KING Shepherd Ray Brathwaite says no one should be upset by the financial assistance given to the Spiritual Baptists by the government.
He said not only had other religions been assisted by the State over the years, but it was a form of recompense for the persecution its members suffered by the colonial government when the Spiritual Baptist faith was banned between 1917 and 1951.
According to Brathwaite, on March 23, 2018, during a People’s National Movement’s Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day celebration in Moruga, the Prime Minister promised them lands for the construction of a sacred cathedral, administrative complex and a cemetery.
In 2019, the Spiritual Baptists, as expressed by the National Congress of Incorporated Spiritual Baptist Organisations of Trinidad and Tobago, received several acres of land and $10 million from the State.
And, at the PNM Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day Celebrations at Balisier House, Port of Spain on March 23, PM Rowley stated his intention to ask the Cabinet for another $10 million for the Spiritual Baptists.
Brathwaite said the projects coming out of those grants were for all Spiritual Baptists/Shouters, not just the National Congress, of which he was the project lead.
He explained the National Congress had 254 churches under nine archdioceses, which would increase to 12 after Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day on March 30. But there was also the National Evangelical Spiritual Baptist Faith (NESBF) Incorporated headed by Archbishop Anthony Jack, and the Council of Elders Spiritual Shouter Baptist Faith of Trinidad and Tobago headed by Archbishop Barbara Gray-Burke, which, he said, were much smaller organisations than the National Congress.
“That’s why the government selected us as we represent a unified body of Spiritual Baptist churches and archdioceses rather than a stand-alone archdioceses. This complex is for all Spiritual Baptists.”
[caption id="attachment_1074130" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Participants sing and dance during the Spiritual Baptist Day celebration at the Spiritual Baptist Administrative Complex, Couva on March 30. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
The Spiritual Baptists originally received $10 million and eight acres of land off Balmain Main Road, Couva in 2019, but when they went to the Town and Country Planning Division, they were told they needed enough parking for the 1,000-seat cathedral.
The government gave them an additional two acres where the Spiritual Baptist Administrative Complex and car park were built. The car park will also be used as a community space and there were also plans for a commercial centre.
“We decided to build the admin first as the nerve centre for the planning for the other things that we want to do. We never had a home. So we have a home now where we could sit, plan and meet understanding that there's an old saying, ‘If you fail to plan then plan to fail.’”
The administrative complex, to be formally open in late May or early July, has several rooms for various purposes. There was a large conference
