The Dominicans are a people tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine imaginable. Among the inhabitants of the island, over 90% profess some form of Christianity. More than 60% are Roman Catholic, and 12% of the population are Seventh Day Adventists. Despite these outward forms of Christendom, over 75% of the children born in Dominica are born out of wedlock. The island’s foremost historian, Lennox Honychurch, says of this: “The West Indian pattern of high illegitimacy and low percentage of marriages features prominently in Dominican society. The problems of paternal negligence and lack of the father figure has contributed to the complex nature of our modern social issues.”
