Rituals/Thanksgiving: One which you would have grains such as corn, peas, rice, flour, cornmeal, milk, wine, honey, candies, full gospel and prayers, singing, clapping and rejoicing in the Lord.

Open Air Service: Groups of members, both male and female gather at any street or corner with bells, lotas and calabashes offering their prayers. There is a reading of First and Second Lesson and then a passage from the four gospels, or if a particular message is given to a messenger to be given from any other Books of the Bible, a full gospel preaching after.                                                                                                         

Forty Days Observance: When one is passed away, we keep service in remembrance of the departed soul just as Jesus Christ was ascended on the forty days.

Offering up of a Newborn Child: Christening or infant dedication where it is taken to a church or chapel with sponsors to receive it's sacred name and blessing from almighty God.

Principles that Relate: To the acceptance of the divine call to both the reliance and performances to a spiritual profession, divinely ordained through and by the initiation of the Mourning Room, as the first criterion required for anyone to be admitted to Ministration of the Faith with peculiarity in its effects, where you can become a Nurse, Diver, Healer, Watchman, Teacher, Surveyor, Leader, Pointer, Warrior, Stargazer, Junior Master, or even Commander and Inspector of the Shouter faith etc.  Elders of the Spiritual Baptist Shouters faith are convinced that in light of the above and in consideration of the history of our Faith (undocumented) and in further consideration of the documented history of recognized Christian Religions and other Asiatic Religions such as Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, subdivided from a classified system of the races of mankind namely, Caucasian, Malaysians, Mongolians, Ethiopians and American Indians entered according to an act of Congress in            Washington 1873 by A. Hollman as statistics of Christianity in the world.

Doctrinal and Historical: Elders of the Spiritual Baptist Shouters Faith disagree with and deny any claim that the name Spiritual Baptist or Baptist should be taken either to identify or to represent the religious tenets, beliefs, doctrine and concepts of the Spiritual Baptist Shouters of Trinidad and Tobago. As in any other repealed in the "The Shouters Repeal Ordinance"  of 1951, it is clear that it is "The Shouters" not Baptist or Spiritual Baptist that was prohibited and later repealed.               And in further consideration that the Baptist Religion in a clearly distinctly defined Protestant Religion whose source can be traced stemming from protesting Christians in the religious schism of the century (the Reformation period) and that names associated with the Baptists in the Reformation are: John Smythe of France, Cranmer of England, Knox of Scotland (now Presbyterian), Simmons of Denmark, Henry Grebel of Genera-Milan, Ana Baptist and John Calvin of Spain.

One can clearly see that at the head of today's Baptists stands John Smythe’s Baptists and Henry Grebel's Ana Baptists. Each has a doctrinal basis of Lutheranism. The present American Baptists have on their frontline the name of Roger Williams of Wales, educated at Oxford in 1598, emigrated to America in 1630, became a Puritan, settled in Salem, Massachusetts, baptized in 1636, and settled in Rhode Island which identifies with the old Roman Empire and has no relation to the Shouters Faith whatsoever.

The Elders of the Faith however agree that the Shouters Faith is a Christian African religion and that the African Ancestral and Traditional Religions described as pagan and other religions in the compiled history of creeds and entered as an Act of Congress in 1873, was never intended to be a part of, or had any relation to the division or sub-division of this early Christianity and Protestants or Protestant Christians, and as such therefore, it cannot be said that the Shouters numbered among or with either pagans or Protestants.

The Spiritual Baptist Shouter Faith, according to such terms, can be said to be a sect having a distinct and separate identity and can be regarded as a Faith in accordance with such terms. In terms of its origin and survival, most of the customs and practiced doctrine commonly used in the Spiritual Baptist Shouters Faith is taken from the Christian Bible, King James Version.

It must be understood that we received the Bible from our ancestors, who got it during the period of slavery and human degradation. The plantation of the slave masters who in the process of what is described as "The Middle Passage" accorded treatment intended to create a new identity of the Black African man and to transform the African into a Negro, during a period which denied him of family heritage, religious language, principles, usage of culture and anything that was incidental to whatever can be called or determined as his own.

