Commentary

Not a sign of moral decay

RECENTLY I WAS reading in a newspaper where some pastors were saying that the statues at the entrance to Emancipation Park are an indicator as to how decadent Jamaican society had become. I remember throwing the paper down after reading the headline and thinking that there are many religious leaders in this country who are either in denial or just plain stupid.

Okay, so the society is in need of help. When was the last time anyone heard anyone from the church come out and do, not just say, do, something that will help alter the slide into decadence?

The only thing the church has strength for these days is casino gambling. That in itself shows just how out of touch the religious leaders are. What's the difference between Caymanas Park, the lottery games and casino gambling? The difference between them is the difference between a slice of cake and a danish and that is that they are different types of pastry.

Anyhow, back to this statue and immorality issue. How do the statues reflect moral decay? Because they're naked? Because they're black? What? Maybe I am the one who is stupid.

The statues are works of art and that is all they are.

Bronze nudes

The works of art on the roof of the Sistine Chapel as far as I can remember carries images of at least four pairs of bronze nudes, does that make the Roman Catholic Church evil? Okay, bad example. I forgot about the pedophile priests. But you get my point.

Nude images are even inside the church and have been there for more than 400 years or so, if my history does not fail me, so how do the ones at the entrance to the park say that we are all immoral?

Something that I realise about people in this country is that we have this tendency to attach blame to things and people. THE STAR, some people argue, degrades women, nudity is a sign of evil, and dancehall and television makes us violent.

Anybody who has watched the Passion of the Christ will know that those people who crucified Jesus were among the most violent. They did not have dancehall or television. Many of us also forget that Adam and Eve used to hang around the Garden of Eden stark naked, and women have been running naked for thousands of years. None of it is new.

What it is, is that when people lack guidance, meaning when parents are not parents to their children, when teachers fail to be teachers and when we cease to care about our neighbour's children, we all contribute to moral decay.

Silent church

When the church remains silent even while chaos reigns in the society and when greed, and the desire to get rich quickly cause us to be selling drugs, embezzling from people's bank accounts and stealing people's property, that is what helps lead to moral decay.

When women don't know where their daughters are at night because they themselves are out prostituting themselves, these are signs of moral decay. And when men get women pregnant and then leave them to raise that child on their own, that is a symptom of moral decay.

Children learn what they live, the song says. Children live what they learn. What we need to do is start raising our children and not having them grow like weeds. We need to teach them what is wrong and what is right. We need to start re-establishing rules that were successful in the past in helping forge strong families with strong values. For those strong families of strong values will result in strong communities and strong communities make up strong countries.

So no, dear pastors, the statues are not signs of moral decay. The ways in which we have been living are.