Livingston Thompson, Guest Columnist
THE EVENTUALITY of the re-election of George Bush is being met here in New York with depression and sadness.
However, the outcome of the United States Presidential election may be due in large measure to the perception that the incumbent was more decisive than his opponent on a number of issues. This perception was well presented to the massive audience in a religious performance at Dix Hills, New York, which was staged by the ultra-conservative Upper Room Christian World Center, two days before the U.S. Presidential election.
Although a lot of 'boos' came from the audience, the idea that Mr. Bush was more decisive, which the media supporting him worked hard to hammer home, got into people's thought. I wonder whether the Upper Room Christian World Center calculated the political value of staging their performance at the time they did? On the other side, in election-evening Bible Study at the John Hus Moravian Church, Brooklyn, members openly expressed their hope that Mr. Bush would be defeated. These elections have again brought into sharp focus the issue of the church and politics.
MORAL-ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
When it comes to the matter of politics and electioneering, one of the differences between the church in Jamaica and the church in the United States is that in the U.S. church leaders are not apologetic for their open support of a political party or candidate. That open support usually stems from the fact that the candidate is known to take a clear position on a number of the moral-ethical and social issues. The United States is going through a moral-ethical revolution, in which people have to shop around in the marketplace for views on morality and ethics. Since the positions people hold tend to be determined by the market, the church in that country has a keen eye on the views of candidates because those views will influence the rapidly changing religious landscape. For the church in Jamaica, the situation is somewhat different.
First, in Jamaica the church leader today is unwilling openly to support political parties or candidates out of fear of appearing partisan. Many leaders still have fresh memories of the 1970s, in which there was a categorising of the different ecumenical groupings as Labourites and Socialists.
For the last ten years, in an effort to throw off the burden of that designation, the ecumenical groupings have operated under the mistaken impression that they can be politically neutral. The result has been that we have appeared in large measure to be out of touch with issues in the society. It seems that clarity is being demanded in a society which, although not yet descended into the American-style marketplace-morality, is beginning to show signs of moral relativism. The churches should surrender their claim to neutrality and publicly engage the politicians on issues of morality, ethics and the economy.
Take the issue of mining, for example. It seems that rural Jamaican communities are paying a much higher price in terms of the environmental damage, public health and family dislocation than the benefits that they enjoy from that sector. However, it is not apparent that politicians are willing to come in open defence of the well-being of communities on this score. I would certainly like to give public support to a politician who is not afraid to be firm with the mining companies.
Secondly, the Jamaican church context is different from that in the U.S. because the moral-ethical issues, which are of interest to the churches, are generally not issues on which politicians are prepared to make public pronouncements. Take the issue of gambling, for example. We suspect that the reason we do not yet have a full-blown introduction of casino gambling is because Prime Minister P.J. Patterson is not entirely convinced of its viability; that the claims being made by persons like Godfrey Dyer, who see it as the only salvation for Jamaica's tourism industry, are not as plausible as they sound. However, the Prime Minister has not said so, at least not in public. He is sure to anger the 'casinoists' if he set up another committee to investigate the feasibility of the gambling propositions. There are those close to the inner workings of the PNP who think that the 'casinoists' within the party are only waiting for the Prime Minister Patterson to demit office to make their move for full introduction. It is a pity he has not made his position abundantly clear. It is also a pity that those waiting in the wings are not brave enough to be categorical and say publicly where they stand on the issue. Thirdly, whereas in America the political influence of the church is the subject of ongoing study, in Jamaica it seems not to be of any great interest to either media or academia.
POLITICAL INFLUENCE
In earlier years the Jamaica Council of Churches, as a single block, was believed to have political influence. However, I do not know of any study that was aimed at testing the veracity of that perception. The tendency is to judge the impact of the church on political life in relation to how often the views of church leaders make the news. Some of the newer religious groups have adopted this position and are deliberate about seeking to make their voices heard. However, for churches like the Moravian Church, which this year will observe 250 years of witness in Jamaica, the question of political influence cannot be posed in those terms. We should consider, rather, persons like the late Mary Morris Knibb, the first elected Council woman in Jamaica, who was a member of the Redeemer Moravian Church.
At present we have persons like Senator Noel Monteith, a lay preacher in the Carmel Moravian Church, and Senator Burchell Whiteman, a lay preacher in the Methodist Church, in political leadership. The contribution of persons like these suggests that we have to re-think what we have in mind when we speak of the political influence of the church. It seems that one can make a credible Christian contribution without trying to be neutral.
Dr. Livingston Thmpson is president of the Executive Board of the Moravian Church in Jamaica.
