Shame On Church - Clergyman Charges Christians To Focus On Serious Crimes, Not Anti-Gay Protest

All I can say is HERE HERE!

Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer

On a day when segments of the local church community led protests against gay-rights activists seeking to challenge Jamaica's buggery law in the courts, one clergyman urged the Church to address its failure to make serious headway in fighting crime.

"The more churches we get is the more heinous the crimes that our people are committing. Somehow, there is a disconnect. The Church is not making any serious inroads into the nation," declared the Reverend Father Franklyn Jackson.

"There is a serious crisis in the Christian community because, up to 15 years ago, there were 366 different Christian denominations in Jamaica, and since then, I know of four more that have come," he said.

Jackson, during his sermon at St Luke's Church in Kingston yesterday, pointed to the stabbing death of a 13-year-old girl at the Anchovy High School in Montego Bay, St James, last week as testament that the country was in crisis and that the Church had lost its footing.

"From whence have we come to this place as a nation where our children turn on each other and start slaying one another? When we start slaying the mother of the nation, what are we saying about the future of Jamaica?"

He said: "Our land is under scourge, and it's not just economic plight. We would want to think it is economic plight, but if we bought all the gold and brought it to Jamaica, we'll have problems, because the white-collar person will find ways of embezzling the funds from the national purse."

Jackson pointed out that it was time the Church got rid of "our tribal Jesus, because our nation is in trouble and we need to witness to the power and the presence of Jesus in our lives".

Local gay lobbyists have long argued that the Church has been guilty of nitpicking in denouncing homosexuality. On several occasions, activists called on local clergymen to end the campaign against homosexuality and focus on issues such as crime and corruption.

Asked yesterday whether he supported the mass protests put on in Kingston and Montego Bay by the church group Prayer 2000, Jackson said: "I don't want to comment on that. [But] there is no sin that the Church needs to come out and campaign against.

"Sins that are committed, the Church should make a pastoral response. I would not support any demonstration against [any sin]; what I would ask the Church is to see people in communities that have problems of whatever kind and be there to minister to them and show them the way of God."

He used the occasion to call for the governor general to "lead the way and call us to prayer and let us ask God to lead us out of what we have fallen into".

ENDS

also from the Observer

Stop bullying non-believers

Dear Editor,

Given our obsession with policing the bodies of homosexuals, we are again debating how to regard and treat gay Jamaicans. Recently, one Christian leader proclaimed that he is willing to die for his conviction that gay Jamaicans do not deserve all the protections guaranteed by our constitution. That was when I decided that secular Christians need to speak up and be counted. It pains my heart that anti-gay Christian leaders speak as representatives of God, not because there aren't many Christians who share their limited view, but because the media insists on selling their opinion as the Christian perspective.

This offends me because my faith in God has never been predicated on my willingness to condemn other human beings as sinful, degenerate, disease vectors. Let's be clear, there is no one Christian perspective on homosexuality. Our views are as diverse and conflicting as our interpretations of the Bible.

This offends me because my faith in God has never been predicated on my willingness to condemn other human beings as sinful, degenerate, disease vectors. Let's be clear, there is no one Christian perspective on homosexuality. Our views are as diverse and conflicting as our interpretations of the Bible.

Many Jamaicans seem to have forgotten that Christianity was built on conquest and exploitation. The revered thinker Desmond Tutu once said: "When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land."

We must come to terms with this reprehensible history and stop bullying non-believers to conform to outdated and demonstrably problematic ideologies. The slippery slope, apocalyptic arguments against homosexuality — a phenomenon with us since time immemorial — have got old. Furthermore, our shameless attempts to validate our righteousness at the expense of others is absolutely unethical. 

Thankfully, more of us today believe in the notion of inherent dignity and recognise the need to protect the humanity of social groups long thought to be inherently inferior. We recognise that the citizenship of homosexuals will not hasten the second coming of Christ any more than liberating slaves accelerated his return. In our increasingly globalised world, our interactions should be guided by an abiding faith in the need for understanding, tolerance and inclusivity. Instead of promoting discrimination and strife, I believe the creator of the universe would much rather we encourage universal values of love, compassion, and charity. Jamaica's constitution places an obligation on the Government to recognise and promote the rights of every citizen, including the gay ones. Instead of honouring the theocratic ambitions of some Christians, it is time our social policies and criminal laws reflect the democratic ideals outlined in the Charter of Rights.

Benjamin Fletcher

benjie.fletcher@gmail.com