Baptists a sign of hope — Panday

He said because of all the struggles Spiritual Baptists endured they are a shining example of steadfast faith and hope when faced with discrimination and oppression.

“Like them, your day of liberation will come,” Panday stated in a Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day message released from the Opposition office.

He recalled that, 11 years ago, his UNC government recognised the Spiritual Baptists were neglected and discriminated against.

“One of the very first acts of my government was to declare March 30 a public holiday in recognition of the 1951 repeal of the 1917 Shouters Prohibition Ordinance that had banned the Spiritual Baptists from practising their religion,” he said.

He said the UNC government also granted the Spiritual Baptists 25 acres of state land for the purpose of establishing a spiritual park for African-based religions.

“Throughout the UNC’s tenure in office our support for the Spiritual Baptist community never wavered. We handed over to them the deed for lands to erect a primary school and we agreed to aid in establishing the school,” Panday said.

“The UNC administration also gave recognition to Spiritual Baptist marriages, which had not been recognised by the state for over four centuries.”

And he added that, to ensure that no citizen will ever again be discriminated against, they passed the Equal Opportunities Act of 2000.

He said to date, however, the present Government has refused to implement this important Act.

Panday advised citizens not to let anyone ride roughshod over their fundamental right to equality under the law, and to use their voices and pens to speak out against discrimination.

And he asked the national community to join him in prayer for the crime epidemic in the country.