Our ancestors, in order to survive this inhuman ordeal, made the best use of all that was forced upon them and made a type of synthetic mixture to secure and preserve the true concept and meaning of their religious doctrines and heritage to this day.

The Bible is read in all our churches in keeping with the religious patterns commonly accepted by all persons being religious, for the administration of Theology, Doctrine and council embracing the moral and divine qualities in respect to the standards of morality, concepts and practices of faith matching the hour. Upon the truth that to deny scriptures pertaining to God and the prophets, is to deny the very existence of that which you may call your own.

Questions may arise on how do you explain The Spiritual Baptist Shouters Faith as regards to The Spiritual Baptist or Baptist, and why something has not been done to correct it.

These questions can only be answered by a proper consideration of the official Hansard page 349-352 (see debate by the Attorney General on the Shouters Prohibition Ordinance)...

             "That a condition of affairs has arisen in the colony by reason of the practice of a sect or body calling themselves the Shouters. The Shouters look upon that piece of legislation as responsible for a condition of  fear and a list of undesirable traits exhibited continuously in some cases, and at one time or another and which in each case present problems to members and leaders and the church as a body, these traits are simply put lined as follows: hostility, aggressiveness, resentment, adjustment difficulties, disciplinary difficulties, behavior problems, leadership problems, immaturity in matters, social and spiritual sense of inferiority".          

History of the Baptists

Following is a listing of some of the various Baptist movements:

• Armenian Baptist
• Campbellite Baptist
• Ana Baptist
• Freewill Baptist   
• Calvinistic Baptist
• Paedo Baptist
• General Connection of New Baptist
• Particular Baptist   
• Presbyterian Baptist
• Primitive Baptist  
• Separate Baptist  
• Seventy Day Baptist
• The Old Baptist  
• The Strict Baptist
• The Union Baptist  
• The Open Baptist
• The Unitarian Baptist  
• The United Baptist   
• Independent Baptist   
• Hockett Baptist
• Fundamental Baptist
• London Baptist
• Missionary Baptist  
• National Evangelical Spiritual Baptist Archdiocese Inc.  
• West Indian Spiritual Baptist Sacred Order 
• National Ecclesiastical Council  
• Free Spiritual Baptist Mission Inc.   
• Triune Shouters Baptist  
• Universal Spiritual Baptist Council Inc.  
• United Baptist

The Spiritual Baptist Shouters

The Spiritual Baptist Shouters are not Baptist, as they cannot be the soul representatives for the Shouters. I do hope this information will assist all those who are present and wishing to have history correct, or for posterity.

Our aspirations are the guiding star of the shouters life never again to be clouded for faith by either or worth doubt or fear by our attainability by steadfast dedication and devotion to our sacred aspiration and by faith in their possibilities. The faith of out Fathers living still shall lift itself to seemingly impossible heights.

And we shall always remember that ambition may have a cheap and vulgar objective, but aspiration and ideals of truth always have a high goal yet the two are closely related.

As I/we close this sacred address, we wish to comment on the fine qualities involved, the courage, the devotion, the insight, the sacrifices and the skill of those leaders, pastors, Mothers, Teachers, Elders, Patriarchs and Prophets who endure pain, suffering, fear and fruits of the Spirit.

When we look at the problem traits as aforementioned, we already know that they are long-standing behavioral patterns and that they are to be discouraged or corrected, or left to be outgrown. But we should also know how to go about whatever has to be done about it. This includes encouraging the Ministers, Pastors, Mothers,Teachers and Lay persons who are the adherents of the faith to develop desirable traits in place of these undesirable traits. We also recognize that in the process of correcting these undesirable traits, the very efforts may set up resistance, rebellions and inhibitions which hinder rather than help the natural development of good character and spiritual personality. But still, it is better to do the right thing, which is to let Christ's guidance direct the course which would be the best for the Spiritual Baptist Shouters. For instance, we can look at the fact that after the Shouters Prohibition Ordinance was repealed in 1951, for some reason yet to be understood, the persons who were deemed to be hierarchy of the church and elders of the faith did not identify or associate themselves and the practices of the faith with the term/word or name "Shouters".

