Word: religion
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Cuban President Fidel Castro, whose Communist regime has expelled bishops and priests, eliminated church schools, made it difficult for practicing Christians to get government jobs and even discouraged the observance of Christmas because it impeded the sugar- cane harvest. Pronouncements on faith, however, surface regularly in Fidel and Religion: Conversations with Friar Betto, just published in Cuba with Castro's own imprimatur. It is proving to be an instant hit: when the 379-page volume went on sale in Havana bookstores three weeks ago, lines of purchasers stretched for blocks...
Fidel and Religion offers some rare glimpses into the Cuban leader's youth. He was raised in Oriente province, a region that had no resident priests, but his childhood home was full of religious objects. His mother was a "fervent Christian" who prayed daily and lit candles to the Virgin Mary and the saints. His father, a well-to-do farmer, had no time for religion. Castro was not baptized until he was five or six, but all his education until university was in Roman Catholic schools. "If someone were to ask, 'When did you have a religious conviction...
...book, Castro basically views Christianity as useful for revolution. Disagreeing with Karl Marx, he does not think religion is necessarily the opiate of the people. That depends, says Castro, on whether it is used to defend the rich. He sees great promise in Latin American Catholicism's shift from a traditional alliance with "oppressors" to greater concern for the poor. Says he: "There are 10,000 more coincidences between Christianity and Communism than there could be with capitalism." Liberation theology, he exults, is "a re-encounter of Christianity with its roots, with its most beautiful, heroic and most glorious history...
...close a single church. Church-state relations have improved somewhat in recent years, and Castro even fancies that it is time for Pope John Paul II ("a noteworthy politician") to visit Cuba. Of this newfound cordiality, one Western diplomat in Havana observes, "Castro can afford to be magnanimous; religion today in Cuba is hardly a threat." In fact, Catholicism was never deeply rooted in the country. Today there are perhaps 80,000 active Catholics in a nation of some 10 million; about 41% of the population is counted as nominal Catholics, compared with 90% before the revolution. There are only...
Castro himself, however, admits that discrimination against religious believers is "something we haven't yet overcome," although he maintains it is not government policy. He says that freedom of religion "is an inalienable right of the individual," but, because of past tensions, he still supports the exclusion of Christians from Communist Party membership, which effectively prevents them from holding important government posts. What does the Vatican make of Castro's friendship campaign? "So far we have only words," says one official. "We want to see acts...