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Guyana Religion and Politics
Through much of Guyana's history, the Anglican and Roman
Catholic churches helped maintain the social and political status
quo. The Roman Catholic Church and its newspaper, the Catholic
Standard, were vocal opponents of the ideology of the People's
Progressive Party (PPP) in the 1950s and became closely associated
with the conservative United Force. However, in the late 1960s the
Roman Catholic Church changed its stance toward social and
political issues, and the Catholic Standard became more
critical of the government. Subsequently, the government forced a
number of foreign Roman Catholic priests to leave the country. By
the mid-1970s, the Anglicans and other Protestant denominations had
joined in the criticisms of government abuse. The Anglican and
Roman Catholic churches also worked together, unsuccessfully, to
oppose the government's assumption of control of church schools in
1976.
The Guyana Council of Churches was the umbrella organization
for sixteen major Christian denominations. Historically, it had
been dominated by the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. The
Guyana Council of Churches became an increasingly vocal critic of
the government in the 1970s and 1980s, focusing international
attention on its shortcomings. The conflict between the government
and the Guyana Council of Churches came to a head in 1985, when
members of the PNC-influenced House of Israel physically prevented
the council from holding its annual meeting. Later that year,
police searched the homes of the major Christian church leaders.
The PNC maintained the support of a number of smaller Christian
denominations, however.
In contrast to the most prominent Christian clergy, who
maintained connections with international denominations, Hindu and
Muslim leaders depended on strictly local support. For them,
resistance to political pressure was more difficult. In the 1970s,
the PNC succeeded in splitting many of the important Hindu and
Muslim organizations into pro-PNC and pro-PPP factions.
Data as of January 1992
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