Dear Editor,
I have been following with keen interest the present public discourse on a number of issues confronting our beautiful Guyana. I try each day perusing the daily news for balance, as well as keeping abreast with what’s trending on social media.
I wish to state at the outset that I am not speaking here for the church, but as a Christian leader. I think it is critical as the present political conditions begin more and more to occupy the attention of the public, a clear distinction be made between church and state. In this context I feel obliged to make a few points.
There have been some calls in recent times for the religious community to take a public position on matters of the state. Just this week one caption read ‘The religious community has failed the society.’ This particular writer went on to single out the Christian community. A number of leading ministers of the Christian faith, who are serving in government, were singled out and are being maligned and judged harshly for exercising a free and democratic choice to associate and to serve within the government, not to mention the many others aligned to opposition groups or holding senior public servant positions. I wish to remind those who call themselves advocates for democracy that, in any democratic society worthy of the name, there is no room for discrimination on any grounds – economic, colour, or political affiliation. All have equal rights and are equally obliged to respect the rights of others.
On the question of the church’s position on matters of politics and governance, one must recognize that the church – the body of Christ, taken as a whole has a different responsibility to society to that of other civic groups. The church is not a political, nor is it a secular entity; it is first and foremost a spiritual organism. As such, no church should seek to intervene in purely political matters since it would be exceeding its spiritual mandate in so doing. The church speaks on matters of morality. Therefore the church (the body of Christ) must strive to adopt common neutrality– impartiality and independent positions guided solely by the word of God. The church as a body can’t have any political ambition for itself, nor can it identify itself with any one political or ethnic group.
Thus, in a democratic regime, according to the words of Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The great test of a democratic state is the capacity and maturity to respect each other’s rights.
The church believes and maintains the position that Christ’s message is relevant to the activities and example of men. Therefore, it is true for our elected and appointed officials according to the scriptures that “…all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” Leaders therefore are appointed by God to serve the people, and must be held to a high standard of credibility, fairness, servitude, truthfulness and performance. The people also have an equally important obligation to be honest and fair in their assessment of their leaders and the government of the day, and to each participate and contribute to the process of national development and the well-being of a harmonious and prosperous society.
The ideal outcome to Guyana’s challenges whether you are Christian, Hindu, Muslim, government, opposition, or any other group, would be for us to agree that we are in this together as one people, one nation, and one destiny, and as such no other fix would work except a united Guyana.
Throughout his life, Christ provided a supreme example of tolerance and perspective of separation of powers and made it quite clear sometimes even to the most extreme elements of the Jews that tolerance is an essential part of charity that men require to live together as brothers. This lesson would seem to be of considerable importance to Guyana today.
Yours faithfully,
Reverend Chris Bowman
Chairman
General Assembly Church
of God
