Bahama Pundit

March to Washington

by Simon

A great deal of the anger directed at Barack Obama has little to do with his policies.  While some of his policies may be left of centre, most are moderate, mainstream – just like the man.  To call his health care reform socialist is akin to labelling Fidel Castro a capitalist.

Granted, there is anger about a withering economic downturn.  But, there’s something more revealing in the hatred assaulting President Obama, his wife, and even his daughters with particular venom and malice. 

The talk of a post-racial America was always fanciful.  Mr. Obama’s ascendancy to the presidency will in the long-term help America’s reckoning with the evil of racism. 

Yet, as was inevitable, his successful march to Washington was bound to provoke seismic reaction.  The velocity of the backlash, along with a historic economic downturn and significant joblessness, created a perfect storm fuelled by intense fear and anger, resentment and prejudice.

Civic Education

by Simon

From 1997 to 2000, one of the leading medical research universities in the United States hosted a novel project dedicated to a pair of perennial values critical to the ongoing renewal of our commonweal.

Under the leadership of Professor P. M. Forni, Johns Hopkins University sponsored the Civility Project which was dedicated to civility and good manners.  Why did this elite institution, bustling with discoveries in nanotechnology and genetics, devote resources to such seemingly mundane subjects?

Professor Forni and Johns Hopkins appreciated that cutting-edge advances and ancient values are necessary companions.  This is as true in bioethics, as it is in the basic ethical norms essential for socializing new generations and maintaining a civilized society.

The ability to extend life through scientific and technological advances does not mean that we will lead more moral or even happier lives.  This is why ethical reflection is imperative in these fields.

Ethics and the Numbers Business – Again

by Simon

Much of the commentary in the series of Front Porch columns on the numbers business has focused on moral arguments offered by various denominations.

The views of religious leaders are important.  Still, they do not have a monopoly on moral wisdom or an automatic veto on public policy.  In a pluralistic democracy they do not take de facto precedence in the formation of public policy.

The Preamble to the Constitution highlights our Christian heritage in a poetic flourish which introduces the prose that enshrines certain constitutional guarantees and the rule of law. 

The Preamble does not enjoy the force of law.  It is ironic that many of the religious leaders who invoke the Preamble often fail to take account of the rest of the Constitution on a range of issues. 

Civic Education in the Bahamas

by Simon

From 1997 to 2000, one of the leading medical research universities in the United States hosted a novel project dedicated to a pair of perennial values critical to the ongoing renewal of our commonweal.

Under the leadership of Professor P. M. Forni, Johns Hopkins University sponsored the Civility Project which was dedicated to civility and good manners.  Why did this elite institution, bustling with discoveries in nanotechnology and genetics, devote resources to such seemingly mundane subjects?

Professor Forni and Johns Hopkins appreciated that cutting-edge advances and ancient values are necessary companions.  This is as true in bioethics, as it is in the basic ethical norms essential for socializing new generations and maintaining a civilized society.

The ability to extend life through scientific and technological advances does not mean that we will lead more moral or even happier lives.  This is why ethical reflection is imperative in these fields.

And, ethics is not simply about the big issues in the life sciences and other areas of ethical concern.  The ethics of care also involves the ordinary and daily interactions of the human community. 

Simeon Hall and Lyall Bethel on Homosexuality in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

Pastor Lyall Bethel responded to my recent article that criticised his obsession with an imaginary plot to take over the world that he and others like to refer to as "the gay militant agenda".

"(Smith) wants to call me 'ayatollah' because I, representing the vast majority of Bahamians, don't want to see our nation turned into Sodom and Gomorrah...One need only watch what is going on in the U.S. and around the world to understand what compliance or refusal to take seriously the homosexual agenda will bring about."

I referred to Bethel's newspaper submissions as "pompous faux scholarship" that present "false, out of date and grossly misrepresented statistics that can be found almost verbatim on a multitude of neo nazi, white supremacist and extreme theo-con websites."

I also noted that the multitude of social ills afflicting our small population should be enough to occupy any self-respecting religious leader from now until the second coming, without having to resort to punitive campaigns over non-issues like sex and gambling.

But according to Bethel, "truth (including the truth about homosexuality) always marches on, undeterred by those who fight against it. That is my consolation in this debate."

Now another Baptist pastor has weighed in on this subject. Bishop Simeon Hall officiated at a recent funeral for an apparently gay woman."I have suffered some criticism for this funeral," Hall said. "It's time for Christian churches in our Bahamas to broaden their repertoire of concerns.

"Issues about homosexuality and gambling must not be the extent to which the Christian community is heard."

