THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT HAS been interesting to hear the debates over the Charter Of Rights. As a people who were denied so many of our rights for so long under colonialism, we seem to have lost our long-term memories.
I am a Christian but Jamaica is a democratic, multicultural country, not a theocracy. It's all good for us as Christians to defend our rights to worship, but those who do not share our beliefs also have a right to not share those beliefs and to have their rights protected.
UNFAIRLY USED
Religion has been used unfairly for centuries to oppress many groups and to abrogate people's rights in the name of protecting the moral or social status quo. That was the basis of slavery and the oppression of blacks worldwide and the continued marginalisation of blacks even after emancipation.
Christianity is about people freely coming to Jesus and acknowledging their sins. Trying to force your religious views on them through law will never work. We have had laws against abortion on our books for years yet people still have them done.
We have to realise that the Charter of Rights is there to protect all our rights. As Jamaica becomes more secular, Christians may some day find themselves in the minority. If that should happen, these same rights they want to expropriate from groups they dislike may be the same ones that protect them.
I am, etc.,
RICARDO SMALLING
rsmalling@sympatico.ca
Barbados Via Go-Jamaica
