THE EDITOR, Sir:
YEARS AGO there was a programme on television called Foul-ups, bleeps and blunders. This is where we are as a Church in light of the proposal by the Right Reverend Lawrence Burke of the Jamaica Council of Churches for the development of procedure to be shared with all churches how they should go about investigating. This is what is referred to in Scripture as 'spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places'. Church leaders are neither trained nor equipped to deal with sexual offences.
SILENT LEADERS
Thank God for those church leaders who have openly condemned the atrocity committed against the young girl and the conduct of the leaders of the Dayton Avenue 'outhouse'. Most of the leaders who are maintaining their silence may be so busy condoning acts of murder, kidnapping, rape, or participating in demonic activities that they have eyes for little else. They must understand that the forces of evil have been vanquished, and the power of God is the only legitimate power.
All sex offences are criminal acts which must be prosecuted by the state. What the Jamaica Council of Churches should have done was call upon that 'outhouse' to stop masquerading as a church and close its doors.
Given the foregoing and the biblical perspective on secular government set out in Romans 13, churches have no legal or moral authority to develop a sex offence protocol. The leaders are subject to the laws of the land.
I am, etc.,
CYNTHIA LAWRENCE-JENNINGS
P.O. Box 2114
Kingston 8
