By Ulf Ottosson , FORCV Columnist (Praia, CV)

Disclosure:The opinions and views expressed on the article below reflect the author's view on the subject only. They do not represent the position of FORCV.

PRAIA - Recently, a large sculpture was erected in Achada St. Antonio in Praia, just by the ocean. The statue portrays the late Pope John Paul II, gazing out over the infinite sea with his arms gracefully lifted as if giving his blessings to anyone passing by. The area around the statue has been restored with stone paths and stairs, some greenery and a small children’s playground. It has become a popular family spot for the locals, especially in the evenings.

The choice to pay tribute to the Pope is not by chance, of course. According to statistics, a clear majority (some 90%) of Cape Verdeans are catholic Christians – no doubt a heritage from the colonial days the archipelago was under catholic Portuguese rule (in fact, when you think about it, isn’t it strange that Cape Verdeans did not want to oust the colonial religion along with the oppressors at the time of liberation?). There is also a protestant Christian community, as well as smaller communities of Baha’i and muslims.

My impression is that religion has a prominent, however not exceedingly dominating, role in the Cape Verdean society. People go regularly to church (every Sunday you will see large crowds of well-dressed people on their way to service), but most people I meet don’t say grace, they don’t pray to god openly, and they don’t seem to express religious disapproval of, for instance, abortion or the use of contraceptives. And unlike in the USA, it appears that a Cape Verdean politician can actually run for office with success even if he or she does not openly declare a Christian belief. All in all, my impression is that Cape Verde is fairly secular. Surprisingly so.

Nevertheless, I have yet to meet a fellow atheist in Cape Verde. When occasionally I feel obliged to reveal my (lack of) beliefs, and tell them that I am genuinely convinced that there is no such thing as a god (or any other supernatural entity for that matter), Cape Verdeans usually show great surprise, even disbelief. They seem to wonder how it is even possible not to believe in god. Still, I have never felt any outspoken intolerance or disrespect; my conviction seems to be accepted (if not understood) – maybe in the same way as they accept all my other strange foreign behaviors and traits such as treading around in mountain slopes, always insisting on using seatbelts in the car, appreciating raw herring in mustard sauce and being very strict not to drink-and-drive.

In contrast to Cape Verde, my native country Sweden (albeit historically being a Christian country since the 11th century) is nowadays probably one of the most secular and non-religious countries in the world. A relatively high number (75%) of Swedes are formally members to the state church, but this is mostly due to the fact that, until 1996, all children became members automatically at birth. Currently, the Swedish church is losing about 1% of members every year, and less than 10% regularly attend church service. According to a poll made in 2005 by the Eurobarometer, only 23% of the Swedes believe that there is a god, and equally many (23%) do not believe in any god at all. Interestingly, a majority (54%) would rank somewhere in-between, believing that there is some sort of spirit or life force, but no god in the Christian sense.

My own path to atheism began early on. Even in secular Sweden, and brought up in a non-religious family, I was however somewhat indoctrinated by Sunday school and other influences, and I do recall praying to god from time to time when I went to bed (“Please dear God, let my math teacher be sick tomorrow so that I won’t have to take the test”). I also remember vividly a bus filled with some strange people, parked at the school yard for a whole week, using munchies, guitar music and convincing smiles to lure innocent children inside during breaks to “learn about the word of God”. In fact, I believe that I spent quite significant time in that bus, and it might be just pure luck that I escaped from that experience without being sucked in to some Christian sect (I still can’t believe that that bus was actually allowed to park in the school yard).

While by no means actively religious in my early years, I first came to seriously doubt the existence of god when preparing for my communion at 13 years of age. It came as somewhat of a surprise to me that nobody, including the priest himself, was nowhere near of adequately addressing even my most sensible and basic questions about Christianity, such as “who or what created god?”, “if god created everything, why did he create the Devil?”, “what will happen to all of those that never hear of the Christian god, will they burn in hell?”, “what sense does it make that Jesus suffered and died in the most horrible way to cleanse other people’s sins?” etc. As a consequence, I discontinued my bible studies halfway, to the surprise of my (secular) parents and to the dismay of my (Christian) grandparents. Even if it meant that I therefore didn’t get any precious communion gift (typically a moped), as did most of my classmates.

