Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller arriives at the 2006 Word of Life Ministries Prophetic Conference at the Hilton Kingston Hotel on Sunday night with Rev Phillip Phinn. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

The religious debate sparked by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's political embrace of the church continued to boil Sunday night and yesterday with Simpson Miller mounting a stout defence of her position, and Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie warning against the blending of politics and religion, at two separate functions.

"I don't want anyone to judge me, lest they be judged," the prime minister told scores of Christians attending the 2006 Word of Life Ministries Prophetic Conference at the Hilton Kingston Hotel on Sunday night.

"I am not imposing my spirituality on anyone. I am of the firm belief that Christian values are good for this nation and the God of the Bible is the true God," she told the congregation.

MCKENZIE. we must never forget that there is a line that separates the doctrine of God from politics and man

Simpson Miller was responding to criticism she generated two days after her March 30 installation as Jamaica's first woman prime minister when she declared that she wanted pastors to serve on all new state boards.

"I intend on Monday, at my first Cabinet meeting, to instruct my ministers that every board, when they are creating them, must have a pastor as chairman, or as a member of the board, to ensure probity," she told worshippers at the Kencot Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kingston.

The following day, at the Rehoboth Apostolic Church in Portmore, she told the congregation that she was appointed by God and suggested that Christians had a duty to support her.

But the comments have also won her some praise, particularly among the Christian community, although some pastors and priests have expressed concern about her claim of divine appointment.

Yesterday, Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie waded into the debate. "I know that some of my political colleagues are attempting to mix up everything, both God and [politics], but that is not my belief," he said in an address to the Bethel United Church of Jesus Christ (Apostolic) 37th annual general convocation held on the church grounds on South Camp Road in the capital.

"God's time is God's time, and politics is politics time. We must never forget that there is a line that separates the doctrine of God from politics and man," added McKenzie, a member of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, which controls the city's local government.

This line in the sand, Mayor McKenzie said, should never be violated if the only aim is to win elections.

But in her address on Sunday night, Simpson Miller strongly defended her decision to involve the clergy in government affairs. She argued that Christian leadership is what the country needs and that the church is strategically positioned to help the government deal with urgently pressing issues, particularly crime and corruption.

"You are strategically placed to help in the resocialisation of this country," she said. "If we are all corrupt and evil, then we need some good people to come on board, or the evil will continue. No leader, male or female, can succeed without the support of the majority of the people in the country."

Simpson Miller also lashed out at critics who have questioned what they described as her new found religiosity, saying: "It is not since I've become prime minister that I have been talking about the Almighty. I was never questioned about my spirituality then, but at the time when I need most to look to the Almighty, I am questioned."

She insisted that should the country fully adopt Christian principles, family life would improve, corruption would cease and criminality greatly decreased.

She challenged Christians to demonstrate how "practical and uplifting" the church can be and how it can assist in finding "answers to the social problems of this country".

"When you find a way to make Bible teaching and preaching more relevant to the everyday issues in Jamaica, it will lessen critics of the Church," she said. "Pray for us that we may carry out the work we have to do."

At the same time, she appealed to Jamaicans to unite as the country continues on the road to development.

"We as Jamaicans need to work together if we are going to build wealth in this country, and Christianity has a lot to teach us in that regard," she said

The prime minister also insisted that the Easter lesson of forgiveness and love is very important as we strive to create a crime-free nation where decency, integrity, respect for human rights and honesty are the hallmarks.

"Jamaicans have to find a way to forgive because an eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind," she said.

"I want to see a crime-free Jamaica where people work for an honest bread and give opportunities to those who can't. Work with me, it's a partnership for a new day. A new day is coming."

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