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Religious Beliefs and Spirituality in Trinidad and Tobago

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Spaniards settled in the islands for a good many years. Tracing history, one of Spain’s foremost aims in their expeditions is to spread their devotion to the Church. Hence, it is actually no surprise that the majority of Trinidad and Tobago’s populations are Christians. Under this category, the Roman Catholics comprise the largest of the sects.

Next to the Roman Catholics in number are the Anglicans who form another sizeable religious community. The Anglican Church, with roots that can be traced back to the Church of England, is a fruit of another colonization – only this time, by the British. The Holy Trinity Cathedral actually used to be the only Anglican Church in Trinidad and is fondly called “the Mother Church of the Diocese.” It remains as a symbol of their good faith. During the colonial days, Trinity Church, as it was called back then, catered exclusively for the British and English forces.

Hindus make up roughly 25% of the population. When slavery was abolished, the British brought in Indians to the island to work in plantations; these first Indians were the ones who propagated their belief – Hinduism. For many years, Hindus had been treated as a minority group. In the early years, Indian cultural forms were ridiculed or met with contempt by the Christians who made up the majority of the community. Nowadays, the diversity of religious beliefs in the islands is well recognized. Even the Hindu festivals, like Divali and Phagwah, are popular in Trinidad.

Muslims make up about 6% of the non-Christian groups in the islands. Muslims arrived in Trinidad as part of the group of laborers from India. But the popular belief is that the African slaves who were settled in the island have established the Muslim faith earlier than this time. Since Muslim Indians arrived, they have experienced many ills from their Christian-dominated community like the Hindus. But today they have come forward as a significant part of their republic’s modern society.