I have always been fascinated by life philosophy, religion and the possible existence of a god, and I still am. (If you are interested in my specific view of the “meaning of life”, have a look at my previous blog on this subject ). For a long time I used to call myself an agnostic, simply because I didn’t think that I knew enough to conclude for certain that god did not exist – regardless the fact that I actually found it exceedingly unlikely. As a student of natural science at secondary school and university, I chose biology as my main subject and became familiar with Darwin’s brilliant theory of evolution, which I found very captivating, even philosophically. (I now understand that there is a good reason that religious fanatics want to ban certain education; it is because these competing theories for the existence and development of life on earth are so much more convincing than what is found in the bible and other so called holy books.)

With all this new knowledge, my conviction that there are other and much more plausible theories to enlighten us on the classic existential “inexplicables”, such as the origin of life, what happens after death, the meaning of life etc, than some kind of simplistic “higher presence” (or however people want to describe god). Thanks to Richard Dawkins’ books “The Selfish Gene” and the “The Blind Watchmaker”, my certainty grew even stronger, and when I finally read his latest book “The god Delusion”, I realized with much clarity, and indeed inspiration, my true nature as an atheist, previously concealed under the inaccurate label of agnosticism.

In my opinion, “The God Delusion” is actually one of the most important philosophical contributions to mankind ever made on the subject of science, religion, evolution and rational thought. The argumentation put forward by Dawkins against god’s existence is so convincing, and at the same time so clear and simple, that it is hard to see how anyone, even the most rigid religious believer, could disagree with its main message (then again, dogmatic believers would of course never read it to start with). For me, the book is a real landmark when it comes to finding genuine comfort with the idea that god’s existence is decidedly implausible, as well as (generally speaking) malevolent for mankind.

As Dawkins rightly points out, we are all atheist in some sense – we have all come to denounce ancient gods like the Nordic “Thunder god” Thor, the Greek “Sea God” Poseidon, the Mayan “Winged God” Quatzequatel, and the Egyptian “Sun God” Ra. I personally hope that we one day we will see this trend completed: we would then have world rid of divine misconceptions.

Imagine that – a world based on rational argument, reason and evidence, instead of being guided by a groundless “faith” deriving from some books written by old men some thousand years ago, arbitrarily interpreted to fit our modern society (just as one small example, there is a fierce debate among religious scholars in Denmark on whether the church should denounce the idea of “hell”, which some consider has been completely “made up” in the middle ages). What would such a world look like? Well, to start with there would be no religious terrorism or suicide bombers, no depressing experience of “holy sins”, no religious child indoctrination, no women completely covered by black cloth, no doctors killed because they perform abortion, no disapproval of well established scientific knowledge (such as evolution, or the age of earth) that does not “fit” with the holy books, no banning of life-saving appliances such as contraceptives. And so forth – the list would go on and on and on.

While science can’t explain everything (yet, that is), it surely can explain a lot more, and by far more convincingly, than any religion can ever do. And, more importantly, science will never in itself make people fanatic enough to kill or harm another just because of their beliefs, as religion truly does (the actual use of scientific progress to promote violence, by for instance religious fanatics as well as others who wish to do harm, is a different matter). There is a reason that it is virtually impossible to picture a devoted scientist becoming a crusader, a militant Islamist or a suicide bomber.

On a final note, I recently had the most interesting discussion with a Cape Verdean woman on this subject. She, as many others, had a very hard time to actually come to terms with the fact that I really don’t believe in god, and she told me that she could show me plenty of evidence of god’s existence, referring e.g. to men who were pregnant, resurrected dead people, black magic and whatnot. I responded that I would be very willing to reconsider my atheistic conviction, if she could give me any kind of clear-cut scientific proof of the existence of any god. I then asked her if she would do the same; her response was that nothing I would say or do would ever make her change her mind about god’s existence. I think, in essence, that this little episode describes very well the difference between rational and superstitious beliefs – between reason and faith.

