Dominican American Faith in Washington Heights/Inwood

 

 

When Furcy Perez and his wife arrived from the Dominican Republic to Washington Heights/Inwood in 1983, they were Catholics. However, they were immediately enveloped by the unprecedented revival of Christianity among the Dominicans living in the area. Most of the revival was taking place through congregations that practiced the “gifts of the Spirit,” which meant a more emotional and personal faith.

The revival swept into Washington Heights/Inwood from both Dominican and American sources. In 1970, Moises Cabrera was born seemingly-dead, and his mother, a well-known witch of Santeria, could not revive him. Cabrera’s father, however, was a new Christian and prayed over his son. Then, observers recall, little Moises started to take on color, liveliness, and exhaled his first breath. Marlo Perez wrote, “A faint moan…gradually became crying. The doctors and nurses said to each other, ‘The baby who was born dead rose again.’” Such stories of miraculous healings fueled a renewed sense of God’s personal interest in Dominicans.  Later, his father moved his son to live with the Christian side of the family, then to America.

Around 1987, Cabrera began to feel the call of the Lord and at age 22 in 1992, he devoted himself to ministry, singing and evangelizing. He became the pastor of Iglesia Pentecostal Center Evangelistico Movimento Misionero on 10^th Avenue in Washington Heights/Inwood.

By the 1990s, Mrs. Perez also had stepped into a small Spanish-speaking church. The family started going to Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana de Manhattan (First Spanish Baptist Church of Manhattan) on Wadsworth Avenue. Their son Richard, who was born in the United States, performed with Truce, a hip hop group associated with Nicky Cruz, the former Mau Mau gang leader who became a Christian through the outreach of David Wilkerson.

When Wilkerson first came from rural Pennsylvania to New York City in 1958 to attend a trial of young gang members, he had traveled praying through Washington Heights/Inwood. The teenagers had killed a rival in a Washington Heights park, and their trial became a national cause celebre as an example of the deterioration of urban America. Little noticed were the first ripples of a spiritual revival that were also taking place in New York City, though the conditions in the city got worse before they got better. The work of Wilkerson and others eventually yielded a new Pentecostal/evangelical movement among Dominican New Yorkers in Washington Heights/Inwood.

 

 

By 2011, the Pentecostal/Evangelical wave was well-founded in the area. Cabrera’s church recorded a high of attendance of 500 people, with normal attendance varying between 150-250. A large group of teenagers attended the youth services when there were English speaking pastors.

The revival was finding its outlets among the younger Dominican Americans. Mrs. Perez’s son, for example, launched Christ Crucified Fellowship for the second and third generations of the Dominican immigration. Today, at age thirty-five, he is trying to figure out how to reach the wave of multi-ethnic millennials that is cresting in the area. He wrote in his book Mi Casa Uptown, “For me, planting myself in this city…has meant learning what it means to preserve what’s here now while also making room for the new cultures moving in.” The Perezes’ spiritual journey is emblematic for the spiritual journey of many Dominican Americans in the last few decades.

Dominican Americans and their worship sites have also been moving over to the Bronx and Queens. Today, the pattern of Dominican immigrants tends to be a settlement in Washington Heights/Inwood followed by a move to another borough. Cabrera’s church moved to the Bronx.

Dominican American settlement in the Bronx resembles the extension of an upside-down “J” with the hook of the “J” starting in Washington Heights/Inwood, then reaching downward into western Bronx. For a last few years, the movement of Dominican Americans resembles a blurring of the downward “J” across central Bronx. Middle class Dominican Americans often move to northern Bronx or southern Westchester or into New Jersey.

Washington Heights/Inwood is still a largely (68%) Hispanic area (though Whites are growing rapidly). Dominican Americans make up about two-thirds (65%) of the Hispanics here. They are evenly distributed throughout the community district. Puerto Ricans make up 7% of the Hispanics and have their largest concentration in Inwood, while Mexican Americans also make up 7% but are more likely to be found in South Washington Heights.

 

 

Deep dive into Dominican American faith in Washington Heights/Inwood

We have only a few in-depth studies tracking the religious changes among Dominican Americans in Washington Heights/Inwood. There were two large surveys of Hispanics in America that included a look at Dominican Americans. The Pew Hispanic Center’s survey of 2006, published in 2007, provided the largest sample of adult Dominican Americans with most of the respondents living in Washington Heights/Inwood (and a few in other parts of the metropolitan area). We obtained usage of this data from The Pew Center. It also did a 2013 survey (published in 2014), but the sample of Dominican Americans was relatively small. So, our data story really tells the religious background of the cohort of Dominican Americans who are today age 27 and older. We will occasionally refer to the 2013 data.

The PEW survey found that in 2006 (and 2013), Dominican Americans esteemed Christianity highly. 75% were Christians.

More importantly, most Dominican Americans in Washington Heights/Inwood claimed a spiritual mantle over their lives. In 2006, 85% said that religion played a very or fairly important role in their own lives. A majority of Dominican Americans in the area attended church regularly (more women than men). 49% attended at least once per week. Every day 83% prayed, 36% read Scripture, 21% spoke or prayed in tongues.

This last finding, the fact that over one-in-five Dominican Americans spoke in tongues, indicates the changes in the content of their faith over the last few decades. “Speaking in tongues” is a mark of a “Charismatic Christian and a direct ecstatic experience of God that results in utterances of a heavenly language.

