Conversion and the Bahamas Christian Council

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com

The recent religious service commemorating independence was, with notable exception, ecumenically disappointing. While some of the singing and some of the prayers were uplifting, the service seemed more like a wake than a celebration of 35 years of nationhood.

It included bad theology and factual errors. It is ironic and mysterious how often some of our leaders publicly misstate basic facts that are constantly in the news.

Burma, a former British colony changed its name to Myanmar in 1989. These names refer to the same country. But a military dictatorship by any other name is still a repressive regime.

Then there was the statement that the Bahamas is the third richest country in the Western Hemisphere. That may well be the case according to some measurements.

But it doesn’t tell you about inequality or ownership of, and levels of participation in, the economy by its citizens. Moreover, we lag behind a number of countries in the region and the hemisphere with regard to social development.

A high per capita income may be good, but it doesn’t tell you all that you need to know about a nation’s social health and well-being.

One should also be careful in claiming indisputable evidence for what are matters of opinion. The old adage is still apt: we are entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts.

Moreover, the notion that God has spared the Bahamas from natural disasters and has instead allowed other lands to be ravaged is spiritually presumptuous and scientifically problematic.

To wit, why do natural disasters happen to good people in various locales on the planet while seemingly more sinful people are spared from calamity? Perhaps it has more to do with geography, chance and the scale of national development.

The thousands who perished in Myanmar did so because of an accident of geography, and because of substandard housing, bad infrastructure and a corrupt government. Not at the caprice of a vengeful God.

Natural disasters tend to ravage the poor because they do not have the means to protect themselves, as do the more affluent.

But development issues like these, related to social ethics and social justice, did not make an appearance until near the end of the ecumenical gathering.

Rather, the focus was on the usual host of sexual sins and personal morality, while other issues of human dignity and social solidarity were largely ignored.

Access to health care, poverty alleviation, educational reform and the preservation of God’s earth, gave way to a relentless preoccupation with fornication, homosexuality and adultery.

It is not that such matters should be ignored. But a myopic focus on these is like cutting the Bible into a third and ignoring the rest of Scripture.

With most of the political and civil service leadership, and the diplomatic corps gathered, most of the speakers missed another opportunity to address broader issues related to national development and the common good.

In point of fact, other issues of personal morality were also ignored. For example, there was little spiritual and ethical guidance given on matters such as reconciliation and forgiveness.

Additionally, the tone and text of much of the preaching was condemnatory. Condemnatory and negative. Condemnatory, negative and hectoring.

Besides ignoring critical elements of the Good News, much of the good news of the last 35 years of independence was similarly ignored.

The Council failed to celebrate the thousands of young people performing community service or involved in positive pursuits.

The Council failed to celebrate the continued maturation of our political institutions and the preservation of our democratic freedoms.

The Council failed to celebrate the creation of a national park system that is helping to preserve our environmental heritage.

The Council failed to celebrate the thousands of Bahamians who lead lives of personal and professional integrity.

Thankfully, the service did include welcoming remarks and prayers for the nation, which celebrated a number of our national gifts and achievements.

But just as the country should continually strive to become a more just and peaceful society, the Council is also in need of conversion.

If the Council continues to be blinkered by the narrow moral agenda of a few, it will become increasingly irrelevant to the many Bahamians who expect more from their religious leaders.

Unfortunately, the Council’s credibility and moral authority have been on a slippery slope for some time.

This has less to do with the morality of Bahamians and more to do with a Council whose spiritual development programmes and social policy agenda are inconsistent at best, and at worse insignificant.

Disturbingly, successive Council leaderships have religiously failed to articulate a broader mission beyond a saucer-full of concerns.

Bahamians are desirous of religious leaders who can speak intelligently, prophetically and lovingly about personal conversion and social renewal.

We are not children deserving of a verbal spanking or lecture just about every time the pulpit is mounted. Rather, we are adults who want to enter into sacred conversation with our spiritual leaders about what are the true, the good and the beautiful.

Whatever our ages, we are worn out from the cut and paste ministry, which recycles shopworn clichés and unimaginative articulations of the Gospel.

Rather, we want our religious leaders to press the refresh button, and speak to us with greater faith, hope and love; and largeness of spirit and creativity.

The ecumenical service could have been a teachable moment for the Council, an opportunity to call the nation to a moral crusade of ultimate concern: the preservation of our natural environment.

The Council could have preached to us about how our personal and collective habits are polluting and poisoning God’s creation. They could have called us to conversion.

Perhaps the collection taken up during the service could have been the mustard seeds to launch a fund to help young people to become better stewards of the environment.

Such programming may help our nation’s youth to accept more responsibility for their country, while also learning about the importance of greater responsibility and discipline in other areas of their personal lives.

During the service, one religious leader insisted that the power of healing is not vested in the Government, nor even the home – but in the Church. Of course, this is nonsense.

God’s healing power knows no bounds. From whom and where it originates and to whom and where it flows, is entirely a gift from God.

Through reconciliation and forgiveness, we all have the power to heal. But rather than single-mindedly trying to heal everyone else, the Council needs to begin to heal itself.