Hi Ulf.

I want to thank you for your thoughts on being an Atheist in Catholic Cabo Verde. My point has also been one of why in the liberation of Cabo Verde,we did not throw off the yoke of the burden that was super imposed on the people of Cabo Verde as part and parcel of the colonialist mentality. We know that religions have played a great role from time and memorial as and instrument to control and to keep the masses ignorant and to make wars and all the wars we have clearly seen have had some religious connection. Wars and the guns and the soldiers being blessed by the Popes,the clergy,the Imams,the Rabbis etc.
The only group that I have not seen or read doing that has been the Buddhist and I can be corrected on that matter.

I have written a number of thoughts on the subject of religion and what we call God or in any other language.

Soon to be 75, I can say this: I was very much influenced by Roman Catholic teachings and then comparative studies with other religions. But you must know that I come from the background of the poor and illiterate meaning (Ignorant) we followed without questioning the words spoken by the priest or the clergy. They had complete control of our household.

Through the many years of travel to other countries and seeing other cultures and reading on my own and challenging the status quo,new ideas took shape in my mind. It was not until I met with Amilcar Cabral and members of PAIGC that I really began to see some things more clearly,between reason and faith.

As I have said that we can not change in 32 years the brainwashing of more the 500 years. On the other side of the coin in what is called doing what is right and having certain rules and regulations to the discipline of good behavior which is mixed with evil and what is called the works of the Devil or the works of what is called God or good.

What do we mean by the word of God? For me and others we come to accept that God means force and power of the universe. The wind,the rain the snow the many things that happen every moment that we don't control the very breath of life and nature.

The greatest philosophers have found difficulties in understanding the skeptical position when they contemplate the wonder and mystery of the skies with all the countless beautiful stars and planets and light in them, and laws of order, motion and symmetry, that respond to the highest mathematical abstractions without flaws. Can blind chance give rise to such conditions? We ask.

Knowing that these condition are in Cabo Verde and world over my point is for Cabo Verde. Why is it that we can't make reality of the actuality as it was proposed by who I call Dr. Amilcar Cabral; there are those who wish that we not call him Doctor but that is their problem.

I have taken certain liberties with the word Deus and try to make a new mind set by trying to make what we call Deus into a science meaning a practical science; D for dialectic,E for eclectic,U for universal and S for science. The lesson that I learned from Cabral was that he used the word responsible in which stuck in my mind and I was able to give credence to the word and to see that the word righteousness was synonymous to the word responsible.

Then, when Cabral spoke about protecting the people from harm, that to me, meant salvation which means among others things to protect from harm.

Religion has another meanings and it depends on what and how we define certain words and by who's definition. In one of my research religion also means to bind together. Cabral's work was to bind us together to protect us from harm, to have the discipline to be responsible.

How do we remove the superstition and the mythologies based on defective assumption and allegorical legends of the past giving to those who did not have the ability to read, and the clergy gave us books written by priest and other religious leaders who saw themselves as gods of the masses. For those who could not read they would Pontificate with pompous or dogmatic way. The Priest was the power from the Pope who was the so-called messenger of God.

While religions say they are against sin or better yet the law breakers, they allow crime to flourish because without sin there would not be any need for church, for as they say Saturday has no sin that Sunday can't cure. Cabo Verde is a country with a small population but as long as we allow false teachings and corrupt behavior such as loose morals and any form of drugs such as grog and perverted and depraved and improper conduct, we will have the same problem as before and this is true around the world. It is interesting how I can or any other person can get to this point when you reach the age when you can't sin any more. How do we teach our children the new reality?

