Monique Hepburn, News Editor

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller embraces a supporter shortly after leaving the opening service of the 136th Annual Synod of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. - CLAUDINE HOUSEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
WESTERN BUREAU:
CLAIMING JAMAICA has lost hold of its moral compass, Lord Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Reverend Dr. Alfred Reid says the nation is now hanging on the fringes of morality and decency.
"What we are now seeing is the entrenched hostility between races, classes and cultures in Jamaica. We do not like to admit that but the story of Cain and Abel is the story of Jamaica," Bishop Reid said.
He was speaking at the opening service of the 136th Annual Synod of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands at the St. James Parish Church in Montego Bay yesterday. In attendance at the ceremony were members of the clergy as well as civil and community leaders led by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
In delivering his charge under the theme, 'Working with God in testing times' Bishop Reid contended that the divisiveness which now typifies Jamaican society is not strange. He said, however, "It would be stranger still if we had ever been a united people."
A SOCIETY IN CONTRADICTION
Bishop Reid said: "We are in a society in contradiction where some people never had it so good while others are smelling hell. We can truly write a tale of two cities of Kingston, Montego Bay and Spanish Town."
He added: "Ours is a world of social division and psychic dislocation. A time of alienation and conflict."
The Lord Bishop said the current murder trends are proof that the society has regressed into an unnatural state.
"Murder is the worst possible crime because it is irreversible. But more so because it represents a defiance of God, the giver of life. It attempts to reverse the life giving activity of the creator. It is flying in the face of God."
He continued: "What is happening now may be described as most foul because it has a peculiar quality of violence, heartlessness capriciousness, and terror. It may also be considered strange and unnatural because it is directed against our own."
Criticising and even mocking murderers, Bishop Reid said they are truly cowards who, beyond their braggadocio, are reduced to "crying, snivelling, babbling and wetting their pants when confronted by the police."