” when it comes on to pastors, priests, evangelists, and prophets, I do not believe in them, and no one can get me to believe in them. This has pained me. It has pained my family. It has destroyed a lot of persons’ lives,”
Former congregant of Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries led by the late Bishop Kevin Smith
The attribution of the source and origin of the order, form, and content of the universe to the God described by the tenets of religious belief, is by definition an article of faith, not provable either by science or logic. The strongest evidence or proof then of the claims made by adherents of religion lie in the domain of coherence, character and creativity.
– The internal coherence and consistency of the ideas put forward in any single religious cosmology, (whether Judeo-Christian, Islamic. Hindu or any other) as well as the unity and utility of those ideas in explaining external reality as experienced even by those operating outside the influence of the mesmeric field generated by any one particular belief system.
– the character and quality of life of the devotees of any particular faith and
-the creativity that such character brings through demonstrated ability to improve life expression and life experience both for the community of faith and also for the surrounding communities of their world.
In the wake of Kevin Smith, many have expressed that Jamaicans are too religious. The most recent data however, points to the growing trend of secularism in the island. i.e. persons who deny any religious affiliation or any strong religious convictions. Curiously, across the Caribbean, it is Grenada, emerging from their failed Marxist experiment that has the highest percentage of population who admit strong religious identification.
The Kevin Smith saga most certainly will contribute to this growing island trend. The issues arising from the debacle that are likely to be of public debate (i.e. the public regulation of religion) I have opined on in The Politics of Religion. I recommend an in depth reading to understand the nuance of thought involved.
YeKengalé 