I will say this it has been the work of many devoted scientist that have created the means by which to kill and to control. I guess this gets back to good and evil; God & the Devil the Ying & the Yang The minus & the plus The negative and the positive.

THE ENERGY FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE IS BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING
AND COMPREHENSION.

The best I can say is that kindness to our fellow man is the best way to go. To share all that is on this planet earth with each other and to work together without greed and selfishness.

There have been many great men such as Yashua (Jesus), M.L. King, Amilcar Cabral and others who have given mankind something that will help us live better lives. There is rules of behavior and certain laws if we would put them into practice.
We have not adhered to the ten commandments such as thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal; there are many others.

There are many good things written in many books and if we take the best which speak of love & kindness and peace and harmony and good it will perhaps change how we think. If we begin to teach this and not about making one superior and the other inferior.

I remember Cabral saying something about harmonious coexistence. Does any one remember that and the full content of that speech?

I am still looking to hear from our leaders in term of the guidance for our future. We have been brainwashed with other heroes and that is all I will say about all of that. I have said in other writings we are in a revolving door of despair which some people did not like. Again it all depends what class you are in, if your among the peasants without a job and trying to scratch a living on soil that won't produce, what else is there but the two (G's) God and Grog both are a delusion, false psychotic belief and the Pope who gives hope on the hear after and the promise of the Kingdom.

Our Revolution has not been completed, our Republic is in a state of growth and from what we see and what we know there are class distinction for the privilege few is this not true in Africa and other 3rd world countries even in Europe or the U.S. is it not about class?

Again I thank you for your article perhaps we will think about this my friend.

My last words on this subject there are many wonderful things said in the so-called Holy Books, Bible, Qur'an, Talmud(Torah), Sutras and many others. If we take only that which speaks of love and kindness and peace and dignity and integrity and good conduct and make a new book perhaps it will be a renewing of our minds and to transform from disobedience to obedience. There is so much more to be said,but that is enough for now.

Peace and good will joy and happiness and good health.
Morabeza.
Friend Manu Salah
please over look any misspelled words.

Manu Salah,
thanks for your comments, you speak of many interesting things, not the least how you describe your childhood and the power you experienced from an authoritative clergy.

I am not an expert on Cabral but I thought that the parallel between his messages and religion was thought-provoking.

I also agree that Buddhism is probably the most peaceful of the major religions (I think partly because, as far as I know, the concept of a one and only almighty god is not as prominent).

Your point about ignorance, religion and oppression is well taken, as is the thoughts about the two "G:s" (God and Grog) as you called them - I agree that despair and ignorance probably make people much more susceptible to become religious and hope for a life after this one (as well as to taking drugs). That's also why it is so difficult for me to understand the reasons behind the growing religious extremism in wealthy countries with advanced education systems such as the US.

On moral, I am quite certain that we don’t need religion to be morally advanced. There is no evidence suggesting that religious beliefs automatically lead to applying high moral standards; just look at all the double standards being applied amongst even the strongest believers, as well as all the evil things being done in the name of a god. Likewise, there is no proof that atheists or non-believers apply poorer moral standards than people believing in a god (it might even be the opposite). I am therefore convinced that all humans have an inbuilt biological system of moral which works with our without religion; as humans we are social and altruistic creatures who simply benefit from applying principles based on "I scratch your back if you scratch mine". There are in my opinion much better ways of stimulating advanced moral than through religion.

Finally, I quite like your idea of extracting the best of all religions and assemble them into one, using the parts that, as you say speak of "love and kindness and peace and dignity and integrity". If all religious people where moderate, tolerant, humble, benevolent and open to scientific progress (which, unfortunately is far from the case), my skepticism about religion would be much more limited – even if I still would consider the idea of a god immensely improbable.

I once considered being an atheist but I gave it up......they have no holidays.

CV2k, how right you are. Religious dogmatism, as well as extreme nationalism and racism, will remain strong as long as deep societal inequalities persist.

