The country of Haiti has faced its share of darkness. Children are routinely traded and sold into slavery, and corruption exists in every corner of human life. Poverty, disease, and oppressive government conspire to create a society more characterized by defeat than hope. As Christians, we know that spiritual realities are inseparable from daily life—which makes Haiti’s long and fraught history with Vodou a source of deep concern.

Historical Context

You may have heard talk of Haiti’s “deal with the devil.” The idea gained momentum after the 2010 earthquake, when some evangelical leaders claimed that the earthquake was divine punishment for an alleged pact Haitian revolutionaries made with Satan in 1791 to overthrow French colonial rule.[1] This claim refers specifically to the Bois Caïman ceremony. A pivotal event in the Haitian Revolution, this Vodou ceremony occurred as enslaved Africans united and resolved to fight for their ethnic freedom by “throw[ing] away the image of the God of the whites…[and] listen[ing] to the liberty that speaks in all our hearts”—a voice that led many to swear “to kill all the whites on the island.”[2] From its earliest days, the course of Haitian social and political life has been bound up with Vodou, and that relationship is and has since been marked by the same brutality and violence.

Protestant Criticism of Vodou

Protestant pastors and believers in Haiti rightly view Vodou with hostility. Vodou is often seen as synonymous with witchcraft, sorcery, and idolatry—all practices that are condemned in Scripture.[3] The rituals, symbols, and pantheon of spirits in Vodou are frequently acknowledged as demonic by these groups, reinforcing the idea that Haiti has dealt dangerously in occult practices.

Theological Basis for Opposition

The Protestant critique of Vodou is primarily theological. Evangelical Christians believe in a strict rift between good and evil, God and Satan, with no room for the syncretism that characterizes Vodou. Thus the worship of spirits, or loa, in Vodou is idolatrous and in direct opposition to the worship of the biblical God. Additionally, Christians acknowledge practices such as animal sacrifice, spirit possession, and divination as occult activities, further cementing the belief that Vodou is inherently satanic.[4]

Within Haiti, Protestant Christians see Vodou as incompatible with their faith—yet fear of Vodou priests and practices remains. Vodou commands authority because it deals in fear; but there is One who is more powerful than any occult activity or Vodou ritual. He reaches out to us in love, offering strength, peace, and true freedom to anyone who would believe. “Light cannot dwell with darkness,” and we pray that the truth of the gospel would overpower the stronghold of evil in Haiti, bringing many out of darkness into light.[5]

[1] Bertin M. Louis Jr. “Haiti’s Pact with the Devil?: Bwa Kayiman, Haitian Protestant Views of Vodou, and the Future of Haiti,” Religions 10, no. 8 (2019): 464, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10080464.

[2] Laurent Dubois, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789–1804: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016); “The History of Haiti and the Haitian Revolution,” Official Haitian Bicentennial Website, August 26, 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/20070826170155/http://www.ci.miami.fl.us/haiti2004/history.htm

[3] 1 Samuel 15:23.

[4] Deuteronomy 18:10–12.

[5] 2 Corinthians 6:14.

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