SABBATH keepers locally are lamenting what they consider an infringement of their fundamental rights by employers and educational institutions who disregard their religious freedoms, forcing them to choose between their faith and their livelihoods.

Despite the Jamaican Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion, including the freedom of individuals to worship and express their religious beliefs, Nigel Coke, communications, public affairs, and religious liberty director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, who spoke at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange ahead of the Religious Liberty Summit, shared that there have been increased concerns among observers of the Sabbath regarding the infringement of their religious rights.

These challenges he attributed to a mixture of ignorance or blatant disrespect for the law.

“When we look at the landscape and when we look at some challenges that are faced by some keepers, challenges in the workplace, challenges in some of our educational institutions, we thought it is best that we do a summit instead. Bring all the stakeholders together and have a discussion.“

The stakeholders will include Adventists who have been in the private sector, the public sector, the various church groups, the umbrella group, and the industries group.

“And because we’re all in this, bringing us together to [discuss] what the real issues are. Because, yes, it’s in the constitution. But in some cases [it’s] ignorance. In other cases, blatant disrespect for the law…,” he said.

Coke shared the case of a young man, employed through the National Youth Service programme, who was dismissed after refusing to work on the Sabbath.

“That young man went through the youth service employment for the summer and he went to this company in Mandeville and he started on the Tuesday. On the Friday, he told the boss that he couldn’t come on the Saturday because he was a Sabbath keeper, and the boss said, ‘No, you need to come because I don’t care if you’re a Catholic, Sabbath, Hindu, you must come’. Of course, he didn’t. So he went on Monday, and he was told to go home. And so when the mother called me, I had to deal with it immediately. I went first to the office in Mandeville. That’s your service office, and I got the documentation. What jumped out is that he worked Monday to Friday. It also said if you are not at work for a day, you don’t get paid for it. So we set up a meeting with him, and the first thing he said was, ‘Look, my store is a Monday to Saturday thing, so that is it’. So I showed him the paper. Based on this, the thing says Monday to Friday. He said well he didn’t come on Monday, so I wanted to extend it. I said, ‘Oh, the thing says if you don’t come, you don’t get any pay’. And he said, ‘What should I do?’ I said, ‘Do the honourable thing. Reinstate him’. And he was reinstated. So at times it’s out of ignorance. At times it’s out of guilt and disrespect,” Coke underscored.

Coke noted that while the church has managed to take immediate action on some complaints, many members choose to give up on the process due to the hostile environments they face in the workplace.

“We have taken on some [complaints] directly, and then there are others that we would have hoped would have reached the courts because we can engage in litigation. And we have had members who would say, ‘well, explore the Ministry of Labour.’ But guess what happened? The feeling they get within the organisation is sometimes… we can’t fully comprehend it, because it’s as though they are ostracised. And so what happens in a number of situations is that they just quit the job because they can’t be bothered,” Coke said.

Not only are some Sabbath observers leaving their jobs, but they are also hesitant about the career paths they choose to pursue.

“Based on the current landscape, there are some careers that Sabbath keepers have had to give up and basically look at it and say, ‘This is beyond my dream.’ Because when it comes to life, even in geography sometimes, and the coursework and the outside work that they do, it falls on Saturday. Recently we had medical students, I think from UTech [University of Technology], complaining because now they are setting the classes, not exams where you can negotiate. Then they say, ‘alright, we’ll let you do it before everybody else’. This is after. So you’re telling me, after being in the course for four or five years, and in your third year, you’re now told that the class is scheduled for Saturday, which is now inconvenient to your faith and belief. That is not fair,” Coke stressed.

He said attempts had been made to meet with the previous Minister of Education Fayval Williams to address the breach, but they were unsuccessful in getting a response. However, he noted that efforts are being made to move the issue forward.

Pastor Omar Oliphant, public affairs and religious liberty director, East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, emphasised the need for the country to reach a point in society where individuals are no longer at the mercy of a particular minister.

“We want to reach a place in society where we don’t have to be consistently at the mercy of a particular minister. We should be operating at the stage where we’re moving towards a First-World country with a higher standard, where there are set standards for involvement,” Oliphant said.

Meanwhile, both educational institutions and employers are being urged to engage in negotiations while exercising a level of sensitivity to the religious needs of both students and employees.

“There must be some level of negotiation. The extent to which there is flexibility and recognition of the individual in your group, or even the individual, is very important. Like I said before, the business is established to advance a cause and objectives. But I am exchanging my talents and gifts for that cause. And in order to get access to it, you must give some recognition. Not only do I want to be paid for my work, but also to facilitate my time,” shared Reverend Alvin Bailey, president of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance.

Coke, the main organiser of the summit, said he is hoping that the summit will bring together stakeholders to participate in meaningful discussions surrounding the challenges faced by employees and promoting religious liberty.

“We are looking at promoting an understanding, a better understanding of what religious liberty is about. We are looking at highlighting the fundamental rights that persons have. We want to, because the theme is fostering unity and respecting beliefs, foster unity and respect beliefs. So the main purpose is to highlight the challenges faced by some workers in the Jamaican private and public sectors and highlight student challenges in higher tertiary institutions, who sometimes disregard the classes in some coursework, etc,” Coke said.

“We are hoping that at the end of it, we would have had some networking opportunities to create a platform for stakeholders to connect, share experiences, collaborate, promote, and respect religious beliefs. We also hope we can formulate actionable strategies to address challenges related to religious liberty.”