Cuba Gov. on Havana Church Enclosure
HAVANA TIMES, Sept. 11 — The Cuban government has finally informed the population on the situation revolving around a group of over 60 Pentecostal Church followers, held up in a Havana temple waiting for the catastrophe predicted by their pastor.
In a message read on the afternoon national news program, the authorities said they were doing all they can to resolve the situation at the Pentecostal Evangelical Church located on Infanta Avenue and Santa Marta Street.
Fernando Ravsberg of BBC Mundo had reported in the morning that “dozens of Cuban believers are held up in a Pentecostal Church in Havana waiting for a tsunami that according to their minister will cause mass destruction in these coming days.”
Ravsberg noted that the temple “is surrounded by a dense police line that completely blocks access to the place, especially to journalists.” He added that “one of the police officers said that there are 72 persons inside including several children and pregnant women.”
The official note read on Cuban TV went on to state: “These persons, gathered at the temple by their own choice since August 21, were called there by Braulio Herrera Tito, who was separated as a minister from his religious denomination for internal reasons back in May 2010.”
The government said a group of relatives went to the authorities, especially concerned about the situation of the children, who are not attending school (the new academic year began Monday Sept. 5) and for the pregnant women who are not receiving medical attention.
“After several contacts with the leaders of the retreat, a medical team checked on the health of the pregnant women, who have decided to remain in the temple. The expectant mothers were warned that their prolonged stay, without specialized medical attention could affect their health. Likewise the concern over the children missing classes was communicated,” states the press note.
The Police authorities said they will “continue to protect the citizen safety to avoid any type of incident and expressed their apology for any inconvenience to the population.”
The government said it will continue to seek a favorable solution to the situation “working with relatives, the community and representatives of the involved religious institutions.”
Re “we all know[world coming to its end] is far from the truth.” How can we possibly know this? No one knows if or when the world will end.
i have pssed this information to my facebook page it will no doubt have a lot of personal comments
thanks
lawrence
those who choose to believe that the world is coming to an end, had better rethink life and all it has to offer.
i f it was me that held all these people at bay i can assure you i would rather tell them about the truth than tell someone a drempt up lie.but as we all can clearly see here there are serious issues at hand this former priest has lost his true fath in god and for all that is deemed valid. his social structure is definded by revenge for something he failed at and that would be his true calling .if the people involved in this weather children, or pregnant women, are concerned they need to understand that people like the priest have brainwashed them into believing their world is coming to an end.when in fact we all know its far from the truth .life offers all of us a chance to prove as people that our person beliefs are going to be challanged everyday of our lives, the more we realize that some people would rather take those challanges and make them into their own personal vengance against god the more we need to teach others not to believe everything they hear from those who would rather fail in life.true belief is earned not given ,its time for the officials to stand guard and end what could end up a tragic event as we have all seen happen in the united states with cult like conditions that present themselves as flocks of believers from a false man of god
I agree on religious tolerance as long as the beliefs of a given religion do not impinge on my rights or the rights of non-believers.
This is not the case with Catholicism under which millions were slaughtered in the New World, under which the Inquisition took place, under which the continuing mass rape of young children happens with the knowledge of the Pope and under which women are considered so unworthy and non-spiritual that they are not allowed to become priests and under which they are denied abortions.
There is also the problem of people who believe in the fairy tales that make up most religions and being taught to NOT question the authorities who lead the various churches also believing whatever other fairy tales they are being told by “authorities” and doing so without question.
It is a total disregard for democracy and the rejection of independent rational thinking that is required by a democracy.
Hitchens (watch his anti-theist debates on You-Tube) accurately points out that there has been a marked difference in the thinking and actions of the deists who merely believe in a higher power/intelligence and the theists who believe in a personal God whom we must both love, fear and plead to.
Unquestioning obedience to a “celestial dictatorship” twists otherwise rational human beings to also follow other lies like ” there is no alternative to capitalism” and our political leaders must be followed in the same unquestioning way. (Witness those fools waiting for God’s wrath).
I just want to show that organized religion and indeed even one’s belief in any sort of “celestial dictatorship” is harmful to the advancement of democracy and the human race in general.
Hitchens: (paraphrased) “Think about a single act of goodness done for religious reasons that would not have been done for non-religious reasons and think about an atrocity committed solely for religious reasons.”
You will have a big problem coming up with an example of the former and no end to the number of examples of the latter.
These kinds of “predictions of impending catastrophe” occur regularly in the United States. The catastrophe’s never occur, but somehow the mesmerized worshipers do not catch on that it was all a scam, usually to the material benefit of the predictor.
Even so, people have the right to follow their beliefs, regardless of how nonsensical they seem to others. Yet, the minister in this case should be investigated for fiscal malfeasance.
Catering to a group of mentally unstable people who choose to believe not only in the ridiculous “prophecies” of a minister who had already been discredited by his own followers but in a religion based on preposterous myths is something that I would not do .
That said i have to give credit to the Cuban people/government for taking care of these people if only because they are human beings.
As for the immoral and fallacious beliefs of large “C” Christians; those who believe in the deity of Christ but who refuse to follow his teachings, I challenge them to watch this 13 minute video and come away unchanged.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo82sgrSAYg