MOST OF the respondents in a Gleaner-commissioned poll believe that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's directive to combine Church and State will not provide anything divine.
A leading 46 per cent of those polled by researcher Bill Johnson and his team believe that appointing a pastor to every governmental board would not improve transparency and accountability.
This revelation that things would not change with the advent of the pastors seems contradictory when compared to the 58 per cent of the 1,008 respondents who supported the April 1 call for pastors to be on all public boards to ensure probity. Nineteen per cent rejected the idea. The view that there would be no change was mainly in the parishes of St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. James and Manchester.
Troy Cain, political analyst, sided with those who doubted that the PM's directive would diminish corruption.
"I don't think the fact that church people (are) on the boards is going to make it more sacred," he said.
A critical Mr. Cain said that the business of attaching divinity to politics was cosmetic and people should not believe the hype.
CHURCH NOT IN HIGH REGARD
However, a cool 41 per cent of the respondents believe the appointment of the men of the cloth to boards would aid in stamping out corruption. Just over 43 per cent of those with this view were women, and strongest support was in the age group 65 years and over.
The Rev. Paul Nelson, general treasurer for the Assemblies of God in Jamaica, told The Gleaner that the results of the poll testify to the way many Jamaicans view the Church.
"Some persons just don't have the Church in high regard," he said. However, Rev. Nelson, who pastors the Antioch Assembly of God, conceded that a single pastor on a board might not have the desired effect.
Meanwhile, 13 per cent of the respondents abstained from committing to a response.
The poll, which was conducted in 84 communities across the 14 parishes, was conducted on May 13 and 14. The margin of error is plus or minus three per cent. Fifty-two per cent of the respondents were male, while 48 per cent were female.
TOMORROW: Problems in the Catholic Church world-wide ... is it an issue in Jamaica?
