Letter of the Day | Devotions in schools are the least of problems
Published:Friday | November 4, 2022 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
The haste with which the minister of education has declared her intention to develop protocols for devotions in schools is a potent reminder of the deficit of critical thinking among persons who occupy some of the highest offices in this country.
It is inexplicable why the minister would want to rush to develop a set of protocols. These are likely to entail duration of the sessions, how often they can be held, who can be in charge of them, and exemptions of what can’t be said in them. This is as a result of one incidence whose content and ramifications remain incomprehensible to the minister. Religious devotions have been an integral feature since the establishment of the school system in Jamaica. Additionally, devotions are held weekly in thousands of schools across the country. However, the ‘unusual’ incident at Oberlin High School is the first to have come to national attention – it’s not even something that happens once in a while.
It would both be pitiful and tragic if Mrs Williams is unaware of the significant behaviour modification and awareness to moral principles in the lives of scores of students by the activities undertaken by Christian student groups in schools. Devotion in school is one of the more crucial components in these activities. So, instead of the minister declaring that ‘school is not church’, she should be bitterly asking, why is school not like church? Given the myriad of problems besetting the education sector, can the minister’s pronouncement to intervene in school devotion be seen as anything but shortsighted and an attempt to muzzle Christian influence? And all of this would come against the ministry’s failure to put effective measures in place to address the alarming incidence of violence in schools, leaving us to wonder if the move is not replicating the behaviour of the cow who looks for the weakest part of the fence to jump.
Another evidence that the espousing of biblical orthodoxy witnessed in these devotions, seems to be the major concerns for some persons, is highlighted by Major Sean Campbell’s article, published in the Sunday Gleaner, of October 30. It very strange that while the priest is vehement in accusing the participants of using the devotions to parade their denominational idiosyncrasy, he does not hesitate to recommend the adoption into these devotions the features and contents that permeate his own worship service.
Isn’t it sad that the very survival and integrity of orthodox Christianity faces its biggest threat from modernist clergymen, who seem to be on a crusade to end the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ?
CASHLEY BROWN