Peter Espeut | Choose the lesser of two evils

“Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”. (From the Lord’s Prayer)

This is a revised and annotated version of a presentation I gave last Sunday evening at an online public forum entitled “The Power of the Christian Vote” organised by the Association of Christian Communicators and Media (ACCM).

Should Christians vote at all? Some say no! “Christianity and politics cannot mix”, they say. This is a misreading of sacred scripture. Christians are expected to work hard for God’s will to be done on Earth, just as it is in Heaven; that is what the coming of God’s Kingdom is all about. The only way that God’s will can come to be done on Earth is if politicians arrange for it to be so, and it is the duty of Christians to vote for politicians who will pass just laws, and put arrangements in place for justice and peace to be ours forever in this Jamaica, land we love.

Therefore Christians should pray, discern the will of the Holy Spirit, and vote for the Kingdom to come!

According to the 2011 Population Census of Jamaica, 79 per cent identify as Christians, although that can mean many things. The Holy Spirit speaks with one voice, and should Christians of whatever stripe be in touch with the same Spirit of God, and vote the same way, the result will be a mega-landslide!

But many Christians – maybe most Christians – are NOT voting. Voter turnout has been in decline; only 38 per cent of registered voters turned out to vote in the 2020 general elections. A majority of those who stayed away from the polls clearly were Christians.

Does this mean that the Holy Spirit is inspiring Jamaican voters not to vote? Or is it that Christians are not listening to the Spirit and just declare with Mercutio “a pox on both your houses”?

During the forum last Sunday, respected opinion pollster Don Anderson of Market Research Services Ltd. admitted that he has not sought to analyse whether the proportion of Christians among those who vote and decline to vote mirror the percentage in the population, and he undertook to research this question in future polls. I look forward to his findings.

LEAVING IT TO NON-CHRISTIANS

Wouldn’t it be interesting if research shows that the percentage of Christians among the voters is much less than 79 per cent? This would mean that Christians are leaving it to the non-Christians to decide who governs us!

The forum organisers would clearly wish the Christian community to be aware of the voting power their vast numbers represents, and that they would turn out to VOTE IN the government which will act in the best interests of the coming of the Kingdom. And I agree.

The trouble is that neither of the parties before us make the grade. Both parties have political garrisons, and are alleged to have gangs of thugs affiliated with them. For every Spanglers there is a Shower Posse. For every One Order Gang there is a Klansman Gang. For every Claudie Massop there is a Buckie Marshall. For every Zeeks there is a Dudus. For which party must a Christian with a conscience vote? Can Christians vote for evil?

In my view, I believe that much of the low voter turnout for Jamaican elections is due, not to apathy (apathy means “doh kyah”), but to a reluctance to vote FOR either of the two evils before us. “Reject every kind of evil” (1 Thess 5:22) the Bible says. Christians should not vote FOR evil.

But I wish to advise my Christian brethren that Christians can vote AGAINST evil. An assessment can be made as to which party has policies which will take us further away from the kingdom, and then the Christian can vote AGAINST that party. An evil party will still win, but the lesser of the two evils.

No party is all evil. Each party will have their solid achievements about which they will crow. But neither will list their dark side. Neither party will boast: “our policies allow illicit enrichment to stay hidden”, or “our policies keep those who give us money secret, and who we give contracts to secret, so you don’t make the connection”. But they all do that, while only telling us the good part.

WISE AS SERPENTS

Christians must be wise as serpents. See through the smokescreen of “solid achievements” and perceive the dark reality. Any party which avoids public consultation, and seeks to grab more power unto itself, is not building the kingdom.

The Church will recall that when the Constitutional Reform Committee was established, the minister named a minister of religion who she decided would “represent” the Church. Of course the Church protested strongly, and was allowed to name a real representative. But the persons selected by the minister to “represent” the youth and civil society remained. When discerning who to vote for, Christians must remember these things.

There is an agreement between Churches which own schools and the government which provides them some public funding, about the sharing of power and responsibility. Any government which seeks to break that agreement by unilaterally giving the minister of education more power over church-owned schools is not building the Kingdom.

Any government which wishes to restrict prayer in schools it owns is free to do so, but they overstep when they try to tell churches how much prayer they can have in the church-owned schools. How can that be building the Kingdom?

A party which promises to publish who gets government contracts, and the income and assets of cabinet ministers is less evil than one which wishes to keep them secret.

Parties which seek to arrogate more and more power to themselves are dangerous for democracy, and Christians must pray and discern carefully before voting.

Congratulations to the ACCM for a topic designed to build the kingdom.

The Rev. Peter Espeut is a Roman Catholic deacon and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com