciating the beauty of the world… So much wisdom unites us, whoever we are, in a common humanity.

But we also know that religion remains a source of conflict in the world today, and that in these conflicts people living in extreme poverty are highly vulnerable. Those who feel called to make known their religion or political ideology can be tempted to exploit people who are vulnerable or living in extreme poverty, either to make them scapegoats, or to manipulate them in favour of a religion or ideology. This happens not only in countries facing huge challenges, as Haiti is now, but also in the low-income neighbourhoods and prisons of industrialized countries.

Let us show our solidarity with all Haitians and in the name of all people

ATD Fourth World is currently looking for innovative ways to build a more long-term dialogue on religion, public life, and extreme poverty, by associating people living in extreme poverty together with people from other social backgrounds, people from different religions, as well as those who are secular. The urgency of this dialogue is underlined by the megaphones in Haiti and elsewhere, and the damaging effects of some of the views they broadcast, which cause suffering to so many Haitians, including those whose religious beliefs are at the core of their existence.

ATD Fourth World remains on the side of the most excluded people, who are wrongly blamed by some religious or moral approaches for many of the world’s challenges: over-population, environmental damage, or the failure of development programmes. This is why we are reaffirming our conviction that the Haitian people is not cursed and must not be accused in the name of religion. Haiti needs to be able to count on all of us, whatever our beliefs and practices.