The time has come for Jamaica and the wider Caribbean to chart a way for freedom of religion and freedom from religion. A just and inclusive society must be so ordered that freedom is protected by law and daily practice.

Rubbishing any religious demographic will not facilitate a necessary conversation. Attempting to silence a particular religious group will not promote an amicable society. Condemning the voice of atheists will gain no one any ground on the landscape of reality.

The ideal is faith and freedom living together in the same village. However, we must be prepared to accept that our brand of faith cannot be in charge. Faith, freedom, and human rights are called to be effectively good neighbours in a world where mutual respect must be cherished by anyone who would join the neighbourhood of civilized society.

The Caribbean church is a sick church. It must engage the process of recovery from the viral infection carried by our forebears whose civil politics also informed the sentiments of ecclesiastical politics. If my mother country is at war with your mother country, then my church will be at war with your church. Those were the great days of denominationalism. My church is the true church. Your church is the false church. My church does the right thing. Your church does the wrong thing.

Increasingly, people are moving away from denominationalism, whether named or otherwise. Many people are realising that the deep walk of faith is not any more monopolised by a particular denomination, than is religious extremism monopolised by any particular religion throughout history.

A post-religious society calls for secular governance which alone can guarantee respect for all in a plural society. History attests to the fact that where a particular religious schema prevails, the minority is silenced or not effectively represented.

Clearly, no Caribbean nation in its right mind, would want to present with a theocracy in lieu of a civilised democratic state. However, if we listen carefully to how many persons of religious faith speak in the region, on the local landscape, and in social media, we hear many voices which assume authoritative superiority with the exaggerated view that all other perspectives must be in subjection to theirs.

Secular governance is the only political enterprise known to human society that has the capacity to protect all persons regardless of their religious and philosophical narratives. That governments and political representatives know how to make a distinction between religious dicta and the public square is sine qua non in the quest for a non-discriminatory society.

“Out of many one people,” is not a quest for the abolition of diversity. The many must of necessity affirm a plurality of contending independent concepts. I use the phrase independent concepts to cover religious, agnostic, and atheistic views.

A plurality of independent concepts calls for the equalising stabiliser of democratic political theory where all views are protected at the round table of public discourse. The place of secular governance is neither the domain of religious nor atheistic independent concepts. Secular politics is not a movement to quell the religious voice or to silence the voice of religious faith. Secular governance is also not partial to agnosticism or atheism.

Secular governance promotes the protection of the independent concepts to ensure that democracy protects the freedom, conscience, and views of everyone regardless of religion or otherwise. This is not about preventing religious thought from being an influence for good, provided that such a potential good is of universal value in the public domain. When Marcus Garvey says, “God and nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be…” His statement has religious import. However it does not prevent an atheist from appreciating its affirmation of intrinsic motivation. One does not have to believe in God to appreciate ability, creativity, and possibility.

The ennobling act of the Caribbean church will not be its capacity to divide, but its discovery of our common humanity on the road to self awareness, respect for diversity, and the universal affirmation of social justice and human rights for all.

Fr Sean Major-Campbell, JP, is an Anglican priest and human rights advocate. Send comments to the Observer or seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com.