An Enduring Revolution – Part 2

by Simon

An editorial in The Nassau Guardian two weeks ago concluded that majority rule is failing mostly because black leaders can’t get their act together.  The proof:  “In today's Bahamas there are few empirical indicators providing hope that the future of The Bahamas will be bright.” 

The editorial lacked perspective and depth, both local and global.  Most of the national problems it bemoaned similarly challenge governments from north to south and east to west.  These global challenges include the need for greater government investments in public infrastructure and the imperative of privatizing various inefficient state-run agencies.

Empirical refers to information or facts that are “verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment”.  An indicator is a “pointer or index” or “something that provides an indication”.

The United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight development goals that the international community wants to achieve by 2015.  They are “empirical indicators” that can be verified “by means of observation”.   With this background, we can test the hypothesis that “there are few empirical indicators providing hope that the future of The Bahamas will be bright”.

Suicide, Mercy and Redemption

by Simon

Whatever the circumstances of our birth, there are no “bastards” in the Kingdom of God.  This is a human conceit.  It is a form of false pride and moral apartheid to separate God’s children into legitimate and illegitimate. 

Yet, years ago, in a church on a southern Family Island, the pastor converted his community of faith into a jury to expel a vile sinner from the Body of Christ.  In this incarnation, the woman at the well was single, young -- and pregnant.  In expelling her, they were also punishing her unborn child.  

In their self-righteousness, these disciples of Christ judged that her iniquity stained their community like communion wine seeping from a broken chalice might bleed through an altar cloth.  Purging the defiler was necessary for their salvation and purification.  There was no room in the inn for this unmarried mother-to-be.

That Family Island church did not use stones to assault this teenager or her unborn child.  Instead, they stoned her with a torrent of loathing intended to break her spirit and sever her umbilical cord from the worshipping community in which she had been nourished since infancy.

Where Is the Love?

by Simon

Under the banner of the Bahamas Coalition of Evangelical Pastors, not quite a religious rainbow of pastors have expressed their deep love for openly gay and lesbian cruises that may call on the Bahamas.

Just to make sure that gay tourists feel their love, the band of religious brothers -- there were no female signatories -- offered this valentine: “Knowing that we risk being misunderstood, we hasten to say that we are in no way hateful of homosexuals/lesbians; to the contrary, we love them.” 

For so much love, the salutation was surprisingly impersonal.  Perhaps instead of “we love them”, surely the fraternity of pastors could have enthused, “We love our gay brothers and sisters.” 

The expression of love came in a statement condemning such cruises as a threat to the “morality and decency” of the Bahamas’ “Judaeo-Christian” heritage.  After such a welcome these cruise passengers will be forgiven if they don’t delight in the barbed-wire embrace of the pastors.

Bahamian Attitudes Towards the Haitian Migration

by Larry Smith

In the weeks since the catastrophic earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 men women and children in Haiti, there has been an endless stream of consciousness from Bahamians on both sides of the migration issue.

First we had what I considered to be some extraordinary reactions to the prime minister's remarks immediately after the January 12 event. In a series of Facebook exchanges, several intellectual critics condemned Ingraham for being insensitive and justifying anti-Haitian sentiments by discouraging Bahamians from helping in the wake of the disaster. These were the remarks in question (as reported by the Guardian):

"The government has established a common account at all the country's commercial banks, into which donations to the relief effort in Haiti can be made. We will cause that money to be sent either to the Haitian government and/or to international organizations that are able to provide assistance to Haiti at this time and the government will make a significant financial contribution. It is not appropriate for us to be collecting goods to send to Haiti because there is no means by which we can get there.”

Then there was an equally hostile reaction to the perfectly sensible policy announced at the same time that the government would release Haitians from the Detention Centre and suspend apprehension and repatriation efforts, while seeking to prevent new illegal immigration. This generated howls of vitriolic protest and confused comments from Bahamians upset about the supposed creolisation of the country. In response, the PM had this to say:

Words of Our Mouths, Meditations of Our Hearts

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.

It was just about a fortnight ago that the government released and granted temporary asylum to 102 Haitian migrants at the Detention Centre.  That decision continues to provoke and inspire the words of many mouths, flowing from the meditations of many hearts.  Except in some cases.

The words from some prominent voices have yet to catch up with the meditations of their hearts and the treasury of their theological traditions.  Religious leaders such as Dr. Myles Munroe and Bishop Simeon Hall have addressed the hysteria surrounding the granting of temporary asylum for the migrants in question.

Other heads of various prominent denominations have yet to match their extraordinary charitable actions with the just words needed to stem a tsunami of prejudice unleashed by the Haitian quake.