Religion and rights: Is there still room for Christianity at the table?

Abstract

Drawing on recent discussions about issues relating to sexual and reproductive rights in the Jamaican print and broadcast media, this article highlights the interplay between Christianity, activism and rights talk. This interplay is being framed in the local print media as a debate between two dominating hegemonic forces: on the one hand, between more ‘conservative’ and ‘fundamentalist’ Christian theological beliefs and, on the other hand, those who subscribe to what may be characterised as more ‘liberal secular fundamentalist’ viewpoints. This polarisation ignores some conciliatory scenarios that exist within other segments of Caribbean societies, theology included, that provide beneficial approaches to rights talk and work. The endeavours of some Jamaican church folks have converged with those of progressive right defenders, or, where such endeavours predate contemporary rights activism or have no direct contact with it, they might at least be viewed as benign by those who espouse such activism.

Keywords:

• Jamaica
• Christianity
• fundamentalist
• conservatives
• liberal secular fundamentalist
• human rights

Notes

1. According to the 2001 national census, 62.5% of people identify as Protestant (10.8% Seventh Day Adventist, 9.5% Pentecostals, 8.3% Other Church of God, 7.2% Baptist, 6.3% New Testament Church of God, 4.8% Church of God in Jamaica, 4.3% Church of God of Prophesy, 3.6% Anglican, 7.7% other Christian), 2.6% Roman Catholic, 14.2% as other or unspecified and 20.9% as none (as quoted in Senior 2008, 3). The information provided here by Senior does not include information for Rastafarianism, one of Jamaica’s most popular indigenous religions (Austin-Broos 2001), though the census data for 2001 also showed that out of a total of 2595,960 people surveyed, 24,020 (that is 0.93%) identified as Rastafarian (Nam, Mantock and Cambell 2012, 25). However, it is not clear from the census data whether or not this group is being included under the category of Christianity. Schuler (1979), a scholar on African religious tradition in Jamaica, writes that although Rastafarianism – like Myalism and Revivalism – is seen as deriving from ‘an older pre-colonial African tradition’ (65 as quoted in Austin-Broos 2001, 588), it also draws on aspects of Christianity. In elaboration, Diane Austin-Broos (2001) explains that this religion ‘has employed an aspect of Christianity – the description of the returned King in Revelations to establish an Ethiopian iconography still interpreted through extensive reference to the Bible’ (589). Therefore, Rastafarianism may be read not as an African religion per se; but rather as ‘reconciliation between folk belief and Jamaican interpretations of the Christian text’ (ibid.).

2. There is a parallel popular declaration that illustrates the counter-narrative of Jamaica: although according to the Guinness Book of Records, the country has the most churches per square mile except for the Vatican City itself, according to local legend it also has the most bars per square mile.

3. This is also the case in several other Anglophone Caribbean societies. Barbadian journalist Correy Worrel (The Nation, 17 November 2011), for example, writes that he has ‘heard the term "Barbados is a Christian nation" used on many occasions; and each time it baffles me’ (8). Whilst there seems, as in the case of Jamaica, to be no clear definition of what this means, he states that some ‘define a Christian nation as one where the majority of citizens are Christians. Another defines it as a country that is run by a Christian government’ (The Nation, November 17, 2011). Worrel, however, emphasises that he does not believe Barbados is a Christian nation, but rather, he believes that it is a nation of religious people, which obviously skirts around the connection between religion and the state.

4. Interestingly, although the majority of people (80%) identified with some form of Christian religion/denomination, there were ‘increases seen for the small non-Christian religious groups. The number of responses for Islam was 1513 in 2011 compared with 1024 in 2001 while for Hinduism and Judaism the increases in numbers between 2001 and 2011 were from 1453 to 1836 and 357 to 506 respectively’ (Nam, Mantock, and Campbell 2012, xiv).

5. Unlike most of the other countries in the Anglophone Caribbean region, homophobia in Jamaica is considered palpable, everyday. It is explicitly expressed and celebrated in such dominant cultural arenas as Dance Hall, where popular musicians call for the ‘burning’ and killing of homosexuals, and legitimised by the teachings and actions of some influential members of the churches. It is important however to clarify here that the saturation of Christian values within a society or the perception of being seen as a ‘Christian nation’, though marred by a politics of inclusion or exclusion (Senior 1991,12), does not necessarily equate to rigid societal acceptance of heteronormativity or homophobia. This nuancing of Christianity is in no way intended to minimise its repressive effects when these have been present: most certainly, churches in Jamaica have been complicit in the marginalisation of minorities, including black women and sexual minorities, but they have also traditionally provided many services considered important for the realisation of people’s human dignity and the actualisation of certain social rights. Similarly, the discourse of churches and church folk, as well as their actions, may at times have socially cohesive and conciliatory effects that do not rely on exclusionary rhetoric aimed at certain minorities (Dayfoot 2001; Smith 1991; Soares 2001; Thomas 2004).