Altair - don't give up! We should invent new holidays, such as the Day of Science, the Day of Rationalism, or, why not, the Day of Enlightenment!

By the way, just because you are an atheist, this doesn't mean that you have to give up all the good things about religion (such as Easter holidays - which is, after all, just as much about eggs and bunnys as the resurection of Christ!).

Even if you don't believe in any god, and even if you consider many aspects of religion malevolent to humankind, you can still of course appreciate religious music, such as many of the classical masterpieces (Requiem, anyone?) or art (Da Vinci, and many many others), as well as books - hey, even the bible, as far as I am concerned (as long as you disregard the superstitious parts). Personally, I can even sometimes enjoy the quite peacefulness of an empty (as they are in Sweden, mostly) church - albeit wihtout sensing anything holy or supernatural about it.

It just seems to be so much easier for even the most passionate atheist to tolerate, or even appreciate, some of the the good and moderate aspects of religion, than it is for a convinced religious believer to tolerate atheism.

haha salah....somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind I recall that one liner from a vaudevillian comic.

actually, uffe I believe that the praca for jp2 (and salah can chime in here and correct me if I'm wrong) is either the site or close to the site of where he said his mass during his january 1991 visit and set the wheels in motion of cv becoming a 2 party state so i believe the rationale for that praca goes much deeper than plain old catholcism. back in those days, no one ever publically spoke out against the ruling party yet he did during his homily and those in power were in the front row in full view of one and all. it's actually quite amazing. within a year, there were elections.

i don't know if i'm on board with all atheists being a tolerant bunch since i have a few friends of my own who, at the mere mention of religion, get all worked up and arguementative. i ask myself 'are they for their beliefs or against something else?' not that i'm being an apologist for religions...because i'm not. when it comes to people who have god in their lives, smart money says the ones that can differentiate between religion and spirituality are in a better place than their church going compatriots.

Very interesting info. I did not know that the pope contributed to improving the democratic development in CV. If it is so, he should be rightfully honored for that, and the erection of the statue makes more sense to me. If only the Catholic church could focus more on such things, rather than banning contraceptives, condemning homosexuals etc...

To me, it is really a lot about tolerance and openness - the opposite being dogmatism. The only thing I really can't tolerate, is intolerance. One could also say that I am not dogmatically against anything - except dogmatism itself (in all it's forms - religion, nationalism, racism...). It may sound just like a twist of words, or even contradictive. But if you think twice about it, it should hopefully make some sense.

It is also important to distinguish between passion and dogmatism. An atheist may be passionately convinced that there is no god, and he/she may passionately try to convince others. Even to a point when it might become annoying. At times, I get pretty agitated myself about this subject, and I am sure that one or two of my friends have found my efforts rather tiresome. BUT – and this is crucial – an atheist would never (unless he is mentally insane) use violence or even kill to convince others. He would use words, not force or weapons or explosives tied to himself. Moreover, if you presented new real evidence, for, lets say gods existence, or a true religious miracle such as a virgin giving birth or so, an atheist would have to listen and consider, and eventually challenge his own conviction. With (relative) ease.

Dogmatic religious believers, on the other hand, whether Jews, Christians or Muslims, will not stop at anything to have their way. They will use oppression, force, violence, even death, even suicide for Christ’s sake (excuse the expression) to make others believe in their particular god. And why? Just because someone brainwashed them with a bunch of strange stories when they were kids, and because those same stories are scribbled down in an old book. Without a shred of real evidence. Moreover, dogmatic believers will never, ever, change their mind on their beliefs, regardless any evidence, regardless reason, regardless any argument. In fact, they even consider this rigidity a good thing – it’s called “true faith”.

And that's a HUGE difference.

Some may challenge this by pointing out that Hitler and Stalin or other people committing genocide were atheists. At a first glance, this might appear convincing. I don’t think it is convincing in any way. First of all, it is actually questionable if Hitler really was an atheist, some evidence actually suggest that he hade firm Catholic beliefs. But even if he was an atheist, it is actually irrelevant. Because the fact of the matter is that he did not do what he did to impose atheism! He did not try to force people to abandon their Christian beliefs. He did not kill people with the objective to convince them that there is no god. On the contrary! He actually USED the old religious conflict between Christians and Jews to help his political cause – which was to exterminate the Jewish people (for ever and ever doomed for “killing Jesus Christ”) for whatever OTHER twisted reasons he had. Without religion fueling the fire and the hatred, he would never have been so “successful” as he was in this regard.

You also have a really good point about distinguishing between religion and spirituality. I consider myself a spiritual atheist in some sense (which does not mean that I think that there is such a thing as an eternal “soul” or the like). There is a genius modern philosopher called Ken Wilber, who I have learned a lot from when it comes to spiritualism. His book “A brief history of everything” is is nothing but mind-blowing. Check out his website if you are interested:

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Someone once said: "If you have personal delusions, you are called insane. If you share those delusions with others, you are called religious".

one can never dispute the passion of your philosophies, uffe.

And as someone else once said : "My Karma ran over my Dogma"

Cape Verde has always been a Roman Catholic nation for over 500 years, we have embraced the religion, its saints and scriptures and have made a major part of our daily lives, traditions and festivals. It was not a brain washed religion, in studying Cape Verdean history you will learn that there were no indigenous people on the islands when the Europeans arrived, they brought with them christianity and Judaism. Africans we brought to work on the plantations and some Africans came as tradesmen who trader arts and crafts. African fishermen came as well bringing their African religions and spiritual beliefs to the islands. It is true that the Portuguese Catholic church did force catholicism on all people who settled the islands. but that is true about Europe as well. Christianity was not born in Europe, it was born between Egypt, Ethiopia and the middle east and forced upon Europeans by the Roman Empire when it adopted it. To question why cape verdeans don't throw away the faith that has held them together for 500 years, then you might as well question why not Europe through away christianity as well and return to the religions worshiped in pre-christian times.
Every religion historically has in some way or another been forced on every nation in the world. People adopt a faith, they draw closer to it, and make it theirs. Cape Verdeans, such as myself are both descendant of European christians and Africans, know very well the history of our ancestors when they arrived to these previously uninhabited islands.
We are very well aware of what people did in the name of the Catholic Church, but even Buddhism has done violent things. Look at Sri Lanka and the case of Buddhist monks strapping bombs to themselves and committing terrorism.
Lets not dismiss Cape Verdean catholicism as being new and un-original, because it is very old, and very integral in our culture. Cape Verde today is not what it was in the past. It used to be a very conservative catholic country, the people's catholic faith had served them greatly, it was all they had to hold on to in times of famine and hardship. Their faith is strong and old.
I am tired of people saying that Africans should just let go of catholicism because its European, when in truth, Catholicism was forced on Europe by the Romans and at first not even the Romans respected it. Catholicism is originally african; hence the first church built is in Egypt and Ethiopia has the oldest community of jews and christians. If we're going to tell history lets be realistic and state the whole facts.
Catholicism will always be embraced in Cape Verde, just like it is embraced in Portugal, or Italy, it has been part of our history since the beginning, part of our culture, our festivals and our traditions.

If you are an atheist it is your choice.
We have been catholic for 500 years, it is in our culture, our traditions and our customs, no one should have the right to take it away nor question it. We are not mis-informed, we know our history and we know that catholicism was the first religion in Cape Verde. People may have used it historically for bad, but in the end it served us for good. Catholicism is not inherently European, it was forced on EUropeans thousands of years ago as well...should Europe strip itself of it?
Study christianity it comes from Africa; Egypt and Ethiopia, and of course Israel.
I am proud of my religion, I respect everyone decision to worship as they wish, to me its an insult to assume we should throw away catholicism it is ours too, my family has embraced it, from my arch bishop great grandfather to my grandparents today, it has been our faith and it is strong in Cape Verde because the people have held on to it, they connect with it and they own an important stake in catholic and world history.

