THE EDITOR, Sir:
OUR NEWLY-APPOINTED Prime Minister is obviously a Christian. While there are many good things about Christianity and just about all religions, a leader of a democracy should not use his or her influence to promote any single religion or his or her personal faith.
The Prime Minister's suggestion of a pastor to be appointed on all Government boards is an insult to both secular Jamaicans and Jamaicans of different religious backgrounds.
No one should be appointed to State positions based solely on his or her leadership position in a church.
What qualifies someone of faith to be more honest than someone who is not? What makes a church leader an ideal candidate to serve on a Government board more so than others? How can we claim to be a democracy when we are giving preferences to certain groups? Isn't our motto 'Out Of Many One People?'
Should we assume that pastors are the only ones with genuine values?
No one should get me wrong, I love the Prime Minster; I have great respect for her; I admire her strength and I welcome her appointment as Prime Minister.
However, her religious tone is rather high; none of our former prime ministers (at least of my time) has ever drenched us with this much faith.
Jamaica is for all Jamaicans - Rastafarians, Muslims, atheists, Hindus, Jews, Christians and secular people such as myself.
The PM needs to be reminded that she was appointed to lead our country out of its financial and social misery. This does not include leading us into a spiritual revolution. It will take much more than her faith in God to undo the ills of this country.
I am, etc.,
JULES TAYLOR
jules06@telus.com
B.C., Canada
Via Go-Jamaica
