Overview

There are many religions in the world that are maligned for no reason other than misinformation and a general difference in spiritual practice. One of the most vilified of these practices is the voodoo religion. Often cited by followers of Judaic-Christian religions as being evil or satanic these religious practitioners have a great deal of hatred generated toward them.

Voodoo, truly known as Vodun, is a religion that has two separate and distinct branches. These branches have developed over the last few centuries, though the latter has only been popularized in the last few decades.

The First branch is Vodun which is a true religion with over sixty million adherents that venerates the dead and worships nature. This religion is founded on six thousand year old African spiritual shamanism that has melded with Roman-Catholocism completely. They are no more satanic devil worshipers than the typical Catholic religion adherent and spend a great deal of time and energy into performing good works in their communities and aiding their families in day to day living.

The second branch is the fictional religion known to the public as voodoo. The voodoo religion is a popular misconception and pop-culture reference that involves such stereotypes as the creation of zombies, satanic worship, murderous dolls, strange magic, and deals with ancient evil demons signed in human blood or by ritual murder of innocent animals. This branch of Vodun does not exist outside of the popular imagination and is actually nothing more than slander and misinformation.