User:Jherna42/sandbox

Demographics of Haiti
The state religion is Roman Catholicism which 80–85% of the population professes. 15–20% of Haitians practice Protestantism. Only a very small percentage of the population practice Vodou, mostly along with another religion. The main religions practiced in Haiti are Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, and Judaism. In addition, the protestant population is continuing to grow, along with Islam and Judaism. The Islam population usually goes uncounted for and has links to the slave trade. Almost 99% of Haitians claim at least one religion, with many practicing some part of voodoo.

Voodoo is rare among the urban elite and is often compared to Cuban Santeria due to the large Cuban population in Haiti. The practice of voodoo revolves around family spirits called Loua that protect children. To repay the spirits, children perform two ceremonies where the Loua are given gifts like food and drinks. That does depend of the monetary status of these families, poorer families wait until there is a need to perform the rituals.

Voodoo in relation to Christianity came along two different paths, the path with the Catholics and the path with the protestants. For the Catholic path; under the French the slaves were not allowed to practice Voodoo, but they were allowed to occasionally have dances on the weekend. These dances turned out to be Voodoo services, until they were liberated in 1804. Most Haitians see practicing Voodoo and Christianity as normal due to the many components they share. The catholic church wasn't always as accepting of Voodoo as it is now, in 1941-1942 a holy war was waged against Voodoo killing many of the higher ups in the Voodoo religion. This war ended around 1950 when the Catholics decided give up the prosecution of those who practiced Voodoo and to have a relative peace. The path with the protestants was less peaceful. The Protestants came to Haiti in 1970 and since then they have been bitter enemies of Voodoo, most often calling it devil worship.

 I think it's great that you're focusing on religion here - what are you specifically adding that wasn't already in the article online?-Prof Hammad 

- I added everything after the first source.

I think you did a great job discussing the variety of religions in Haiti. However, I would suggest that you add the implications or effects that a variance in religions has had on the Haitian society politically, socially or economically. For example, how has religion impacted the reception of contraceptives? Have any religious groups been oppressed to the point of negatively affecting their socioeconomic status? You also mentioned slave trade in your article review; expanding on that idea or including more information to relate that to religion would also be useful. -Samantha Gonzalez

-I see why you would think I should add this information but that isn't what I was trying to focus on when adding my section. Out of these suggestions I will probably look up and add how voodoo is dismissed by most people that don't practice it and how it has negatively been transformed in the view of anyone who does not practice.

I like that you expanded on slave trade and elaborated on its connection with religion. Overall, your response offered insight on how people practice Voodoo today and how they did so in the past. As a last minute suggestion, I would add more information on the other religions listed rather than focusing just on Voodoo. -Samantha Gonzalez

Article Evaluation:
·       Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

I would say yes everything in the article is relevant although the maps did distract me a little because I wanted to know more on how they maps came to be.

·       Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?

Yes the article is neutral, with no biases appearing to me.

·       Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

Not that I can tell.

·       Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?

Yes all of the links I clicked worked, and it does support the claims.

·        Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

Yes all of the facts have appropriate and reliable sources. The information comes from newsletters, books and data collected. Yes the sources are neutral.

·       Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

Yes there is information from 2007 which could be updated to have more current data.

·        Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?

A lot of the conversations are about needing cites or questions other writers have.

·       How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

It has a C rating and it is part of 4 WikiProjects.

·       How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

It seems less involved than how we discuss topic in class.

 Next time, no need to restate the questions, but try to write one paragraph that ties all of these answers together and engage a little more with the questions - Prof. Hammad Category:Xn