 

Catholic faith in Washington Heights/Inwood tends to either get more intense or fade out

In 2006, a majority were still identified with the Roman Catholic Church. 48% of the Dominican Americans identified themselves as Roman Catholic. A later PEW survey, in 2013, found more Catholic identifiers, 59%. The 2006 and 2013 surveys are not equivalent, so we are not sure how to compare them. Whether 48% or 59%, the level of Catholic identification was a sharp drop from that in the Dominican Republic.

Entrance to New York City has unsettled Dominican Catholics. Typically, a nominal or weak Catholic faith is either re-energized by a charismatic or Pentecostal faith or is lost.

So, there was a significant shift in the type of Catholicism was practiced. Two-thirds of the Dominican Catholics of Washington Heights/Inwood described themselves as charismatic Catholics. In fact, many of them said that they also attended the Protestant Pentecostal churches. A majority (57%) of all Dominican Americans said that they had favorable opinions of the evangelical Christians.

A third of the born-again or evangelical Christians still identified as Catholics. Another study by a Catholic sociologist also found this back and forth quality of church attendance.

So, the line between Charismatic Catholicism and Protestant Pentecostalism was blurred. By 2007, the PEW Survey found that 38% of the adult Dominican Americans, whether Catholic or Protestant, identified themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians.

 

 

The Protestant Dominican Americans of Washington Heights/Inwood

In total, 24% say that they are Protestants. (The 2013 PEW study found that 21% of Dominican Americans identified as Protestant.) Over half of Dominican American Protestants are former Catholics. However, several local priests have told us that they are not disturbed by these conversions because they feel that the converts were previously non-practicing Catholics and didn’t have much acquaintance with God.

The Catholic converts to Protestantism in Washington Heights/Inwood span the age spectrum because many like Cabrera converted in the Dominican Republic before they came to the United States while others like the Perezes converted after arrival here. Conversions most often took place before age 33.

A small portion of the evangelical Protestants also retained some Catholic elements in their faith like an esteem for the Virgin Mary, displaying a crucifix or other religious object at home, and even prayers to a specific saint or the Virgin Mary.

The evangelical Protestant message usually came through a family member (40%) or a friend (26%). The most common reason (75%) given by converts was because they wanted a more direct personal experience of God. About 20% said that they had converted because of a deep personal crisis.

Protestant Dominican Americans most often belonged to churches associated with the Pentecostal denominations, according to the 2006 PEW survey.

 

 

The conservative aspects of Dominican American theology

Over all, Dominican American theology and politics takes a conservative twist.

56% believe the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word. Another 26% believe that the Bible is the Word of God but not everything in it is to be taken literally.

78% believe God will grant financial success and good health to all believers who have enough faith.

47% agree with the statement, “If enough people were brought to Christ, social ills would take care of themselves.”

61% believe Mary is the Virgin Mother of God and watches over believers.

 

Politically, conservative Democrats

39% are conservative or very conservative in politics, outnumbering liberals (20%) by two to one. However, a majority (57%) are Democrats.

63% believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

63% oppose gay and lesbian marriage.

 

Church means helping the poor

Washington Heights/Inwood Dominican American church goers are open handed with help for the poor. Dominicans report that their churches usually provide help to needy people in a variety of ways:

80%        food or clothing

59%        help in finding a job

57%        help with a financial crisis

45%        help with finding an apartment or home

56%        help in taking care of children

63%        literacy or language learning

 

 

Spiritual warfare

In 2013, a large portion of Dominican American Catholics and Protestants believed that there were massive conflicts happening in the spiritual world that can affect humans.

69% believed miracles still occur today as in ancient times.

49% believed Jesus will return to earth in their lifetimes

PEW found that about two-thirds (63%) said that people can be possessed by spirits, that witchcraft can influence people’s lives (42%), and that it is possible to communicate with spiritual beings or saints (41%).

About four –in-ten Dominican Americans believe that the “evil eye” or that certain people can cast curses or spells that can cause bad things to happen. 28% believe in astrology, and 33% in reincarnation.

However in practice, relatively few Dominican Americans had actual contact with the supernatural powers which are outside the biblical endorsement.

Dominican Americans in 2013 who…

Had witchcraft or black magic practiced on them or someone close to them–9%

Sought help from a curandero or shaman–15%

Used incense or herbs in a ceremony for spiritual cleansing or healing–17%

 

 

The Dominican American “Nones” of Washington Heights/Inwood

Proportionally, there are far fewer “Nonreligious” Dominican Americans than found in the general public or most other Hispanic American groups. In 2013, 16% of Dominican Americans said that they were unaffiliated with any religion. In contrast, 20% of Puerto Ricans said that they were unaffiliated with any religion.

In 2013, there didn’t seem to be a large drift of younger Dominican Americans away from any religious belief. Further, almost 40-50% of the Dominican American “Nones” remained moderately committed to religious practices like prayer and occasional attendance at worship services.

Two thirds of Dominican Americans who say that they have no religion, are not a believer, atheist or agnostic are former Catholics.  Nationally, this shift toward “None” is mainly fueled by nominal Catholics, Jews, and liberal Protestants.

Most of the Catholic defections to “no religion” and the like come before the individuals were 17 years old, and in the United States, very often after family breakups. Yet, the move away from a belief in God is not a popular option for most Dominican Americans. 64% of Dominican Americans had a very or mostly unfavorable view of atheists.

 

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