Of Lent, labour and religious freedom

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5 was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of this year’s season of Lent, a period when Christians refrain from doing certain things, and engage in certain activities.

“Lent, in the Christian church, [is] a period of penitential preparation for Easter. In Western churches, it begins on Ash Wednesday, six and a half weeks before Easter, and provides a 40-day period for fasting and abstinence (Sundays are excluded), in imitation of Jesus Christ’s fasting in the wilderness before he began his public ministry,” Britannica.com says.

“Almsgiving, the practice of giving money or food to the poor and performing other acts of charity, is also encouraged. In Eastern churches, Lent begins on the Monday of the seventh week before Easter and ends on the Friday that is nine days before Easter. This 40-day ‘Great Lent’ includes Saturdays and Sundays as relaxed fast days.

In Jamaica, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays, days to relax, perhaps. Workers in the public and private sectors, except for those in the essential services, are not to work on those days, according to the law. Those who work on those days should be paid twice their daily salary/wage.

Though these are Christian holidays, the law applies to non-Christians too. It means that non-Christians, too, should not work on these days, and cannot do business with government and/or its agencies. So, if there are things that they want to do on these days, they cannot. Yet, there are no non-Christian public holidays.

The argument is that Jamaica is a Christian country. Really? But is this the law? Is Jamaica a theocracy? And, why do we have a Christian prayer as our national anthem, and why must non-Christians and people who do not pray stand at attention when that Christian prayer is being sung?

What if that anthem means absolutely nothing to some people, including those who do not subscribe to the Christian God, ‘Eternal Father’? Should they not be free to make their own decisions and to carry on with their lives without being caged in and boxed in by these Christian public holidays?

This article was inspired by a piece of JIS News headlined, ‘Labour Minister assures Jamaicans of their religious freedoms’, and published in The Gleaner on Thursday, March 13, 2025.

The said article opens with, “Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr is assuring all Jamaicans that the Government is committed to upholding religious freedom and will never impose policies that force individuals to act against their faith.

“He was responding to concerns raised by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church regarding Saturday operations at Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ).

“In a statement issued by the minister today, he said: ‘The Government of Jamaica remains fully committed to upholding religious liberty and ensuring that all Jamaicans can practise their faith without infringement’.”

So, isn’t the Government infringing the religious rights of Rastafari, Muslims, and other non-Christians when it locks down the country five days every year for Christian public holidays? And when it is allowing work to be done on Saturdays, the Christian Sabbath, the Christians are squealling; they want to have a monopoly on that day too.

“He pointed out that the decision to expand the TAJ offices’ operating hours, including additional Saturday openings, is driven by the need to provide greater convenience and access to critical services for the public,” the story continues.

“The expansion does not violate the religious freedom of any individual. TAJ has a clear policy that respects the beliefs of its staff. Employees are not mandated to work on Saturdays if doing so would contradict their religious convictions,” the minister said.

So, in addition to the five Christian public holidays, the Adventist denomination wants the country to be locked down on a Saturday, except for worship, and that is nothing new. It has always advocated that Saturday is a day of worship and rest, because Jesus rested on the seventh day. But, what about those who are not led by that belief, especially in the crucifixion and resurrection story.

The story of the crucifixion is about the killing of Jesus, the Christian Messiah, who allowed his blood to be shed so that he could save the world from sin, and the blood of Jesus is a regular plea in this country, rumoured to have more churches per square mile than any other in this big, wide world where Christianity is a major religion.

But, have we noticed that in this little country where the ‘cutting’ of a certain type of ‘clawt’ is strongly rivalling the plea of the blood of Jesus? And that there is more bloodshed per capita in Jamaica than in most ‘big, big’ countries in the world. Even in the season of Lent, blood flows in this “God-blessed” country like the River Jordan.

So, what is the point of observing Lent, and ceasing work on the aforementioned days? To what end? Why are non-Christians inconvenienced on these days? Everybody should have the right to do whatever they want religiously or not on these days; it should be a matter of choice and not something foisted upon a multi-cultural society by the Government and the Christian Church.

That is real ‘religious’ freedom. Those who want to observe Easter and Christmas, let them, and for those who don’t want to, remove the chains of these Christian public holidays from around their heart, body and soul.