Religion Religion Everywhere

I have, in previous postings, made reference to the prevalence of religion on this island.  I don’t know however, if I have conveyed the true depth that “the Good Lord” plays in daily life, so I thought I’d take a moment to paint you a little picture.   

(As a forewarning:  I do not mean this to be disrespectful; coming from religious-sterilized Canada, I am simply in gobsmacked amazement at the role religion plays in people’s lives here.)

The island is predominantly Protestant, with Anglican, Presbyterian, Moravian and Seventh Day Adventist being the most popular denominations.  Regardless of what church they attend (and trust me, they attend!)  religion is a central part of life here. 

First of all – most everyone seems to pray.  And not just a quick cursory ‘Thanks for the food, God - Amen’ before meals, I mean rolling out of bed each and every morning to reverently do their  “daily devotions”.  And if kids don’t do it at home – or even if they do – they will do it at school.  Extensively.  Even in social situations, I have never heard anyone swear on this island, the most common phrases seem to be “Praise be to Jesus”,  “God is good!” or “Lord give me strength!”  When someone sneezes and they say “Bless you,” they mean it quite literally. 

The most common radio station on the island is Dominion Radio, the Christian station, and at my work it plays constantly. 
From 8:30-9:00 it’s local gospel music – women praising Jesus through off-key harmonies.  From 9:00-10:00 it is “The Old Time Gospel Hour” which consists of some passionate man preaching and sermonizing.  

(I did learn the other day that it’s not “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of doubt” but “as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”  I like mine better. )
From 10:00-11:00 it is country gospel hour.  (Just when I thought country music couldn’t get any worse....).  From 12:00-1:00 its religious-based news.  From 1pm-2pm is more sermonizing.  (My favourite quote of the week:   “God is a gentleman; he wouldn’t force himself on you”....ummm...is it just me, or did they just compared God to a rapist....?!)

At about 2pm, the woman at the desk next to mine declares it is “sleepy time” and turns on her own collection of gospel music to sign along to and perk herself up.  This is not to say the radio gets turned off, or down, oh no – I simply get radio gospel on my left and my co-workers gospel serenades on my right.

All around the office are inspirational Christian verses: on calendars, posters, coffee mugs, in frames, tapped to desks, posted on bulletin boards....Email are signed off with “Have a Blessed Day” and bibles are stationed at every desk.  It was a full week at work before I realized that the repeated reference around the office to KJB was not an acronym for a work project but to the King James Bible.

Last week, we had a retirement luncheon for our boss.  Every person’s farewell speech included quotes from scripture – recited off by heart.  Although, there was a dispute on the wording of one passage, but no worries, they could consult the Bible - they had it downloaded on their Blackberrys.     

The open religiosity of St. Kitts may be at odds with my Canadian mind-set, but I did discover one common religious link recently:
Last week, I accompanied 3 of my co-workers on unannounced visits to home-based nurseries.  As we approached a house, one of my co-workers remarked, “the home owners will all probably run and hide when they see McKinley coming up the walk with us!” The other two laughed at this apparent joke.  My co-workers are all black, so I guessed that it was in reference to my skin colour, but I didn’t get the joke.  When I asked why someone would hide, my co-worker responded: “Cause when a white person you don’t know comes to the house it generally means only one thing: Jehovah Witnesses”