Neither the United States of America nor Jamaica are Christian nations. Although the religious right in both countries are known for spinning a yarn of imaginative narrative inferring the contrary, the facts are clear. The history of the Church in the Jamaican Genesis, as is the case with the entire indigenous population of the Americas, … More On Christian Nations and Unchristian Nations
The recent issue of raised ‘cane’ (the pun should become obvious in a moment, and yes c-a-n-e, no unintended misspelling) over the Daryl Vaz sprinkling rum to bless and commission new school buses (that very well may have won his government the last election so he could have set an entire thanksgiving table with lit … More Fathers of our Faith and Cultural Continuity
The idea of a Christian vote in the Jamaican context is an interesting proposition. For such a voting bloc to exist and to be of societal value requires an internal cohesion which can only be achieved through common connection to universally trusted sources of information and universally respected voices of authority. Even then, weighing in … More A church voting bloc?
I spent Marcus Garvey’s birthday visiting the Haitian refugee camp in St Mary. It is hard to determine exactly how many have arrived on the island by boat. It is almost certain that some have evaded our Coast Guards and found a way to integrate into informal settlements around the island, but the government of … More The Least of These
A fair authentication of authorship is the ability to fix one’s broken invention. This assumption probably underscores the logic behind the central tenet of Christianity’s claim that Jesus is God – his purported ability to fix the problems of humanity. It started out with simple things, like saving the life of a party when the … More The Fixer
For 25 years, I’ve had real problems with the religious demographics being projected by scholars and even the most trusted institutions. I remember being dumbfounded by my scholar-friend Dr Muata Ashby, prolific author and Egyptologist, attempting to resurrect both ancient Egyptian language and religion, following the Zionist model, as a precursor to 21st century Pan … More Finally, it’s an atheist who gets it right.
… for they are like the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection …Luke20:36 Easter approaches, so I offer for reflection the articles below and the following testimony, recorded in Natural Mystic which was relayed to me personally by the Rev Tony Bailey when we met in Toronto in 2008 at a prayer … More Sons of the Resurrection
In human terms, the ability to choose and the experience or exercise of power are so intertwined as to be virtually synonymous. By definition, powerlessness is the absence of the capacity to choose. Power exists therefore only in the presence of choice, and effective or meaningful power is the ability to align choice with intention … More Reflections on Peace, Power and Pain
The tension between a fundamentalist approach and an ecumenical approach to Christian faith constantly manifests itself in our ability to conduct and maintain constructive, productive and supportive relationships within the church, which best facilitates the harnessing of our collective pool of resources and creates the broadest platform of leadership that Caribbean Civilization so desperately needs, … More Dissociation, Disconnection, Dissonance
Being still fixated on describing the Beloved Community, my ‘Hephzibah’, (one generally does not deliberately arrive at a destiny that has not first been identified and articulated) … and this generation no longer resonates with the dreams of their ancestors, whether Garvey or M.L. King, Isaiah or St Augustine, no longer having an appreciation of … More The Healing Community