After consultation with some of the elders, it was understood that to be called a Shouter was a disgrace, because the name represented having a bad reputation and any attempt to associate with such a name or practice would anger the powers and their freedom would be lost again.

The Elders of the past saw the repeat ordinance as an act of forgiveness from their slave masters, as a result, they must seek to be accepted into a predominately Christian society, thus suppressing the important aspect of their illustrious faith, and to present themselves as being on par with the other Judeo-Christian religions in a doctrinal sense, for the express purpose of obtaining dignity and status quo. It was this ambition that blinded the eyes and clouded the minds of those who were desperate for freedom as masters said quite rightly, the coming of the light can either illuminate or blind the seekers.

When the faith was legislated out of practice and the Tenets of the Faith were outlawed, the rituals were deemed to be the work of evil, and men and women were hunted down like common criminals. Symbols were condemned and Shouters were the lepers of the land. They had to seek shelter in the Baptist church, which was imported from the United States of America. the same was sent to the West Indies complete with a Black Pastorate of well-behaved and converted free persons, who assisted their slave masters in a well fought war and were rewarded with a promise of land in the West Indies. They came in companies, their religion was Baptist, viz.: the Independent Baptist Mission, the Fifth Company Baptist, the London Baptist Mission, and the Independent Baptist Union of the United States of America.

For the record, no one ever called to order for these thirty (30) Baptist Organizations or faiths for unification.Please be guided that we are the ones that were banded and have no parent body or foreign base.

The Council of the elders Spiritual Baptist Shouters of Trinidad and Tobago is an indigenous religion comprised of twelve (12) Archdioceses, with many unit churches under its umbrella, and we are representing the interest of all Spiritual Baptist Shouters of the Trinidad and Tobago community.

Introduction:

1. Creation and Establishment of the Religion

In Trinidad and Tobago this religion developed in the nineteenth century. When Trinidad became a British possession in 1797, settlers brought not only the Anglican Church but also a number of other non-establishment Protestant denominations.

It is highly likely that as English settlers drove to worship in Trinity Cathedral near Woodford Square, their slaves held their own religious services while waiting for them. They may very well have sung the same songs and hymns while injecting more expressive African-derived elements into their worship. These events probably occurred between 1802 and 1834, which marked the end of slavery.

During this period as well, a group of Americans of African descent who had fought on the side of Britain and against the Americans were given grants of land in exchange for their loyalty. These Black Americans settled primarily in Naparima where they formed so called "company villages" named after the military companies they had served in.

The following material on the history of the faith including citations, is taken from C. M. Jacobs, Joy Comes in the Morning, Caribbean Historical Society, Duke St. Port-of-Spain, 1996. Missionaries from the London Baptist societies visiting the area in the early nineteenth century attest to the expressive and emotional nature of the faithful and it seems highly likely that they were practicing a form of religion now known as Spiritual Baptist. Even then, the official London Baptists forced them to stop their practices of "shouting" during services. Some sources also maintain that the religion originated in St. Vincent and was brought by migrants to Trinidad in the nineteenth century.

Although Vincentian migrants may indeed have been practicing Shouters or "Shakers" as they are called in St. Vincent, the majority of the historical evidence now seems to support the view that the faith was already well established in Trinidad by the middle of the nineteenth century. It is an indigenous religion without any foreign parent body that was formed in Trinidad and Tobago.

2. Its Prohibition

The Spiritual Shouter Baptist Faith and its observances were banned in this country for a period of 34 years from 1917 to 1951. The colonial government of the day passed a piece of legislation, The Shouters Prohibition Ordinance, on November 16, 1917.

