Is Haiti cursed?

By many accounts, people of Haiti have cried out to Jesus, even praising God for blessings in this tragedy. Blessings like still being alive.

According to source in a CNN article, “In Haiti, you have Protestants and Catholics, and you have your percentage of each,” said J.B. Diederich, a native-born Haitian. … “But everybody is 100 percent voodoo.”

Voodoo followers believe in spirits, called loas, who intercede between humans and God. The earthquake last week, according to voodoo belief, was the act of an angry loa, not a natural disaster. Ironically, this voodoo idea resembles Pat Robertson’s — and other Christians’ — belief that the quake was related to the curse on Haiti.

But if Haiti is cursed for a “pact with the devil” and following voodoo, why are all countries not equally cursed? Culturally, the entire world is … well, of the world. There is no government that can claim to practice Christianity and dodge a “curse” from an angry God. Americans pledge to be one nation under God, but also put their trust, adoration and praise in money. Or success. Or approval. It’s called being sinners. We all are.

That’s why the Haitians’ prayers and praise during this time are a miracle, a work of God. According to a woman in the CNN article, “A lot of people who never prayed or believed — now they believe.” When I, a Christian, don’t manage to cry out to Jesus during the monotony of my day, what a miracle that a woman or man in Haiti, who has suffered immense loss, can still trust and know Jesus!

No one knows why disasters ravage the earth, destroying and killing. But God’s wisdom and glory will prevail, whether people recognize it or not. All people are “cursed,” suffering the consequences of sin in a broken world. If only the world, or at least believers, could follow the Haitians’ example and fix their eyes not on the curse but the Healer.