Sunday 13 May 2012

We aren't a Christian Nation


By Mario Raphael Boothe

Jamaica's Conservative Christians  accepting the fact that 'we aren't a Christian nation' ruled by theocracy must happen this year of Jamaica's 50th Indepence, we cannot live under the delusion any longer. I know, coming from a christian it sounds weird but I'm compelled to allow common sense, discussion and love be the substitute for hate and bigotry. 

Not even The United States of America can claim the title of "Christian Nation". Their founding fathers of the nation were not Bible-believing Christians; they were deists. Deism was a philosophical belief that was widely accepted by the colonial intelligentsia at the time of the American Revolution. Its major tenets included belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems and belief in a supreme deity who created the universe to operate solely by natural laws. The supreme God of the Deists removed himself entirely from the universe after creating it. They believed that he assumed no control over it, exerted no influence on natural phenomena, and gave no supernatural revelation to man. A necessary consequence of these beliefs was a rejection of many doctrines central to the Christian religion. Deists did not believe in the virgin birth, divinity, or resurrection of Jesus, the efficacy of prayer, the miracles of the Bible, or even the divine inspiration of the Bible.

Many people in the christian faith and other religions use their Theology as a defense to spread undesirable hatred around the world be it Anti-American Jihad-Muslims, Anti-Palestine Jews, or Anti-Gay, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Premarital Sex Christians.

We have to change the tone of the discussion from war to therapy or motivation for change (we don't war against flesh and blood but strongholds and principalities). If spiritual Christians really believe in 'Spiritual World' then they should not be attacking "Gay Demons" through the eyes and ears of man but through Prayer of the Holy Ghost. 

Christians (Liberal or Conservative) have not learnt from the teaching of Jesus or seen the mistakes of the past, when we burned people on crosses and torture them because they had sinned, if Christianity continue down this road of "out casting and rejecting:" sinners rather than receiving them and touching their lives and hearts in a meaningful way, we shall be cast back into the times of the Christian Crusades (hieght of religious intolerance for christians) of the 11th Century, in which millions of muslim followers died. Christianity must show that it too has grown not just the world.

And for those Christians that need biblical evidence, here it is:
Luke 19:10 reads, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Sunday 6 May 2012

Higher Education doesn’t mean Expensive Education



“The Educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead” this quote is attributed to Aristotle.

The world of the 21th Century is one that many Experts in a wide range of areas across society believes to be the world of competitiveness like no other time in human history; competition between countries, races, religious and Political Ideology, classes, Financial Markets (evident more so on Wall St.) and almost everything that Humanity separates itself by, but Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest theory) or in this case (survival of the richest)  should have no place in the Education of Children from Early Childhood – Secondary or for those seeking ‘Higher Education’ at a Tertiary Institution be it Private or Public, in saying so I must give my support to any student union that stands up against the “No money, No Exam” Rule because once who have been gained entry through qualification and partial payment of fees then your free to sit your Exams. I must thank the University of the West Indies Student Guild for raising the issue once again earlier this week.

There is a preconceived notion in the world that to be properly educated and employable, one must have attended a private university that cost almost a life fortune just to live on campus much less the actual school fee. This classist Idea that a Public Community College or Vocational school is only for the “wat lef” in society, this is the reason why our institutions are underutilized, cast aside and neglected by both society and government, who seem to favor the private institution over the Publicly funded ones, which should make us cry shame and bloody murder at such actions like giving public grants to Private institutions to build sporting facilities and Labs. In a society where every penny counts, the grants would be better suited fixing the Community Colleges and paying the public teaching force to change public perceptions of what ‘Higher Education’ is. 

If the uneducated are as the same as the dead as stated by Aristotle then Jamaica is a land of mindless  walking zombies that have absolutely no purpose in life and if so how can consecutive Governments both JLP, PNP , Capitalist and Socialist really neglect Education by slashing and burning the sector in every budget just to balance the books. In this year’s budget I sincerely hope that education is spared and our society can be begin its resurrection from the jaws of death.