Barbados Spiritual Baptists: Social acceptance enhances opportunities for supporting public health

Abstract

The Spiritual Baptist faith has been present in the Caribbean from about the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. However, the movement only extended to Barbados in 1957 when a Spiritual Baptist preacher, a Barbadian by birth, returned to his native island from Trinidad, where he had been living for several years. The Reverend Granville Williams established the first Spiritual Baptist Church in Barbados and has continued to oversee the church's development since its inception. This article describes the evolution of the church's status over the past 50 years, as seen by both members and non-members of the group, from a marginalized religious group into a settled and accepted denomination. Explication of this transformation phenomenon is also explored through qualitative interviews with Barbadian clergy non-members of the group. The implications of this transformation for the interplay of religion, mental health, and social services in the Caribbean are then discussed.

Psychology in Barbados: Looking Back and Moving Forward

“…Questioning who we are and attempting to understand what it is to have a healthy mind, body, and soul have traditionally been sought through dialogue with respected figures in society (Downes, 2002;Griffith et al, 2008;e.g., priests, teachers, doctors) -figures in whom we have confidence and can trust with our innermost thoughts, especially in times of need. Inherent in mental well-being is the principle that there is a need for people to articulate their feelings and concerns through close interpersonal communication that is built on trust, respect, mutual concern, and confidentiality -fundamental principles of modern-day psychological practice (Rogers, 1951).…”