6. This complexity, and hence the limitations of such broad labels, is also captured by Judith Soares in her explorations of Caribbean Christianity and fundamentalism. Soares (2001), in fact, includes Roman Catholics in her definition of the ‘liberal’ churches; others include the Anglican, Methodist, Moravian ‘and others in similar traditions that subscribe to a hermeneutical understanding of the Scriptures’ (116). Interestingly, although the Roman Catholic Church possibly represents the most organised and vocal Christian lobby against such issues as the legalisation of abortion in Jamaica as well as in other countries such as the USA, Christian conservatism or fundamentalism is nonetheless greatly associated with Protestant Evangelical Christianity, with its charismatic leaders and large congregations. In the context of the Anglophone Caribbean this includes a number of Evangelical, non-denominational or Pentecostal-type churches (Austin-Broos 1997, 2001; Soares 2001). Generally speaking, the labels Christian conservatives, the Christian right and fundamentalists are thus used, notwithstanding their inadequacies, to identify those groups of Christians who view the Bible as the ‘direct and inerrant word of God’. In other words, they regard the Bible as comprising God’s true plan for humankind, thus as a moral compass that must be strictly followed. Based on this view, the Scriptures and teachings of the Bible are not seen as representative of the voices (and viewpoints) of the different original authors and various interpreters at different points in time. Rather, there seems to be, to summarise the views of one Jamaican theologian, at best, an under-appreciation of the fact that the writers of Biblical texts did not simply sit down under the influence of the Holy Spirit and recorded things as God dictated them but instead, these texts were recorded over various periods and by different people living under specific circumstances and as such the stories of the Bible cannot and does not speak to every context or situation that people currently meet (Diane Jackson, in discussion with the author, 13 June 2012). In addition to insisting on the infallibility of the Bible and on a literal interpretation of its Scriptures, Soares (2001) notes that, fundamentalists share common beliefs in ‘personal experience of religious conversion, the virgin birth, and the Bible as the only source or explanation of the origin of life and humanity’ (106). Furthermore, they see themselves as ‘protecting the “old time gospel”‘ (Soares 2001, 106), and doing ‘“battle for the Lord” against enemies of the Kingdom’ (ibid.).

7. Howard Gregory, the Lord Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, attributed the decline in membership of the traditional churches to a number of reasons including the differences in worship and teaching (Jamaica Observer, 04 November 2012). The Reverend Gregory not only points out the differences in the interpretation of Christianity amongst churches, but highlights the long-standing important role played by the more traditional churches in holistically advancing people’s standard of living (and we may argue human rights) within the country. Such good deeds however, are not reflected in the questions and findings of the census, which as the Reverend notes is already ‘being used to pit one religious group against another and to make certain moral and religious judgments about the various religious groups based on the numerical strength of their membership’ (Jamaica Observer, 04 November 2012). Interestingly, the explanation presented above, as well as those offered by some individuals that I interviewed, for the rise of the conservative right are void of any analyses of class and race/colour relations in the country, particularly, of how class, race/colour and politics may intertwine with religion and various manifestation of Christianity, in particular, in the Jamaican context. However, various academic explorations into the connections between politics and religion within the region point up these connections (Austin-Broos 1981, 2001; Chevannes 2001; Sheller 2012). Additionally, there have obviously been other challenges to and changes within Christianity in the region, and Jamaica in particular, which arose prior to the dates suggested above and show up the interconnections between matters of ‘race’, class and gender.

8. Similarly, historical/traditional churches also do not escape public scrutiny as a result of their perceived failures to act according to Scriptures and as a moral compass: consider, for example, such newspaper article headlines as ‘Hypocritical Jamaica Council of Churches’, (Jamaica Gleaner, 20 May 2010), accusing the JCC for its bias in condemning the former prime minister of the Jamaica Labour Party (which was once headed by Seaga, who it is argued courted the conservatives) whilst overlooking the many indiscretions of the rival People’s National Party (that, as the above respondent pointed out, is traditionally aligned to the Left and the historical churches who espoused a version of Liberation Theology).

9. This is not say that alternative Christian views are not given any coverage. For example, the contrasting liberal views and activities of Reverend Sean Major-Campbell are often publicised (see for example: Jovan Jackson’s article in the Jamaican Gleaner, ‘Anglican Priest Washes the Feet of Lesbian … Demands Respect’, 07 December 2014).

10. Nadisha Hunter reports that the Reverend Miller’s reputation has been in question since 2010 when he was ‘charged for harbouring a fugitive and attempting to pervert the course of justice after then fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke was captured in his car along the Mandela Highway in St Catherine. Nearly eight months after, Miller was found guilty of negligence resulting in the loss or theft of his licensed firearm’ (Jamaica Gleaner, 13 November 2011).

11. Although I highlight particularly Hilaire Sobers’ opposition to religious intervention in human rights, it is important to emphasise here that there are other self-identified secularists and even atheists who are sceptical of religious interventions in human rights. In fact, there is also a group called ‘Jamaicans for Secular Humanism’ who are publicly criticising the privileged status of Christianity within the society and the ways in which this institution hinders human rights development (see Religious Hardtalk, 18 September 2012).

12. It should be noted that this author is simply reflecting the terminology used by Marjorie Lewis in reference to the label ‘GLAB communities’.