This work is a missionary effort, intent on converting the reader to acceptance and support of the Cuban revolution, and should be appreciated as such. Beginning with Harvey Cox’s strongly put “Foreword,” through Alice L. Hageman’s “Introduction”, to the selections themselves, the call is for a re-evaluation of the experience since 1959 of the various religious sects in Cuba, not simply to better understand this portion of history, but also to gain support for liberating, even revolutionary, movements within churches in Latin America and the United States. This volume argues that the role of religion in relation to movements for radical change should not be restricted to that of a critic, but rather should be a mobilizing one. It is the editors’ intention to prompt reflection on the state of the United States and its foreign policy in view of the experience of Christians in the Marxist society of Cuba.
In surveying the experience of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in Castro’s Cuba, the editors divide their selections into four areas: articles by and interviews with leading members of various churches expressing their views of the revolution and its impact on their institutions; materials dealing with the historical background; reflections and analyses on the possibilities of a theology of revolution, the mission of a church in a revolutionary-socialist society, and a rethinking of the biblical concept of work in the light of the new Cuban orientation; and finally official statements by church bodies, such as the letters of a critical Roman Catholic hierarchy to Fidel Castro in 1960 and the much different ones of 1969 aimed at increasing dialogue with the people and the government. If one wishes to savor the evolution of the positions of the several churches, it is suggested that the reader begin with “Part II: Historical Background,” supplemented by the relevant documents in section IV, and then proceed to the first and third sections.
The majority of the documents included by the editors, one of whom identifies herself as “in the ‘radical’ Christian community, in active opposition to United States economic and political imperialism,” are drawn from Protestant sources, while one-third represent Roman Catholic views, with one selection each from a Jewish spokesman and from Fidel Castro. While the Protestant community in Cuba today represents only one per cent of the total population, the preponderance of materials relating to it is refreshing, given the frequency with which works dealing with religion in Latin America deal only with Roman Catholicism. The selections do not pretend to represent all views, but the editors in following their own orientations have presented some interesting and little known documents.
Religion in Cuba Today communicates a sense of the adaptation of Cuban churches since 1959 to the new circumstances, in part as a result of fear for their institutional lives. Such accommodation springs variously from a pragmatic acceptance of what is perceived as necessity, and from the traditional desire to ‘bear witness” and identify with the goals of society. While some regard themselves as outcasts in present-day Cuba or marginalized, other churchmen promote recognition of a similiarity of objectives with society in working for a new socioeconomic order. This latter has encouraged comparisons between the moral rebirth customarily sought by religions and the drive to create a “new man” and is reflective of the transfer in many churches today of emphasis from preparing the individual for life hereafter to dealing with his present condition. It also calls attention to the possibilities of Marxist-Christian alliances currently promoted as the most likely means of accomplishing effective radical change in Latin America. Such coalitions dispute the traditional belief in the antithetical natures of Communism and religion. A growing number of Christians in North and Latin America, including the editors of the present volume, trust in this eventuality; their faith is impressive.
