DEBATE :- Christianity, another opium PART 1: RASTAFARIAN - Christianity has Jamaica asleep By Melville Cooke, Freelance Writer WESTERN BUREAU: Opiate: A thing which soothes or stupefies; a drug containing, derived from, or resembling opium, usu. to ease pain or induce sleep. THE FAMOUS socialist statement on religion has become one of the most enduring thorns in the side of the believer. However, there is another not quite so famous position on the topic, to the effect that religion is perhaps the only motive force in the world - but you have to reach someone through their religion, not yours. Fortunately or unfortunately Christianity is also the dominant religion in Jamaica and hence the discussion will concentrate mainly on it. Any belief system which is accepted and promoted by the ruling class will eventually be the proverbial 'opiate of the people', having them in a stupor of expectation of hardship - and actually welcoming it as some 'test'. It will eventually be used to entrench the position of the elite, and this is no less the case in Jamaica. Christianity is not merely an opiate of the people in Jamaica. It is more of an anaesthetic, having the nation in an unthinking, unfeeling, helpless state to which it has agreed, hoping that when it opens its eyes again the surgeon will have done a miracle. Instead, we are finding that the person with the scalpel is really an organ thief and when Jamaica awakens something vital like a kidney will be gone. Or we will not awaken, because the heart has been taken away. Christianity teaches that not only should we expect hardship, but we should welcome 'bearing the cross'. It also teaches that the great reward is after we die or Jesus returns as a conqueror, whichever happens first. The first seems much more likely. It also teaches the faithful to 'trust and obey, for there is no other way' and, in the two times I have been inside a church building in the last two years, that most dangerous of suppositions that our leaders are appointed by God and hence must be supported and respected. That, I consider to be untrue and very, very dangerous. Christianity also teaches that anything can be achieved through prayer. Maybe, but there has got to be substantial action to support it. However, 'water more than flour' and 'faith more than works'. Praying for the people in Tivoli Gardens without going there with food would not have helped them one bit. The question now is if the Christian community is going to take the further step of challenging the fundamental political ills which has created these situations in Jamaica.I really doubt it. This is not to say, of course, that Christians are not doing substantial work in Jamaica. Far from it, because without their efforts, planned and unplanned, the country would be in a much worse position than it is now. However, if Christians were to travel in the more revolutionary steps of their founder then their social work would be much less. That is Christianity's ultimate tranquillising effect. It teaches acceptance of the status quo because all things are the work of the Lord, ignoring the fact that Jesus challenged the status quo in his time. Christianity is not alone in this. Even as radical (for the society it sprang up in) a belief system as Rastafarianism has its aspects which encourage helplessness among the faithful. There are still some believers who are waiting on the 'Black Starliner', failing to realise that many airliner-starliners go back and forth from the continent every day. It must be noted, however, that there have been Christians who have used the religion in a proactive way. The best-known of these is Martin Luther King Jnr., who was not content to make a particular system of oppression bearable but wanted to change the entire situation. Gandhi, who King termed the greatest Christian who never embraced Christianity, also used his religion to bring about great social change. Ultimately, however, if we continue to be 'the sheep of his pasture' somebody is going to lead us to the slaughterhouse. Melville Cooke can be contacted at griotrec@hotmail.com .
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