The then Attorney General noted in his comments that: "Apparently the Shouters have had a somewhat stormy history from all I have been able to learn regarding them. They seem, if they did not arise there, to have flourished exceedingly in St. Vincent, and to have made themselves such an unmitigated nuisance that they had to be legislated out of existence. They then came to Trinidad and continued complaints have been received by the Government some time past as to their practices."

The legislative Council of St. Vincent had already passed such a prohibitive ordinance in 1912, and that of Trinidad some years later was closely modeled after it. The Ordinance prohibited a person from holding flowers or a lighted candle in their hands at a public meeting; ringing a bell or wearing a white headtie and any form of shaking of the body.

During the prohibition, the Shouter Baptists fled into the forests and hills to hold their services. Even here they were not protected. Sister Reyes Hypolite describes how the police came to their service in Sans Souci.

"When the police came, they said 'not a man move !' The police came in ordinary clothes and only two in uniform on the road, and she called out the window: 'Sister Lopez, police !' and one of them not in uniform arrest her and give her three charges: giving a house to keep a Shouters meeting, attending a Shouters meeting and disturbing the police on duty. They took 26 of us, they had to make two trips, carry us to Toco the Saturday night. They charge us and send us back and tell us to come up on Tuesday to attend court. They charged us with first offence, Ten shillings or 7 days in jail; the mother of the house $21 dollars for three offences and $14 for the second offence or 14 days in jail. Some of us pay and some did not and they went to jail. So, when they arrest me, I was living there, I went for my child because I can't leave the child alone, they rough me up and tell me 'get in the van !' One of the child aunt was there and she say 'go on, I will see about the child' and they take us up."

A woman relates how Elton Griffith having just come from Grenada "...where he didn't have anything to do with the Baptists, was walking in Prince St. and somebody was keeping a meeting, a gentleman, and he met the police arresting the man, and kicking down the bell, the lota and tyra and he stand and watch. Then he question the policeman who tells him that it's against the law. He said from that day, he took up that as his own and to work to free the Shouter Baptists."

The stated reasons for the Ordinance were that the Shouters made too much noise with their loud singing and bell ringing. There were complaints that they disturbed the peace. The expressive and emotional behavior of the worshippers which included dancing, shaking, falling to the ground was unseemly by more traditional elements in colonial Trinidad society.

The police had been persecuting Shouter Baptists for years prior to the Ordinance and had even lost a case to them in the courts. Thus the Ordinance was enacted because the colonial government of the time deferred to the complaints of property owners, taxpayers and the police. In addition, the established churches also thought that such practices were heathen and anti-Christian and they were increasingly alarmed at the number of worshippers leaving the established churches to join the Shouter Baptists. Underlying all of these reasons however was the idea that many of these practices derived from an uncivilized and barbaric African past. A cultivated Christian society therefore had no room for what were considered to be barbaric rituals. The shame associated with slavery and the so-called uncivilized African heritage of much of the population of Trinidad led many people at the time to try to ban the religion.

In General, the colonial ruling class of the time went to great lengths to suppress the culture and traditional religions of the non-white majority. For example, an even earlier Ordinance in 1869 cited any 'African' form of religion as Obeah or black magic, and practitioners were subject to imprisonment and flogging. Playing drums or any other musical instrument between the night hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. was made illegal and even bongo and drum dances could not be held without official permission. Although this Ordinance was withdrawn, the "music bill" of 1883 prohibited drum-playing of any kind.

That the dominant elite of the day were in favor of the banning is evidenced by an article in the Port-of-Spain Gazette on Oct 10, 1917. It stated that: "An ordinance has been introduced into the Legislative Council looking into the elimination of the pseudo-religious body known locally as "Shouters". This is a body that has mistaken noise for enthusiasm, and shouting for religion. It no doubt began in a conscientious way with a desire to worship God, but it has long since degenerated into a burlesque upon religion and a general nuisance to every community where it has squatted down and deceived the feeble-minded..."

Despite the banning Ordinance and the subsequent persecution of its adherents, the Shouter Baptist movement survived and flourished. Although their houses of worship were broken into, their public meetings crushed and their adherents jailed by the police, there forms of persecution and oppression merely strengthened the beliefs and faith of its members.

Throughout the many years of their prohibition, calypsonians sang about them. Although some of them actually recorded Shouter Baptist hymns and folk songs, some ridiculed and mocked the faith as did the Growling Tiger in a calypso called 'That is the Shouter' or 'Is This Religion'.

"We have the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Salvation

But what is a Shouter band ?

It if is a religion, do tell me please

I am tired with the nonsense, give me ease

But the Shouters is a husband, children and wife,

And they living miserable a corrupted life

If is that they call civilisation

It's a disgrace to my native life."

Throughout the twenties and thirties, the Shouters fought many court battles and tried to counter the general contempt with which the public held them. It was not until the arrival of Honorable Uriah Tubal Butler on the political scene that attitudes towards the Shouter Baptists began slowly to change.

Honorable Butler was himself a deeply religious man and closely tied to the Spiritual Baptist religion. His public meetings resembled those of a Baptist Gathering, using candle light, opening each meeting with a prayer or inviting a Baptist leader to do so. Butler's close ties with the religion began giving it some legitimacy. By the 1940s the Baptists entered the political arena primarily to fight for the repeal of the Ordinance banning their faith. Grenadian born Deacon Elton George Griffith led the fight (footnote 2).

Griffith, who was then a member of the Pentecostal Assembly, was motivated by several visions, in one of which he heard a voice saying "Elton Griffith, I am sending you to set my people free". Griffith was led to leave Grenada and migrate to Trinidad, where he shortly joined the Baptists.

((Footnote 1 - These stories are related in the video "Spirit Water Deep", shown on Trinidad and Tobago Television in March 1998.))

((Footnote 2 - Cited in Gordon Rohlehr, Calypso and Society in pre-Independence Trinidad 1990. p 157))

3. The Repeal of the Ordinance

By the 1940s the campaign to repeal the Ordinance against the practice of the Shouter Spiritual Baptism gained momentum. In the first place, the many independent Baptist churches organised themselves into the West Indian Evangelical Spiritual Faith led by Deacon Griffith and presented a petition to the Legislative Council in 1940 asking for the repeal of the Ordinance. In part, this remarkable petition read:

"We as African descendants crave indulgence of the Honorable Legislative Councillors to use their good office by assisting us to modify or repeal the 'Shouters Ordinance'. We consider that this form of religion or sect, is our ancestral heritage. Owing to this Prohibition Act of Shouters Chapter 4 no. 19 has affected thirty thousand (30,000) members of our faith."

A few years later, The Honorable Albert Gomes, a then member of the Legislative Council, appealed to the Council to appoint a Select Committee to inquire into the repeal of the Ordinance of 1917.

A committee was formed but it took several years to release its findings, which were to recommend the repeal of the Ordinance against the Shouters. Deacon Griffith and his followers in the meantime led and actively lobbied the members of the Legislative Council, which had undergone many changes and now had members who were more representative of the population at large.

Several of its members had close and intensive relationships with the Shouter Baptist Church. These included Honorable Albert Gomes, Honorable Uriah Butler, Honorable Raymond Quevedo (the calypsonian, Attila the Hun), the Honorable Sinanan brothers and the Honorable Audrey Jeffers. Albert Gomes' constituency contained many Baptists whose votes he courted, and because he was such a prominent supporter of the cause, he was appointed to head the Select Committee. The debate in the Legislative Council was led by Albert Gomes and supported by several prominent members of Council, and the bill to repeal the Ordinance was passed on March 30th, 1951. A jubilant Archbishop Elton George Griffith was carried out of the Legislative Council chamber on the supporters to Woodford Square, where he led a Thanksgiving celebration.

The struggles of the Spiritual Shouter Baptists to achieve their victory has been aptly described as a struggle of indigenous people against foreign rulers" (footnote 3).

((Footnote 3 - Honorable Senator Martin Daly S.C., Senate debate, cited in Sunday Express, March 29)).

