Govern with the Creator in mind

Although church and State exist separately, they must act alongside each other to ensure that righteousness is applied to the national decision-making process. We are not asking religious leaders to be politicians but society would benefit from them acting in a stronger advisory capacity. Our religious leaders must come forward and transcend the message of God from the walls surrounding the pulpit to the open public space.

We have a famous local saying that “God is a Trini” yet our leaders and our society seek to govern and work without including His wisdom. It is worrisome to know that religious leaders don’t play a front-line role in our country’s governance.

While we have a few religious leaders who credibly voice their concerns in the public domain, we need more proactive and wide-ranging social, political and economic involvement by our various religious leaders.

Our State is established based on belief in God and our government ministries should function in a way that carries this belief and leads to the benefit of all members of our society. The Bible says the poor will always be with us, therefore our commitment to the most vulnerable is a never-ending journey.

The wisdom of teaching a man to fish so he will always have food is a biblical strategy that we need to put additional focus towards as we seek to empower others and reduce the burden on the State.

Why is our society so corrupt? The answer lies in closely examining the historical patterns of corruption developed among our politicians. Politicians are the most widely publicised group of leaders.

The compounded problem is that most of our accused never answer to the justice system and live lavishly within our societal space.

The Bible proclaims that righteousness exhalts a nation and therefore if we fail to pay attention to our religious leaders, bodies and organisations, our nation will not prosper. Governments should consciously work towards endorsing the principles of the State’s belief in a creator and guiding the population towards living a life that reflects that belief.

A society that cannot control its crime in turn cannot protect its citizens.

Our leaders must take an active role in reminding citizens how they should behave as a means of positive reinforcement. If as a nation we strive towards developing a culture of righteousness then we are on the right path to creating an environment for positive behaviour patterns.

When we put the Creator first, criminal acts become strange behaviour as opposed to our current state where crime is unacceptably becoming normal.

This is a calling for greater recognition of the Creator in our society by our political leaders and for our religious leaders and organisations to step up and be a part of the governance of our country.

RONALD HUGGINS St Joseph