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Columns : Spirtual Baptists: A struggle for equality and the right to worship

2009/3/30 15:50:00

Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day is an annual public holiday celebrated in the Republic of Trinidad of Tobago on March 30. The day commemorates the struggle for, and repeal of, the Shouters Prohibition Ordinance, which was passed on 16 November 1917 by the colonial government of the day banning the Spiritual and Shouter Baptist faith.

The colonial authorities justified the legislation on the basis that the Shouters made too much noise with their loud singing and bell ringing. During worship, participants danced, shouted, shook and fell to the ground in convulsions. Such behaviour, the ruling class said, was not acceptable to the more traditional and conservative elements in the society.

Furthermore, there was concern about the large number of people who were leaving the traditional churches to join the Spiritual Baptist faith. The police, who had been persecuting the Baptists for several years, also wanted them silenced. Although not said openly, the real reason for the hostility towards the Baptists was that many of their practices were of African origin.

African traditions were associated with the shame and degradation of slavery and a large part of the population of Trinidad did not want to be reminded of this. Hence the strong lobbying to have the religion banned.

In the end, the colonial government responded to the complaints of the taxpayers, landowners and police by passing the Shouters Prohibition Ordinance. Spiritual Baptists fought many court battles during the 1920s and 1930s, in efforts to counteract the negative perceptions of their faith.

It was only when Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler emerged as a prominent labour leader that attitudes towards the Baptists gradually began to change. Butler himself was a devoted Baptist and controversial figure.

His public meetings were reminiscent of a Baptist prayer meeting. Although his prominence gave the religion some legitimacy he too was jailed for his political and religious beliefs. Finally, after much lobbying, The Spiritual and Shouter Baptist achieved a victory as the bill to repeal the ordinance was passed on 30 March 1951. The Spiritual and Shouter Baptists were then free to practise their religion.

The fight for recognition continued. For decades the Baptists fought, sending more than 30 separate petitions and requests for a commemorative holiday, to mark the repeal of the Shouter’s Prohibition Ordinance.

Successive government ignored them until the Panday administration took office. It was on Friday January 26, 1996, just one month after assuming office as prime minister, Basdeo Panday held true to his promise to the Spiritual Baptist community by standing before the House of Representatives and designating March 30th as a public holiday.

In addition, his government granted twenty-five acres of land in Maloney to the Spiritual Baptists to build schools and a spiritual park for African religions.

To this day the school has not been built despite numerous pleas from members of the Spiritual Baptist faith for the government to assist in building the school.

-Kimiko Scott, March 30, 2009