 

Rituals, Beliefs and Practices

The Spiritual Shouter Baptists believe that their religion derives from the biblical John the Baptist and their name comes from the practice of immersing believers in water as a means of baptising of initiating them into their faith.

Mourning, bell ringing, visits from the Holy Spirit and a distinctive form of shouting as a means of expression, baptism, proving and mourning, the phenomenon of the possession by the Holy Spirit, the physician manifestation of possession in the shaking, dancing, speaking in tongues, and bringing back of spiritual gifts are also practices of the religion.

The religion has a complex series of ranked positions. These can be as many as twenty-two named ranks, although the smaller churches recognise fewer of these. The commonly found ranks are those of Leaders, Mother, Shepherd, Pointer, Nurse, Prover, Captain and Teacher. The duties that are privileges of these positions vary somewhat, but the first two indicate the highest-ranking male and female members. These positions of the faith are made known to an individual during the process of 'mourning', the most important of the Spiritual Shouter Baptist rituals.

These descriptions are drawn from J. Houk, "Spirits, Blood, and Drums", Temple University Press 1995; S. Glazier, "New World African Ritual: Genuine and Spurious" in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dec. 1996.

The mourning ritual involves a period of three to seven of more days where the initiates are placed upon an earthen ground where they lie, sit or kneel, their eyes are covered and they are given minimal food and water. Members of the church, usually the Pointer, officiate at the mourning while the Nurse takes care of the physical needs of the initiate

During the mourning, the initiate 'travels' spiritually to different places, receives spiritual instruction through visions and dreams and is told what position in the hierarchy he or she is to occupy. When the Leader decides that the time is up, usually during a Sunday service, the persons are brought back into the church, and share their experiences with the congregation. From the perspective of the belief system, 'mourning' involves symbolic death and resurrection in that those mourners shed their impure beings. In psycho-biological terms, the rite of 'mourning' actually involves a period of intense physical sensory deprivation as the initiate is deprived of light and movement and receives minimal sustenance.

Some scholars allege that the ritual can be traced to the rites of some African tribal groups when they initiate their new members. They argue that traits such as fasting, not eating salt, a new name and the colour symbolism of the bands covering the eyes of the initiates suggest African derivation. Others claim that it originates in the Book of Daniel, which states that Daniel mourned for three weeks. In either event, the ritual is the central rite of the Shouter Baptist Faith in Trinidad and in all areas of the Caribbean and the Southern United States where this religion is practiced.

Services are typically held on Sundays and are opened by the Leader or Mother of the church by the ringing of the brass bell. Candles are also lit, and water and aromatic oils, as well as sometimes peas, rice and flour are dropped at the four corners of the altar. A liturgy is then recited followed by hymn singing accompanied by ritual handshaking and the touching of everyone gathered. The Leader delivers a sermon, followed by more singing and praying. Throughout the service, worshippers clap hands, tap their feet, and shout out praises to the Lord. Visits by the Holy Spirit upon worshippers may happen anytime during the service. A person will begin to sway, hold his or her head, shout, speak in tongues, shake and eventually fall to the ground in a state of trance.

Other rituals of the faith include baptism wherein a church leader who is then recognised as a spiritual father or mother to the initiate, immerses a person in water at least three times. In fact, membership in the Baptist faith involves the creation of a new 'family' bound together by common membership. Initiates become the 'children' of the leaders who have baptised them, but also brothers and sisters to the persons baptised with them. Other practices include a feast called 'Thanksgiving' held annually or at special occasions. This rite is normally undertaken for the children of the community and involves the distribution of special foods. Prayer, the singing of hymns and sermonizing accompany it.

The Religion Today

Despite its despised position of earlier years,Spiritual Baptism today has been given an important new status by the granting of an annual holiday. The United National Congress had promised in its campaign to grant a holiday to the Shouter Baptists, which the prior government had been reluctant to do. Upon assuming office in 1995, the new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Basddeo Panday granted the holiday to be held on March 30, the date of the repeal of the Prohibitive Ordinance against the Shouters. In addition to their newly legitimated status, the Shouter Baptists along with two Orisa groups were also granted 25 acres of land in Maloney to be shared among them. Plans to use the land include the building of a Shouter Baptist Primary School and the construction of a Spiritual Park; several other ideas are being examined.

