By Omar Anderson, Staff Reporter
IN A show of unity yesterday, a strong band of church leaders gathered at Mandela Park, Half-way Tree for a historic religious rally demanding social change.
Backed by hundreds of their flock, the church leaders expressed intolerance at the high levels of crime, corruption and injustice in the country, and stated, "Enough is enough."
The meeting which was attended by church leaders from various denominations, including the Jamaica Pentecostal Union, the United Pentecostal Church, Whole Life Ministries, the Jamaica Association of Full Gospels, and the Jamaica Evangelistic Association, was a prelude to 21 days of national fasting and prayer they have organised for Jamaica's restoration and reconstruction.
Yesterday's meeting began near 2 p.m. with lively praise and worship.
Buoyed by the spirited dancing and singing, the leaders spoke out against corruption, injustice, and social deficiencies, and appeared resolute in sending a strong message to the political leaders that it will not be business as usual.
The Rev. Albert West, head of the Mountain View Ministers' Fraternal, said Jamaica's tribalistic politics continued to divide the country, but added that God's finger was writing on the wall, signalling that an end must be put to the wanton loss of lives.
"We as ministers have buried too many babes. Too many widows and weeping children are around the place," he said. "Enough is enough, the blood of our brothers crieth from the ground to God."
Bishop C.A. Holdsworth of the Greater Grace Temple Apostolic Church, said the level of morality in governance had been eroded to an all-time low. He lashed out against what he said was biased awarding of large government contracts, money laundering, and organised crime, which he said were all derivatives of corruption.
Bishop Windell Rankine, head of the UPC in Jamaica, said the police should be criticised when they are involved in extra-judicial killings, but at the same time he launched a broadside against persons who accommodate criminals.
"Too many gun-toting criminals are walking around high and mighty," the bishop said. He added that economic injustice whereby persons can't get jobs because of their addresses and colour, ought to be eliminated.
Earlier, the Rev Al Miller of Whole Life Ministries, and one of the organisers of yesterday's meeting, said Jamaica was like a wounded bird needing divine healing. He also turned on his colleagues who, like himself he said, must be blamed for just being an "echo" and not a unified voice against maladministration over the years.
"We pledge never to make that happen and today's demonstration testifies to that affirmation," the Rev. Miller said, whipping up the gathering into acts of praise and worship. "We are not only 'meking' a difference but we are 'meking' things different."
The 21-day fasting and prayer is to begin today; it ends December 9.
