Church and politics

Devon Dick, Contributor

TODAY, JAMAICANS vote in order to elect a new government. There are those who would want to confine Christians to voting as their only role in governance. This conclusion is arrived at based on the responses to a sermon I preached which called for, among other things, the Church trying to influence the manifestos of the political parties. The overwhelming response to that mandate by bloggers is that the Church should have no part with such issues and they justify their responses based on the doctrine of separation of State and Church.

There is a general misunderstanding of separation of State and Church as developed and practised in the United States of America (USA). The idea of the founding fathers of the USA is that there should be no State-sponsored Church. The State should not favour one church over another. People ought to be free to have and express their religious beliefs.

In England there is no separation of Church and State since the Queen of Great Britain is both head of the Anglican Church and also head of State. And the election of the Archbishop of Canterbury has political involvement. And in some European countries the State pays the salary of the clergy. These are examples of the State sponsoring churches.

implications

In Jamaica, from the seventeenth century to the 1860s, the state church was the Anglican Church and the State funded the Anglican Church. Many missionary churches complained that their taxes were used to support a competing church which largely catered to the ruling class. Recently, the executive director of the Institute of Jamaica, Vivian Crawford, enlightened me on what is believed to have been a catalyst in the events that led to the separation of the sponsoring relationship between the State and the Church in Jamaica. It is said that after the capital of Jamaica was moved from Spanish Town to Kingston, the then Governor of Jamaica, Peter Grant, desired the bishop's residence (now King's House), which was purchased by the State for the Anglican Church, to become his residence. That this desire was met, indicated the implications of the state power over the Church and, as such, this phenomenon was decisive in the Anglican Church no longer being the State Church.

However, separation of Church and State in the USA does not mean the church has no influence on politics and governance. In fact, the president of the USA swears on a Bible at the inauguration. Many of the laws are based on morality as espoused by the Bible. Furthermore, all USA notes have the words, "In God we Trust"!

In addition, there should be no State that controls the Church as it is believed to happen in the Roman Catholic Church in China. The State should not dictate to the Church once the Church's practices are conforming to just laws.

rights of the church

Therefore, the Jamaican Church, that is the collective Christian membership, should have a say in governance issues, including legislation and corruption prevention. The Church should monitor every legislation to ensure just laws are enacted. The Church should lobby government in order to significantly enhance transparency, competition, accountability and probity in public contracting and to ensure compliance with the government's procurement procedures and to eliminate waste, fraud and inefficiency in the award and implementation of contracts. The Church should have a voice and vote on issues related to poverty alleviation, job creation, debt reduction and management, easing the tax burden on persons who are poor, the terms of the International Monetary Fund agreement, use of alternative energy resources, infrastructural development, the transformation of the educational system and crime prevention and reduction.

Therefore, nothing is wrong with the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) seeking audience with the prime minister to ascertain what the bitter medicine is. However, having had the meeting, it behoves the JCC to share the information on the bitter medicine with the populace.

After the voting and the election of a new government, the Church should continue to be involved with the political governance of the country so that Jamaica may experience peace and prosperity.

Rev Devon Dick is Pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. Send comments to: columns at gleanerjm.com