Religion played and continues to play an important part in Caribbean life in Britain. Apart from migrants from the 'small islands' of the Eastern Caribbean, whose French background made the Catholic church their major influence, almost all Caribbeans arriving in England would have had some form of Protestant religious upbringing.

This would have been mostly nonconformist. Caribbean churches had a strong evangelical influence, but most church services would have been more or less the same as their English nonconformist equivalents. However on many islands, particularly Jamaica, there was another parallel strand of worship, based on the Caribbean history of Pentecostal and revival movements which periodically swept through the region.

So, while most poor Caribbeans would have subscribed to one denomination or the other, many frequently attended night time meetings and rallies of 'revival Zion' or 'pukumina'. These rituals contained several African traditions and beliefs, and the meetings were led by charismatic individuals and groups of supporters selected by the strength of their calling and the power of their preaching, rather than by any official network.

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