Amilcar Cabral's revolution was not about telling people what to worship, it was about giving people access to democracy, non-censored education, liberation and free speech through respecting eachother's cultural and religious views.

rodrigues,

you are the new st_antao in this site, you are trying to fight all these people who are belittling cape-verde, so you deserve to be respected.

Uffe, is a strange man...he dares to comes in this site and tell to the cape-verdeans that their religion, which is catholicism, has been imposed by portuguese colonials...but Uffee WAKE UP from your cold scandinavia...Capeverdeans have portuguese origins, these portuguese colonials are the ancestors of the capeverdeans, this is the TRUTH if you accept it or not. Our portuguese ancestors brought catholicism to cape-verde and thanks god, this is a good thing

"that brought with them prisoners and depraved,incorrigible men and woman from Portugals penitentiary"

this is a legend, made to belittle capeverdeans, there was probably more deprived and criminals that went to the usa than the 1000 who went to cape-verde.

The catholicism has been intrioduced in capeverde by us, the portuguese people, cape-verdeans are the descendents of the first portuguese people who arrived and settled in the archipelago and therefore catholicism is our heritage.

Thank you JeRodrigues for your comments.

My apologies if you were insulted, this was really not my intention. Please understand that I did not question Catholicism in Cape Verde as such, I only expressed my opinion that I thought it strange that the former oppressor's religion was not challenged at the time of liberation. Besides that, I question ALL dogmatic and superstitious beliefs everywhere, in all parts of the world. Which, by the way, does not mean that I don't respect people with religious faiths (as long as they in turn respect my atheistic conviction). Just as I respect people with a different political opinion than mine.

In one of your comments, you say that no one should have the right to question Catholicism.
Why? Why should not anyone have the right to question religion? On this point, I disagree – anyone should be free to question anything, it is a democratic right, as long as they use arguments and words instead of force, weapons or explosives (as is, unfortunately, so often the case in religious conflicts, and not only historically but also in modern times).

Your point about Christianity having been imposed on other nations than Cape Verde is of course true; in fact, just about all Christian nations (including my home country Sweden) have originally been forced the Christianity upon them, through war, invasion, inquisition... That is my point precisely. Why cherish something that has been brought upon you by force? But I don't favor Christianity to be replaced by old pre-Christian religions, but rather by enlightenment, reason, rationalism and science. This is also happening in many many countries, including not only in Northern Europe but also in historically very Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal, albeit at a slower pace (I guess that the US is the big exception here).

You also seem to disregard all the African religions brought here through slavery, trade etc. Why should not CV adhere to one of these religions just as well as Catholicism? (If there is a need for religion at all, that is.) As good Manu pointed out:

salah Mateus wrote:

May I also add that Portugal did no make Cabo Verdeans by it self but the mixing of the people from Africa had something to with the conception and concomitant of consumating of what we call mestizo or a mix people from Portugal and from Africa and today we can say that the people of Cabo Verde are the kaleidoscope of humanity

Finally, I agree with you that religion probably have helped people in times of hardship and famine. That does not make religion true however. Nor does it excuse all the atrocities that have been and still are being done in the name of some holy god. I sincerely hope - and believe - that those times of hardship and famine will never again curse Cape Verde, and that therefore the need for superstition and religion will decline, within time.

of course one can question any religion, and I am happy to have contributed to this conversation, to contribute my knowledge and clarify catholicism in Cape Verde. I have a respect for all religions. And Manu I'm sorry If I mis-interpreted the sri lanka situation. I just had to clarify that the origins of catholicism in cape verde is much older and very inherent in the culture, its not just a 'forced religion'. I had to make that point, because it is important, it is our history. anyone who lives in cape verde, I feel should have a strong grasp of history, all history, not just the negative but the positive as well. I am proud to have been involved in this conversation with you uffe. It is only through these debates that we can all evolve and learn.
greetings
JRODRIGUES