PM calls for moral society

In his Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day message, Manning said the celebration of this day was a victory for all who had felt the brunt of colonialism and who had been victims of race and class discrimination and prosecution.

He also noted that given the fact that the Baptist faith consisted of a large percentage of women, it was also a victory for them.

“The Baptist community across the Caribbean has suffered similar travail and today’s celebration is also a victory for the community in the region. At many levels therefore this celebration represents the triumph of oppressed people across the world,” he stated.

The Prime Minister said there were valuable lessons to be learnt from the experiences of the Shouter Baptist community.

“We must not lose sight of the spiritual essence (of the day) which celebrates the struggle of the Baptist community for the right to freedom of worship, for the right to search for and relate to Almighty God in their particular way.

“Ours is not a perfect society, but we continue to strive to ensure that all are treated equally and fairly... Today’s religious celebration must mean more than the embrace of a religious community for a day. Let us, in this society, genuinely embrace our Baptist community as an equal partner in the social and spiritual development and enrichment of our nation,” the PM said.

President George Maxwell Richards, in his message, said it was very easy for people to take the freedom they enjoyed for granted, because many of them did not have the experience of having to fight for it.

“Spiritual Baptists know only too well the struggle that had to be endured so that followers can be free today to worship,” he said.

Richards stated that the Spiritual Baptists were a vibrant group of people who understood their religious history well and were a significant part of the society.