Religious leaders are warning the Government of Barbados against removing references to ‘God’ in the Charter of Barbados or from other National symbols.
If that occurs, chaos, decline and a military state can be expected.
Senior Pastor of the House of Freedom Ministries, Dr Ferdinand Nicholls gave that caution on Tuesday during a virtual press conference entitled ‘Why We Need God Under a Barbados republic’.
During his address, Nicholls said morality was linked to righteousness and Godliness while questioning why there were rumours about removing ‘God’ from the National Anthem.
“We have established a foundation process over the years and I am concerned when I hear rumours concerning the removal of things like the name of God from our National Anthem which is described as one of our national symbols. If you remove the benchmark you are going to decline, there is no question about this. We see this across the world in many societies where people do what is right in their own eyes,” Nicholls said.
Other speakers included President of the African Heritage Foundation (AHF) Paul ‘Ras Simba’ Rock, Sean “Apache” Carter, Lumumba Batson, and coordinator of the Steering Committee for the Barbados Concerned Citizens, Winston Clarke.
The press conference was held after the government’s announcement that there would be a Charter of Barbados to coincide with the transition to the republic and a press conference by Humanists Barbados.
Political scientist Peter Wickham, who participated in the event last week, said that God was linked to Barbados’ colonial past and had no place in modern Barbados.
In response, Ras Simba said it could also be argued that God’s love provided a foundation for the abolition of slavery.
“I don’t want to be debate if it was started by the Christians or not, but we had religious leaders like [William] Wilberforce who then used God in a context of love, that we are equal and these are human beings to shake the mindset of the white masses, that led to the abolition of slavery.
“I am agreeing that if you remove the essence of God, if we take away the benchmark of love and it is left to people, to each their own. . . the only thing that is going to stop that chaotic society would be a military state. . . And if you remove that, as they say, the writing is on the wall,” Rock said. (TG)
