Black religion. Voodoo VS Christianity. History. Reaction Paper

Voodoo VS Christianity
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Voodoo VS Christianity
Introduction
People in different parts of the world believe in different religions. Among the common religions are Christianity, Voodoo, Islam, and Buddhism. Each of these religions is guided by a superior power that believers rely on to benefit in life. The religions have specific regulations that people ought to follow. Such regulations determine the type of religion that a person can choose. Christianity is known to preach a lot against Voodoo, but the two religions have many similarities. Therefore, this paper will compare the similarities, experiences, and traditions of Christianity and Voodoo.
Similarities Between Christianity And the Voodoo Religion.
Christianity and the voodoo religion believe that their power originates from a superior power to humans. Each of the religions highly respects the superior power. They continually advocate for believers not to believe in another superior power to humans other than their God. They believe that a deviation from believing in superior power can harm an individual's life. Christians believe their power comes from God, while the voodoo power is attributed to powerful and influential spirits. Christians have strong advocacy towards their God and always encourage followers to pray and believe in God (Oestigaard, 2017). If an individual is going through challenging situations in life, Christians believe that praying to God can eliminate the difficult situation. However, believers are expected to have faith in God for the prayers to work. Believers can ask other people to pray for them. The Voodoo religion believes that its power comes from spirits. However, not every believer can perform the magic. Certain people in the society can communicate with gods to ensure the magic has happened. Therefore, if a believer has troubling issues in life, they can request the people who have voodoo powers to solve it. 
Another similarity is that Christianity and the voodoo religion believe in using symbols to represent power and differentiate their religion from other religions in the world. The main symbol used is holy water, a Cross, and certain bodies. Christians believe that an individual can use holy water or the cross to protect themselves from evil spirits (Oestigaard, 2017). The Catholics, a branch of Christianity, use certain bodies as statutes to protect themselves. For instance, the statutes of Maria, Jesus, and various saints are used by Christians as symbols of protection (Gallares, 2019). Similarly, Voodoo uses various symbols to chase away evil spirits. When Africans migrated from Africa to Haiti during the slave trade, they assimilated various Catholic practices into their religion. An example is the picture of St. Patrick, which is used to represent Damballah Ouedo, the God of Voodoo. The picture is used because it is the only one that snakes. The serpent is also used in Christianity, but it represents Satan.
Christianity and the voodoo religion believe in the inhabitance of the mortal body by a spirit. Such spirits can help or harm the individual. According to Christianity, a believer invites the holy spirit through salvation. Salvation is a process through which an individual accepts to become a Christian. The holy spirit represents the presence of God in an individual's life and is responsible for guiding Christians (Siegal, Grünstäudl & Thiessen, 2017). Before the death of Jesus Christ, he used to guide Christians by helping them to live according to God's ways. After his death, Jesus sent the holy spirit to guide Christians to live according to God's ways. Demons can also possess Christian to harm the individual. These demons are cast of the body using prayers. In the voodoo religion, the mortal body can also be posed by spirits. The spirits can be made to help or harm the individual. If evil spirits have possessed a person to harm them, the spirit can be removed from the body through exorcism. The process is carried out by an individual who knows how to cast evil spirits from the body. The voodoo religion believers claim that the evil spirits that can enter another person's body are not cast out using the proper process. A spirit can also enter an individual's body to ward off misfortunes and illnesses. The possession of the body by such spirits is a rare experience and only occurs during voodoo rituals. 
Differences Between Christianity And the Voodoo Religion.
The main difference between the two religions is the place of worship and source of power. Christians worship in churches, personal dwellings and the basilica. The Voodoo believers worship in alters, and temples and the worship cannot be carried out in personal dwellings like Christianity worship. The practices of Christianity include prayers, charity works, communion and reading the bible. These acts are believed to strengthen the believers’ faith in the religion. Voodoo main practices are witchcraft and devotion that varies from good to bad acts (Cole, 2019). The devotion involves healing by casting out demons and manipulating the spirits to help people achieve certain things in life. Christians believe that their source of power comes from God and that the holy spirit guides believers. Voodoo believe that their power comes from spirits, and the power can positively or negatively impact the body.
Another difference between the two religions is that Christian is required to use statutes, while in Voodoo, statutes are encouraged. The Catholics are a branch of Christianity that is well-known for the practice of suing statutes. The main differentiating aspect of catholic churches from other churches are statutes ...