Bishop mourns Jamaica’s ‘culture of death’: The Church of England Newspaper, July 29, 2011 July 29, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Crime.trackback
Bishop Robert Thompson of Kingston
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Kingston has denounced the island’s “culture of death,” saying Jamaica was turning into a dystopia ruled by gang violence, corruption and greed.
Speaking at the funeral of 17-year old Khajeel Mais at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kingston on July 16, Bishop Robert Thompson said the young man’s death was symbolic of the nation’s woes. “Morality is eroded,” he told the congregation, and Jamaica had become a place “where life is disposed of in favour of the symbols” of prosperity.
“We live in a society that embraces a culture of death from which we must repent. It makes us numb to justice,” said the bishop.
On July 1 Mais, a passenger in a taxi, was shot to death by a man driving a BMW X5 after the taxi scratched the side of the luxury car. A student at Kingston College, Mais was on his way to a school fete when the shooting took place. He died shortly after being admitted to hospital.
Speaking to a packed cathedral congregation that included students from the college, family and friends, Bishop Thompson said Mais’ death was not only an abomination, but was a tipping point in the collapse of the social order.
“The expression of outrage by the public is causing a shift in our society,” the bishop said.
He urged Jamaicans to stand up to those who sought power or wealth through the barrel of a gun.
“They can kill, but cannot kill the soul,” he said.
Bishop Thompson added that silence in face of evil, made one complicit with evil, warning those who were part of the “conspiracy of silence” that surrounded criminals were as “much to blame as those who pulled the trigger.”
The only way forward, the bishop said, was to turn towards God. Taking as his text the 10th chapter of Matthew, the bishop reminded the congregation that the one who stands firm in his faith to the end will be saved. “Let us face our fear of violence in our society with faith as Christians, when terror and death” surround us, Bishop Thompson said.
