The bullets that shattered the church services in Montego Bay last week, and in Trelawny in 2021, did more than take the lives of Cora Thompson and Andrea Lowe Garwood. They pierced the long-held assumption that the church is still a sanctuary in more than name.

When gunmen feel no hesitation about spilling blood at places of worship, the question is no longer only about crime, but about what we, as a society, have become.

Jamaica’s law about the desecration of divine spaces is unambiguous. The Larceny Act treats sacrilege as a serious felony, recognising that places of worship are off-limits. That understanding, however, is slowly being eroded.

Church leaders are right to speak of a “thinning” moral shield, and a “loss of fear for God”, as they did in Monday’s edition. But it’s too convenient to place the blame solely at the feet of criminals. The uncomfortable truth is that the decline of the church’s sanctuary status reflects a deeper credibility crisis.

When a society with the highest concentration of churches in the world, that loudly proclaims Christianity, is simultaneously marked by corruption and violence, the disconnect is impossible to ignore.

Have those who committed these crimes concluded that the blood of Jesus offers no real consequence? Have they stopped believing that God is present in the spaces we claim are His? If the church is perceived as no more sacred than a corner shop, then the psychological barrier that once restrained even the most hardened criminal disappears.

Part of the shift lies uncomfortably within the Church itself. Over the years, multiple scandals of financial impropriety, abuse of power, sexual misconduct and exploitative leadership have chipped away at the moral authority the Church once held. Many of these scandals have been public, painful, and insufficiently addressed.

When some sins are loudly condemned while others are quietly ignored, when evangelism that once centred on repentance and transformation has, in some quarters, been replaced by messages that major in condemnation, exclusion, and prosperity without responsibility, and when the Church is seen as hypocritical, divided, or more concerned with hellfire and bedroom shenanigans rather than community healing, it loses its moral authority. And when that fades, so does the aura of sanctity.

Reclaiming sanctuary status will require both spiritual and practical responses. The Church must return to authenticity and embody what it preaches. It must confront sin in all its forms, including those that exist within its own walls.

Practically, though, there must also be a sober acceptance of present realities. Evil, as the church leaders have acknowledged, is rampant, and vigilance and cooperation with law enforcement are no longer optional considerations.

Finally, families, schools, and civic institutions must reinforce the values that once made the violation of a church unthinkable. The call for divine intervention, often echoed by public officials, rings hollow if the spaces dedicated to God are themselves undermined by both external violence and internal failure. To nip things in the bud requires repentance, reform, and a re-commitment to integrity, so that the Church becomes not just a place where God is spoken about, but a place where His presence is unmistakably reflected.

If even the sanctuary is no longer sacred, what is?