The Christian Resistance to Communism in Cuba presentation at Hope College in Holland, Michigan

"Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Before embarking on a review of the Christian resistance to Communism one should examine the systematic evils inherent to the system. The 2015-2016 case of Sirley Avila Leon exposes on multiple levels the diabolical nature of communism in Cuba.

Religious repression in Cuba: The half century crackdown on Christianity in Cuba

The Cuban dictatorship has had a hostile relationship with religion since the beginning when it officially declared itself an atheist state and expelled scores of priests on September 17, 1961, cancelled Christmas in 1969 under the pretext to prevent work shortages for the 1970 ten million ton sugar harvest but continued the ban until 1997, and sent mobs to intimidate Cubans attending religious services.  

The revolutionaries in Cuba came down from the Sierra Maestra mountains in 1959 wearing rosaries, and the leadership used this image to reject the charge that they were communists. Fidel Castro claimed throughout the 1950s and in the early days of the revolution that their aim was to restore democracy, but the reality was that they had always planned to consolidate their rule and establish a communist regime.  [ Full article] 

Catholic religious orders expelled at gun point from Cuba in 1961

The Christian Resistance to Communism in Cuba 

Cuban Bishop Agustín Román on December 16, 2006 addressed the origins of the nonviolent Cuban dissident movement in Cuba and its Christian roots. Bishop Román had been forced out of Cuba at gun point with 130 others on September 17, 1961. Here he describes the link between the first prominent and nonviolent dissident group resisting the Castro regime.

Underlining its membership in the historic struggle of the Cuban people for justice, the Cuban Committee for Human Rights comes to light on the anniversary of the birth of Martí and cite Father Varela as one of the inspirations of their founding document. It's the same struggle, but it is boldly different: it seeks justice, but by peaceful means. The concept of nonviolent civil resistance is introduced into the history of Cuba. Take the truth as a weapon, placing it in practice in the civic field, what Scripture proposed in the spiritual realm: "the truth shall make you free". Hence its importance at that time and its transcendence for the future of Cuba.

 The Christian Liberation Movement, led by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, was founded on September 8, 1988 on the feast day of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre.  It was made of a group of  catholic laymen who attended a parish in the El Cerro neighborhood in Havana.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was the chief spokesman of the movement and the chief strategist behind initiatives such as the Varela Project, the Heredia Project and the Peoples Path. [ Full Article]

 Oswaldo Payá, Regis Iglesias, and Tony Díaz Sánchez turn in petitions.

 Markets and Morality and the Saint Benedict Institute co-hosted The Christian Resistance to Communism in Cuba on April 16, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in Winants Auditorium.