The New Wind:A challenge for theology

Michael Miller, Contributor

Being a Jamaican away from home, I am looking out for further word on the 'Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Churches"' I first read about in the July 30 online edition of The Gleaner. It is my sincere hope that this initiative will have positive consequences for the quality of life in our island.

As I've thought about the potentials of this venture, a quoted comment by the Reverend Peter Garth has been at the forefront of my mind. He declared: "A new wind is blowing. The Church is the most powerful entity in this country. Once the Church is united, all must tremble." Interpreted in the best light, Rev Garth's claim can be taken to suggest that unity among Christians dramatises the presence of God in a way that will elicit an attitude of reverence in all Jamaicans.

If this interpretation is correct, I wonder what might be the effect if this group of churches was successful in developing meaningful collaboration with other religious communities for the sake of transformation in our land. Would this not be an even more dramatic testimony to the presence of God, even if Christians think members of those other communities are mistaken about who God is and what is the correct path to God? Is God's capacity and/or willingness to work in and through persons for the good of Jamaica contingent on Christian evaluation of the 'rightness"' of their beliefs?

Diverse religions

I suspect that some involved in the emerging church collaboration intended to 'rescue' Jamaica are guided by the conviction that Jamaica's problems are partially explained by the thriving diversity of religious expression in the country. These persons quite probably believe that appropriate solutions to Jamaica's ills will not emerge unless the Christian ethos comes to dominate as 'one heart, school, politician, musician and business at a time' becomes committed to God through Jesus Christ. Their hope, I suspect, is to orchestrate a show-of-force by Christians that will intimidate those seen as the enemies of Christ. Indeed, the Church is well- skilled in working through intimidation. While we do speak about the love of God for humanity, portrayed especially in the life and death of Jesus Christ, we are very ready to use as a cudgel, the concept of a God who floods the earth to wipe out sinners, orders genocide of the 'heathen"' for the sake of those who are chosen, and has the fires of hell awaiting those who do not accept salvation through Jesus.

If the emerging collaboration of churches adopts the route of intimidation, it will be just another expression of the malady that has been evident in the relations between garrison communities, gangs and other factions - represented in the threat, "If you don't do what I tell you, I know somebody who will fix you!"

I suggest that the Church has a unique capacity to exacerbate the effects of this malady. Being in no doubt that the community of Christians serves as guarantor of God's favour to Jamaica and that the Church is the repository of knowledge concerning God's righteous will for the country, a situation in which Christians gain unimpeded dominance could easily lead to the victimisation of those who do not adhere to the standard of righteousness they promote and police. Those most inclined to take on the role of police would be persons purported to hear most clearly from God. It has happened in other places, there is no reason why it can't happen in Jamaica.

God of intimidation?

I find it fascinating that the God of domination and intimidation, conceived of by our Jewish and Christian ancestors in faith, informed by ancient models of rulership represented in kings, emperors and lords, was the one who inspired the representatives of Christendom to take over Jamaica and other places like it, expropriate resources and enslave the foreparents of most of our citizens. It is this God who inspired many righteous citizens of the United States to see the attack on the World Trade Center as an opportunity to show Muslims who was the real ruler of the world. So, too, is this the God who, in the minds of many Jamaicans, requires that gays and lesbians be subject to horrendous violence?

Indeed, is this the God who enables many Jamaican gunmen to get 'the drop' on their foes and helps them escape the snares of 'Babylon' (the police)? I fear that while able to tolerate Rastafari as a locally -generated religious phenomenon, some in the new band of united Christians might well hear the call from this God to purge Jamaica of Muslims, Hindus, those who belong to Afro-Caribbean spiritualities and also Jamaicans who claim no God but often operate more humanely than many God-fearers.

I ask those who constitute the Umbrella Groups of Churches to resist the temptation to allow the easy identification of common enemies to distract from careful and critical examination of the ways prevailing theologies are related to the sociology and psychology of our people. Commitment to the idea of an all-powerful God, who has mercy on who He will have mercy and destroys those who He chooses to destroy, is usually a reflection of the character of the committed. The features that make us 'fear' God will be those that influence the way we represent what is perceived as God's will, whether it is expressed in the pursuit of dominance or in resistance to domination in the name of God's justice.

Pause for consideration

I ask that there be pause for consideration that this might be a time when Christians in Jamaica are being given an opportunity to engage traditional doctrines of God, world and humanity received from our biblical and post-biblical ancestors in faith, with the recognition that they emerged as persons, struggled for meaning in their times and that our time demands that we engage our own unique struggle. As our ancestors were willing to listen to voices and embrace visions considered strange in their times, are we being challenged to seek insight in places and from persons hitherto considered unacceptable?

Rather than an opportunity to assert dominance, might it be a time for leaders of the Church in Jamaica to humbly sit at the feet of wisdom and learn from her.

I close with support for the stated intention, articulated by the Reverend Lenworth Anglin in the July 30 article, to be involved in certain communities in ways that provide "a spiritual and holistic healing for children that have been traumatised by the recent events." I pray that there will be equal concern for the Jamaicans of all ages and stations, who have been traumatised in a culture fashioned, in part, by religion and politics that have consistently employed tactics of fear and intimidation in order to gain control over their lives.

Michael Miller is associate professor of theology at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN.