FINDING CONSENSUSI wish to posit that our present difficulties in finding consensus with how to deal with crime and violence is directly linked to our incapacity to demonstrate genuine remorse for wrongs committed against others. There is much pent up anger being borne by persons who have been grossly wronged by persons who exercise power, authority and privilege and they have received no apology or compensation for the wrong committed. The victims of crime and violence are unable to experience healing and, therefore, remain psychologically damaged because so many of the perpetrators of wrongdoing go unpunished. The victims receive no apology because the perpetrators do not understand or value the power of forgiveness. Desmond Tutu is right when he said there can be no future without forgiveness.
CALLOUS ATTITUDE
According to Wendell Berry, "The great obstacle is simply this: The conviction that we cannot change because we are dependent upon what is wrong. But that is the addict's excuse, and we know that it will not do." We have been fooling ourselves for far too long with our callous attitude towards wrongdoing. 'A no nutten' is the catch phrase that we easily use to dismiss the severity of the wrong that we commit. The impact of post-modernity has relativised the notion of sin. Sin is no big thing within the society and the church. Much of what is called church growth is really migration from one church to another. Those who leave their home church sometimes do not take salvation with them to another church but unconfessed sins that they do not wish to be exposed!
We generally shake our heads at what we call the 'ills of society'. But have we forgotten that those ills are caused by people by us? The religious notion of sin as a state of hostile rebellion against standards set by God has been expelled by modern thought shaped by the ideology of individualism. Sin, if it is acknowledged, represents a simple human condition of moral failure (sins) and not a fundamental state of being!
Contemporary Christianity has to some extent become hostage to neo-liberal economics that requires a philosophy of individualism that unleashes the human capacity to achieve personal progress at any price. Conservative Christianity has, therefore, embraced the notion of 'personal' salvation and 'personal' morality, a prosperity gospel that domesticates the language of sin and neglects structural manifestations of human alienation. On the other hand, we have liberal and nominal faith expressions that belittle the seriousness of the human condition of sin by embracing the discredited secular myth of progress. Indeed, the current socio-economic and ecological crisis is directly related to the human condition that advocates lifestyles that are not in harmony with the environment because we are enslaved to the consumerist illusion of excess.
A TRUTH AND JUSTICE COMMISSION
There are religious groups advocating for a 'truth and justice commission' to be established in order to facilitate national healing, forgiveness and reconciliation. This represents a very sincere and commendable call but it may well be misplaced because the context of the 'national wrongs' that have been committed by the state, over a determined period of time, against the masses, has not been clearly identified.
No one can deny, however, that there is a need for radical discontinuity with the current social order that calls for transformative repentance that results in change of historical direction of the nation.
One thing that is certain is that the current social order is unsustainable because there is a fatal addiction to the dysfunctional behaviour of not genuinely owning up to wrongdoing.
I listened to Dr. Barry Wade from Mona Baptist Church sharing his experiences of working with drug addicts in the Papine area. He commented on their addiction to deception, no owning up to their drug dependency condition and so making their condition worse. Addiction is very enslaving because it masks reality by embracing the delusion of denial that prevents the addict to see her/his true state of partnership with death instead of life!
Addiction seems to be endemic in our social discourse. I am convinced that there are rogue social and spiritual forces at work that are engendering and sustaining the increasingly high levels of compulsive behaviour, substance abuse and crime and violence in our society. The reports from our schools increasingly points to the mal-formation of our children in homes and communities that have given up shaping them how to live within moral limits. Our children are now becoming uncontrollable and new 'tough love' strategies must be found to engender behavioural change by owning up to the wrongs they have done, taking responsibility for their acting and engaging in restorative justice that makes reparation to those wronged!
MORAL EXHORTATIONS INEFFECTIVE
Our socio-economic and religious networks of complicity to wrongdoing cannot be reformed by moral exhortations or even by putting pastors on government boards. The change requires an all-inclusive struggle for right living! The addict 'all of us' must become subjects of the struggle for change! The drug addict who acknowledges his condition and need for help is invited by groups such as Teen Challenge to enter into a process of transformation that must lead to the overthrow of rogue power that enslaves the person. There is no room for short cut, quick solution and easy answer. Addiction can only be overthrown by a radical systematic and continuous process of repentance over a long period of time.
Stand together and work for what must be done!
In the current debate on nation building, I would, therefore, like to appeal to all persons of goodwill within society that we must not give in to what Michael Learner calls the 'surplus of powerlessness' in which individuals feel overwhelmed by the current disorder to the point that they give in to the negative world view that they cannot make a difference to bring about change. The greatest temptation that can destroy our nation is for people of goodwill to give in to impotence and resignation. We must never give up being a community of accountability.
The example of the immigration officers at Norman Manley Airport on April 10 speaks volumes to the hopeful possibilities that still exist in our nation.
I returned to the island on a BWIA flight from Barbados only to find the immigration hall full because of the arrival of four other flights. A reggae band arrived on the flight with some dreadlocks musicians. About three of them proceeded to pass all of the other travellers who stayed in the line and obeyed the rules and made their way ahead to stand in front of me. I politely informed them that their behaviour was unacceptable and that they should return to the back of the queue. One of them responded by verbally abusing me. I called on the immigration officer to ensure that the rules were followed by all. They showed little respect for the officer who was very professional in his dealing with them. As soon as the officer turned his back, they moved out of the line and went straight to the front, ahead of the person who was waiting patiently to be called. The immigration officer saw what happened and instructed the other officers not to process their documents. No amount of begging and pleading by them got any results. They had to wait their turn which meant that they tried to be first and ended up being last!
PROFESSIONALISM
I commend the immigration officers for their professionalism as they remain steadfast in their duty, in the midst of great intimidation. If their behaviour were to be replicated throughout the nation, fundamental transformation would happen and addiction to anti-social behaviour would decrease. The remnants of moral minority in this land must stand up and put up resistance to confront the powerful mechanisms of seduction and addiction that seek to enslave all of us whether they be social, religious, economic or political.
Rev Dr. Roderick Hewitt is minister at the Hope United Church, St. Andrew.
