Dear Reader,

I have no problem with the prime minister publicly calling on God or asking Christians to pray for the nation. In fact, I am happy that our head of state seemed to have started the new year on the right foot. The concern I have, however, is the tendency of our political leaders to make utterances about God when they find themselves in church settings, but show little or no concern about God or godliness in how they run the affairs of the country, unless of course, that is their own understanding of the separation of church and state.

The prime minister may very well be sincere in his proclamations about God and the nation, but he should be wary of the words spoken by the late Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr who warned against using God as a “cosmic bellhop”. King related the following story, “A man said to me, ‘I believe in integration, but I know it will not come until God wants it to come.You negroes should stop protesting and start praying.'” King continued, “I am certain we need to pray for God’s help and guidance in this integration struggle, but we are gravely misled if we think the struggle will be won only by prayer. God, who gives us minds for thinking and bodies for working, would defeat his own purpose if he permitted us to obtain through prayer what may come through work and intelligence. Prayer is a marvellous and necessary supplement of our feeble efforts, but it is a dangerous substitute. When Moses strove to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, God made it clear that he would not do for them what they could do for themselves. And the Lord said unto Moses, wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.”

I believe that Mr Golding is making the same mistake that his predecessors, Portia Simpson Miller and PJ Patterson made, which was to think that God is available on demand and that prayer should be “subcontracted” to Christians and the church. Instead of saying prayers themselves without prompting or protocol, thereby setting the tone and the example for the nation, the practice became one of asking other people to pray for them and for their position.

Author Jim Wallis in his book God’s Politics, sums up the point very well when he writes, “Abraham Lincoln had it right. Our task should not be to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God’s blessings and endorsement for all our national policies and practices – saying in effect, that God is on our side. Rather, Lincoln said, we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God’s side.”

PJ Patterson’s values and attitudes campaign failed because he did not understand that values cannot be “outsourced”, neither can they be inconsistent or contradictory. Mr Patterson didn’t quite get it that the strongest signal he could have sent about the importance of a nation practising sound values and attitudes was through his own personal behaviour. So when he exclaimed on a national platform that things were looking up in Jamaica under his watch because “man have more gal and cellphone”, he seemed to have been unaware that what he was doing was undermining his own values and attitudes campaign.

Mr Golding appears to be no different. On the one hand, he is calling on the church for help, but on the other, his administration is busy putting the nuts and bolts on the opportunities of legalised casino gambling as well as the introduction of horse racing on Sundays. I have yet to hear one concern coming from government about the deep and dangerous culture of gambling in the country, including child gambling, as well as the hazards, such as gambling addiction, increased criminality, etc.

It is easy for our political leaders to call on God but they must be reminded that the Bible tells us that “by their fruits you shall know them”. If Mr Golding is serious about God and the nation, then we should expect to see the manifestations of that commitment in the way the country is governed. The prime minister needs to be reminded that God and values are bound up together, and that the absence of core moral values in political life is anti-religious and anti-God. Jim Wallis puts it aptly when he writes, “Issues such as the strength of family life, the meaning of work, the health of neighbourhoods, the well-being of children and the shame of child poverty, the moral tone of ‘entertainment’, the truth-telling of public officials, the quality of moral content of education, the equity of health care, the stewardship of the environment, and the consistency of foreign policy with expressed national values are all deeply held moral concerns at the heart of contemporary political issues. But many politicians still don’t speak the language of ethics and values that could strike responsive chords among many people hungry for a moral political discourse. For example, ‘the sacred value of human life’ is deeply shared by many people, yet seldom consistently applied across a wide spectrum of political issues.”

It is easy for our political leaders to call on God but they must be reminded that the Bible tells us that “by their fruits you shall know them”. If Mr Golding is serious about God and the nation, then we should expect to see the manifestations of that commitment in the way the country is governed. The prime minister needs to be reminded that God and values are bound up together, and that the absence of core moral values in political life is anti-religious and anti-God. Jim Wallis puts it aptly when he writes, “Issues such as the strength of family life, the meaning of work, the health of neighbourhoods, the well-being of children and the shame of child poverty, the moral tone of ‘entertainment’, the truth-telling of public officials, the quality of moral content of education, the equity of health care, the stewardship of the environment, and the consistency of foreign policy with expressed national values are all deeply held moral concerns at the heart of contemporary political issues. But many politicians still don’t speak the language of ethics and values that could strike responsive chords among many people hungry for a moral political discourse. For example, ‘the sacred value of human life’ is deeply shared by many people, yet seldom consistently applied across a wide spectrum of political issues.”

I honestly believe that Mr Golding is sincere in his call for God to help the nation, but it seems to me that the biggest part of the call is missing – the call for national confession, repentance and reconciliation. Of course, none of us has to wait for the prime minister, but it would be nice if it started with him.

With love,

bab2609@yahoo.com