Our one-track pony, Jamaica churches

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I write in reference to a Gleaner article online which noted in part that, “Several local Christians are calling for Canadian Professor Richard Albert to be removed from the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) named last month, claiming he has a distinct pro-LGBT and pro-abortion bias”. While I agree that the composition of the CRC needs to be recreated, were it not for this matter, I wondered - as a follower of Christ in the diaspora and being Jamaican by birth - whether the churches in Jamaica were all muted. Not surprisingly, the issue of LGBTQ comes up as their most important issue (and) for one individual to be removed from this ‘elitest’ organised/selective group.

On the issue of LGBTQ, is the Church now endorsing discrimination based on Jamaica’s Charter of Rights on freedom of choice, to love or be in love with anyone he or she chooses? I am going to hear all these folks’ Leviticus quotation. The same Levites who wrote those ‘laws’ were called out by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan that concluded with “love thy neighbour as thyself” .

The matter of abortion is another thing these enablers/selective moralists get in a frenzy about. I believe there are a myriad of reasons abortion must be legal. This is not a matter for the public, but a decision between the women and their medical doctors. Certainly, these men cannot relate to carrying a child when raped by a stranger or family member. There are instances where it is necessary for the health of the woman.

What religious zealots need to do is to stop their pontification and look beyond their stained-glass windows and their mansions miles away from those who they claim to love and are guiding to heaven.

My brothers and sisters, to avoid abortion, you need to walk your communities and create programmes from your closed church properties that will attract the vulnerable. We need to hear your sense of justice for the poor who seem to be feeling the brunt of states of emergency (SOE) during which they are thrown into lock-up for long periods. You need to demand that the Government stops the pilfering and corruptive misdeeds and organise more for the last, lost and the least.

LGBTQ Jamaicans have as much right as the men with wives and sidekicks, and the many in Government who cannot get an audited assets account to the Integrity Commission. These are more egregious - as they affect the entire nation, especially the poor - than consenting adults loving each other!

PATRICK A BECKFORD OD

Somerset NJ