It should come as no surprise — though no doubt dismissed by some — that data contained in the 2025 Citizens’ Rights, Roles, Responsibilities and Practices Survey, conducted by The Mico University College with grant funding from Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), and conducted among residents of 10 marginalised communities in Kingston and St Andrew, found that the highest level of trust was attributed to faith-based groups, JFJ, and the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), in that order. Trust for the police did not figure high on the list.

The Christian faith affirms that all human beings are made in the image of God and are therefore endowed with dignity and worth that cannot be taken away. Humanity is unique within creation because men and women are made in God’s image and likeness. As the creation of God, all life is sacred and all people are worthy of respect and worthy of conditions that make for life in all its fullness.

The dignity of the human being is not determined by his/her state in life, or the contribution to the economic and social development of the nation. These are not attributes that are applicable only to decent, law-abiding, or ‘Christian’ citizens.

During this solemn season of the Christian year we focus on the suffering and death of the one we worship as Lord and Saviour, who was treated as a common criminal and executed with the most horrendous form of execution available in those days. And yet we forget or seem to dismiss his example in those moments. For the criminal who asked to be remembered by him, Jesus never asked what crime he had committed; instead, he offered him the hospitality of a place in paradise with him that very day. To the soldiers crucifying him, the Pharisees who instigated the unfounded charges against him, and to Pilate who consented to their evil scheme in order to save his own skin, Jesus did not call down fire and brimstone on them, but embodied in himself compassion that allowed him to pray to the Father to forgive them.

There are Christians and others who have a passing relationship with the Bible, primarily the Old Testament, who are well-versed in quoting as justification for the taking by any means the life of one who is alleged to have taken the life of another, Genesis 9: 6: “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humans.”

Truth is that many who are ardent supporters of the application of religious laws as contained in scripture in dealing with the failings of others are more often giving expression to their own rigid personalities and commitments, rather than interested in the spirit and intention of the law in the divine providence. We need only look at God’s selection and calling of Moses to be the great liberator of his people. Moses was a murderer running from facing justice, and yet God, in his wisdom, goodness, grace, and mercy, saw in him the potential for leadership, rather than condemnation and being written off, even as his time away from his home may be considered to have provided a time for much reflection and even remorse.

While espousing the law as recorded in this passage the exponents of the legalistic approach fail to take cognisance of the evolving sense of justice which occurs in the historical book of Numbers 35: 9-34, which takes into consideration the circumstance of a homicide and the opportunity for mercy and rehabilitation through the establishment of sanctuary cities described in the following terms:

The cities of refuge, also called sanctuary cities, were sanctuaries to which those who accidentally killed another could flee. Even if the killer made it to a city of refuge, he still had to undergo a trial. If he was found guilty of committing an accidental death he had to remain in the city until the death of the current high priest. Thus, the city served as his jail. However, he was otherwise free to move about, find employment, and live with and support his family.

Additionally, in our self-deceptive affirmation of the dualistic world of the upright and moral on the one hand, and the morally depraved and criminal on the other, we bypass the reality that God’s love and compassion does not make such distinctions. In this vein we need to note that there are 182 mentions of prisoners in the Bible. It provides a multifaceted view of imprisonment, encompassing divine intervention, compassion, justice, and the power of faith. The treatment and consideration of prisoners are also highlighted, emphasising themes of justice, mercy, and redemption. In our desire to separate the deserving sheep from the wayward goats not deserving of the same dignity, we seem to forget the Lord, who in St Luke’s gospel announced his ministry in a most inclusive way, namely one in which there is good news for the marginalised and, perhaps to the chagrin of many Jamaicans and Christians, for prisoners.

Luke 4:19 (NIV): “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

There is a narrative in the book of the Acts of the Apostles that should at least have Christians re-examine our attitude to the matter of citizens killed at the hand of the agents of State and religion. In that book there is the story of the martyrdom of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who was stoned to death after being falsely accused of blasphemy. Accused of a serious crime according to religious law by one religious group, he was dragged before the council that has some jurisdiction in relation to religious matters. The evidence advanced is conflicting and false, but when he seeks to make his defence, pointing out how their actions are not in keeping with the law, they take offence and he is then stoned by a mob led by religious leaders.

The text indicates that they were not prepared to hear what he had to say: “They shrieked and covered their ears. Together, they charged at him, threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.” He has no one on his side, yet in the midst of this miscarriage of justice he finds room for compassion for those who were taking his life: “As they battered him with stones, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, accept my life!’ Falling to his knees, he shouted, ‘Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!’ Then he died.”

Here was a miscarriage of justice carried out by the religious leaders in the name of defending God’s law. St Luke does not hide from his readers the fact that the man who became in many ways the leading figure in the early church and gave us the largest body of New Testament scripture was present for Stephen’s martyrdom, and gave expression to his consent by keeping the garments of those who stoned Stephen. But Saul’s (later Paul) behaviour did not stop with what may seem to be passive complicity. The text tells us: “But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.”

The mystery of compassion and grace became evident in the life of that man Saul who, after he was converted, underwent a change of name to Paul, and was deeply penitent for the way in which he failed to stand up for justice, and instead went along with the sentiments of the crowd in committing homicide. Thus, in Galatians 1: 13+ Paul wrote: “You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when the one who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human…”

While Saul did not throw a stone at Stephen, his posture of passive consent is something which, as Christians, we must consider today in the attitude and posture with which we respond to homicide, whether carried out by criminals or the agents of the State.

As this Lenten season has provided Christians with a season for introspection, reflection, and penitence, it may be an appropriate time for leaders and members of the Church to examine our attitudes in relation to the killing of citizens by officers of the State. As the season draws to a climax there is yet the prospect for reflecting on God’s grace, compassion, and justice that transcend the boundaries of law, religious or otherwise, that we advocate, do not define the boundaries of God’s value and love for every human being.

Howard Gregory is retired Anglican archbishop of the Province of the West Indies and lord bishop of Jamaica.

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