Church-State separation and development

Yvonne McCalla Sobers, Guest Columnist

Daniel Thwaites seemed to take issue with Church-State separation in his column 'Path to Enlightenment at Old Hope Road'. He agreed that schooling should be kept in school and praying in church, but still concluded that a crusade during school hours was justified to let the boys get "a lickle Jesus in dem life".

Thwaites seemed so distracted by a minor reference to ancient Greece in my recent guest column titled 'Christian Jamaica? God forbid!' (Gleaner, March 5, 2013) that he may have missed the essence of my contention: that functions of organised religion and civil authority should be kept separate.

Ancient Greece and Roman states provided examples of the religious tolerance that existed among pre-Christian people who had many gods. These states engaged in no religious wars to impose their multitude of gods on unbelievers. Reasons for conflict generally related to state defence or expansion. For example, it is arguable that Rome persecuted Christians because, like Jesus, they were seen as challenging state authority.

On the other hand, religions with one God, like Christianity (as well as Islam and Judaism), tend to hate all competing gods. Early Christians warred among themselves about who had the 'true God'. As a result, the Pauline Church wiped out about eight communities of Christians with different ideas of their God. Bloody battles between Christians led a Roman historian to say, "No wild beasts are such enemies to mankind as are most Christians in their deadly hatred of one another."

Choice of whose "little pryaz" to observe has caused much turmoil throughout history, especially when the Church has held state power.

Monotheistic religions have endorsed hate and violence in spreading the 'one true faith'. The Old Testament is full of incidents in which God routinely sanctioned the murder, pillage and rape of the enemies of his chosen people. The New Testament continues the theme with Jesus saying, "I am not come to send peace, but a sword." According to II John, just greeting people with "wrong" beliefs is to be in league with "evil".

Verses like these set the scene for the atrocities of the crusades and the Inquisition where torture and slaughter were punishment for thinking or speaking differently from the Church of the day.They also justified centuries of anti-Semitism and extermination of 'heretics' and 'heathens'.

Dangerous intolerance

Religious intolerance is also evident in matters of sex and sexuality. The Bible supports the belief that sex outside of marriage is evil. For example, Paul wrote, "Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman." [I Corinthians 7:1]

Beliefs in abstinence for centuries led to discrimination against children born out of wedlock. Abstinence-only education is touted, although studies show that increased teen pregnancies result from lack of access to contraceptives. Indeed, the scandal of child molesters in the Catholic Church may well reflect the problem of mandating abstinence.

Further, vocal Christians continue to regard homosexuality as "unnatural", a "choice" or a "moral evil", ignoring current scientific knowledge about sexuality. As a result, adult heterosexuals and homosexuals can serve up to 10 years in prison for consensual anal sex. Homophobic religious attitudes are used (even by the unreligious) to fuel hatred, bigotry, violence and oppression in the name of God.

Central to monotheism is unquestioning obedience to God's laws. Christian religion generally teaches that total submission to biblical rules brings peace and healing as well as supply for all needs. On the other hand, rejection of these rules is believed to invite doom and devastation. Available data suggest otherwise.

Secular countries healthier

The 2013 UNDP development index shows that the most secular countries (including Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands) are healthier and more prosperous. These countries provide a much safer, cleaner, healthier, better educated and more humane environment than the most religious nations. The index ranks Jamaica, with its 'record' number of churches per square mile and decades of National Leadership Prayer Breakfasts, 67 places behind secular Singapore.

Neither absence nor presence of religion may be deciding factors in the complex matter of development. However, Church-State separation seems more compatible with development. For example, Bible-based intolerance is likely to silence or drive away a country's best and most innovative thinkers.

When matters of state are left to the State, churches can focus on providing moral and ethical support, which may include setting examples of tolerance, particularly in societies prone to conflict. The State can then attend to the task of protecting citizens (of whatever faith or no faith at all) from religious intolerance, if ever it arises in a secular state.

Thwaites, bright and usually progressive in his views, has shown signs of understanding the need for separation of Church and State. Liberal church persons are challenged to risk offending a rapidly growing group of conservative Christians who seem determined to lead Jamaica back to the days of Moses and Paul.

Thinking church persons can contribute far more than "pryaz" to Jamaica's development. They can challenge Bible-based intolerance that rewards conformity and punishes critical thinking. They can help organised churches to move more rapidly from the first-century wars on opponents to the 21st-century tolerance for differences. They can even support keeping religious crusades outside of school hours in state-run schools.

Yvonne McCalla Sobers is a human rights activist and convenor of Families Against State Terrorism. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and sobersy@yahoo.com.