Both religions today are vibrant manifestations of the deep religiosity characteristic of Trinidad and Tobagonian society. They are especially attractive to younger members who are interested in relating to their African heritage. Even Shouter Baptism, although largely Christian in its main focus on Jesus Christ as the Savior and its deep belief in the living reality of the Holy Trinity, nevertheless contains elements clearly derived from an earlier origin in Africa. Both contain elements of the African Yoruba religion, but Orisa has maintained more of these than have the Shouter Baptist. The most important of these is the belief in Spirit possession in which the Orisa or African deities take over or possess the body of the worshipper.

Similarly, Spiritual Shouter Baptists believe in a form of trance brought about by the entry of the Holy Spirit into the body of the adherent. In trance or possession, worshippers act according to the wishes of the spirit who has entered their bodies. In addition, Spiritual Shouter Baptists believe in an overt emotional form of worship, which is also thought to be African in origin.

Despite some similarities in ritual and observance, the relationship between the two religions of Shouter Baptists and Orisa is ambiguous. There is some overlap between Spiritual Shouter Baptist and the Orisa worship in Trinidad. Some members practice both religions, and some Baptist leaders also hold Orisa ceremonies. Other members, however, vehemently deny that there is any relation between the two. Both religions are, however, very active in Trinidad and Tobago today.

Although it is difficult to ascertain their membership, estimates of the Spiritual Shouter Baptist faith range anywhere from about 11,000 to more than 100,000. The numerical strength of the group is complicated by the patterns of religious behavior in this country.

Persons may say they 'belong' to as many as four or five different religions, because they attend several churches and services. One common expression describing this form of religious behavior is that 'The more roads to Heaven one takes, the better'.

We the Spiritual Shouter Baptists are different from all other Baptists. Firstly, we plant flags into the earth symbolising different passages of the Bible, for example: the second book of Moses second Chapter of Exodus second Verse to the fourth Verse reads as follows: "When she could no longer hide him, she took for him An Ark of Bulrushes, and daubing it with slime and with pitch and putting the child therein; and she laid it on the flags by the river brink."

We use coloured uniforms, according to our gifts in the spirit, teachers, provers, surveyors, etcetera. The other groups do not use colours, except maybe one or two members of their faith. Very high-ranking Mothers will use the colours blue or brown; whereas all our faithful use colours.

The other groups wear white dresses and veils predominately. Spiritual Shouter Baptists use a red gown, plaid gown, or rainbow colours, just to name a few and we use wrapped headgear.

The Spiritual Shouter Baptist Elders have a private room in their churches or sometimes a separate room, which we enter into to do solemn fasting, singing or praying. Elders of the faith read the Bible and preach the gospel to pilgrims. There we go off into the spiritual realm within the cosmic. By this time our bodies are here and we transcend into spiritual travel. Out of this exercise come our spiritual gifts and the beholding of our spiritual face. There we are set apart from the things of the world.

There are churches with drums, which they beat during the services. Our drums send and receive messaged. We also chant hymns. The churches are built with centre poles bearing a wheel on which candles are placed. While the services are in progress we spin the wheel. These are calabashes in our rituals, bearing flowers together with a lit candle. The other groups, if they do carry a calabash, will keep it in their fasting room.

We have women as Ministers of Religion, officiating in our churches; in the other groups women cannot become Bishops, furthermore they can never be elevated to Archbishop. Women are debarred from holding certain offices 'in the clergy'.

Spiritual Shouter Baptists are a unique set of people.

The other groups I am speaking about are The London Baptists, Hockett Baptists, West Indian Sacred Order Spiritual Baptists and the Umbrella Group by the name National Congress of Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad and Tobago.

In Jesus' Almighty Name they are all different to the Spiritual Shouter faith of Trinidad and Tobago.