Church, State should work together
Published:Saturday | February 4, 2012 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
As I see it, both the Jamaican Church and State will continue to suffer the effects of intellectual dishonesty, expressions of narrow denominational loyalty and superficial religiosity which could render the evils proceeding from the gambling industry as relatively trite.
It defies understanding how the voices which represent the collective Christian presence in the nation can be so dogmatic in a postmodern and post-Christian era.
The mediaeval doctrine of the separation of Church and State was crafted within a particular context and in response to perceived needs that impacted the then Western world. The metaphor was initially used to keep the State out of the Church's business, not to keep the Church out of the State's business.
Today, however, the implied common meaning and the convenient use of the metaphor is strictly for the Church staying out of the State's business. Such is an impossible ethic in a nation like ours, wherein our history cannot be separated from the manifest missional exploits of the Church, notwithstanding its unflattering shortcomings.
Misplaced energy
A reactionary 'occupy Sunday horse-racing policy' cannot be that which takes up our energy at such time as this. Not so, when the doctrine regarding the separation of Church and State needs to be reinterpreted and applied in ways that are culturally relevant and contextual.
Not so, when we have a mission to inform ourselves and to educate the conscience of our membership regarding the nature and mission of the Church.
Not when we need to work at bridging the unhealthy sacred-secular divide which so pits us against each other.
I believe that as Church, we stand to help the State forward if we can publicly confess that we are simply a community of continuing, if redeemed, sinners, always falling short of our vocation.
Indeed, our inability to unite on moral issues calls into question the high theories of our doctrines. In the same breath, we can still declare, that it is by the grace of God that we continue to humbly persist with our claims.
We do not need to apologise for our assertion that Christ alone has the right to rule the Church.
O Jamaicans, let us separate ourselves from the strictures implicit in a rigid and pathological 'separation of Church and State' sociology. It is as impractical as it is irrelevant to our nation's development today.
NORVA O. RODNEY (Rev)