I didn't call it Western Europe. I called it Western Christian Europe, e.g., the parts of Europe that historically practiced Western Christianity--Roman Catholicism or Protestantism--as opposed to Orthodoxy.
Most of Eastern Europe is more religious because it's Orthodox, and Orthodoxy never went through the religious fragmentation that ensued in the wake of the Protestant Reformation (Romania did, or Transylvania rather, but chiefly among its German-speaking population, and like Poland it ultimately turned back to its traditional church). The Protestant Reformation forced Western Europe to eventually either accept eternal repetition of the religious wars like the Thirty Years' War, the English Civil War, and the French Wars of Religion or else accept a degree of toleration, and toleration required compartmentalization of religion--which ultimately led to the decline of religion as privately held non-belief became a non-suicidal possibility, particularly after the Enlightenment.
I wouldn't propose that it's the sole reason, but since Western secularism is incontrovertibly the result of the Protestant Reformation (and I say that as a very religious Protestant) it is logical to conclude that the absence of such a reformation in the east is at least partly why Orthodox countries are generally more religious than most Catholic or Protestant countries. Religion was able to remain in the public sphere where it was not in the West. Also history shows that unless it's particularly thorough persecution has a tendency to increase religious fervor and spread it more broadly; I suspect that the Soviet Union's anti-religious agenda (and that of other Eastern European Communist regimes) did more to preserve Orthodoxy (and Polish Catholicism) than harm it. If I'm not mistaken, Catholicism was a major rallying point of anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland.
There's no real pattern between the denomination of religion, whether or not the country was a part of the Eastern Bloc, and how they are today, really. Russia, Belarus and Bulgaria were communist and orthodox. Serbia was as well and is now the same "color" as Austria. Ukraine was orthodox, communist and is now just as religious as the birthplace of Protestantism, Germany. Greece wasn't even communist and they are fairly devout believers compared to most of Europe, Romanians were both communist and orthodox and they are still fairly religious.
Maybe something like an hounfour/ounfò as a shrine replacement would work well- Vodou practices could be tied to bonuses from harvesting, multiple religions or loyalty. I'd love to see a representation of Ewe-Fon culture, and especially Voodoo without the dolls- at least in Cuba I would associate the practice with Bantu people. I would imagine Haiti along the lines we have of the Mapuche in terms of lowering loyalty pressure considering how much the Haitian revolution influenced tensions in the rest of Latin America.
I feel like that a unique infrastructure centered around Voodoo would fit better with a Dahomey civ, or something African rather than something Caribbean personally.
It would fit in either as far as I'm concerned. While geographically Haiti isn't African, within a broader civ context it would be the best fit for something representing African diaspora cultures and has one of the best stories of the Caribbean nations. I'd be interested in seeing many more African civs but I don't think we are going to get so many looking at our current situation. In the situation we got both Haiti and Dahomey, I'm sure there is something Haiti can use to distinguish itself.
Yes. If they decide to go to Sub-Saharan African again I'd like to see a civ from the coast of West Africa.
Unfortunately that also might be a problem with Dahomey, as many of the leaders were actively involved in the Atlantic slave trade.
King Henri Christopher or Alexandre Pétion would likely not be chosen. Jean-Jacques Dessalines is highly regarded in Haiti and had a stronger legacy there than Louverture but his methods are controversial. Toussaint Louverture may have died in a French prison but he was 60 at the time and had lived quite a long life at the time plus before his arrest in 1802 he had significant power and influence in Haiti such that Haitian historians refer to the years he was in power as the Louverturian State. He's well regarded outside of Haiti but Louverture's labor policies made him pretty unpopular within the island at the time and his legacy is complex for the country, especially because his authoritarian tendencies are a common thread in Haitian politics post-independence I'd argue more than the legacy of the Terror. Haiti is certainly fascinating for prefiguring both widespread independence in the Americas and the trend of powerful militaristic caudillos in many of those post-colonial states.
Long digression aside, I agree that Toussaint Louverture would be the best candidate for Haitian leader in a civ game
