PM Manning inspired by Shouter Baptists’ courage

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning yesterday revealed that he has always been inspired by the courage of the Shouter Baptist community, and the rest of the national community would do well to follow their example.

Addressing a sod-turning ceremony for a Spiritual Baptist Religious, Educational and Social Development Centre in Maloney yesterday, Prime Minister Manning also pledged that Government would assist the nation’s social and cultural groups in ways similar to their counterparts in the private sector.  The Prime Minister told the gathering that  “Trinidad and Tobago must be thankful that we can draw inspiration from the courageous struggle of the Spiritual Baptist community which, through conviction and divine inspiration, took on the might of the colonial authority and gained the freedom to worship as your spiritual conviction dictates”. “ I must tell you that it is a conviction that the Prime Minister finds most contagious and whenever I am in your company, I end up refreshed and re-energised for the responsibilities which I shoulder,” he declared.

Manning said the history of the Shouter Baptists demonstrates that “situations change but each new era brings new demands and none of us is really able to rest on our laurels for too long”. “What never changes, however, is the need for courage and the will and capacity to overcome the impediments that life constantly throws in our path. It is to be certain that we need spiritual strength for the challenge of life,” the Prime Minister added. Reiterating Government’s commitment to work more closely with the Baptist community, Manning said: “It is absolutely unnecessary to be putting daggers at the heart of the Prime Minister.  You do not knock on a door when the door is already open.” The Prime Minister also said that “in the same way that we (Government) have facilitated private sector-led growth for economic advancement, the Government must now facilitate the greater and indispensable contribution of our social and cultural groups for social transformation of the country”.

Legal Affairs Minister Camille Robinson-Regis praised the Shouter Baptist community for their efforts to build family life in the country and was confident that Government would match the $300,000 which the Spiritual Baptist Church has already raised towards the construction of the new centre. Several regional Baptist leaders hailed Manning’s efforts to uplift the local Baptist community with local Patriarch Vernon Vaughn accidentally referring to the Prime Minister as “Dr Patrick Manning”.