Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) officials are firing back at Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Branville McCartney for comments he made about the organisation’s “Say No” campaign.
Last week, the third party leader shunned BCC’s campaign on the upcoming gaming referendum saying that more issues need to be addressed.
“I think there are more pressing issues that they ought to be concentrating on that have been going on for years and years and years and we’ve heard nothing or very little from the Christian Council on them. I think they ought to get their priorities straight,” Mr. McCartney told a local newspaper.
But in a press statement released Sunday, BCC officials argue that they are not silent on important issues.
“Mr. McCartney should be careful not to assume that just because the church is not in front of a camera to publicise what we are doing that nothing is being done,” the BCC said.
“Secondly the church is not just the pastors who speak out publicly but includes tens of thousands of members who are on the frontlines of ministry throughout this country some on a daily basis although their good deeds will never be known by men.”
The council said beyond the many church schools, nurseries and preschools, there are many feeding programmes feeding thousands of people a day, shelters, afterschool programmes, clothing programmes and counselling programmes.
“This is why our church people are spread out and strategically mobilised to tackle these issues as school and guidance counsellors, why they serve on the National Child Protection Council, the Juvenile Court and the Crisis Centre, where they receive those desperate phone calls in the middle of the night. Truth be told if the church were not doing its job our society would have collapsed under the awful weight of human vice long ago,” officials said.
“We deal with vice on a daily basis and therefore have the moral authority to speak candidly to this vice that others are seeking to nationalise. Who better than the church to speak to the issue we ask?”
The BCC asked if the number house bosses should be allowed to spend their $3 million on advertising to “mislead the public and conveniently overlook the already devastating social consequences.”
“Is he suggesting that we, the church who know better not be allowed to have an educational campaign to get the truth out about how legalising of number houses and a national lottery would further ruin and further corrupt our society? We are mystified that Mr. McCartney, a politician and a businessman would have trouble with us launching an educational campaign.”
Officials continued, “Every business establishment knows the value of a promotional campaign to get their product known, and every political organisation also knows the need to put on a campaign to get their message out. He should therefore not be surprised that the Bahamas Christian Council has launched an educational campaign to enlighten the Bahamian people given the devastating weight of this issue.”
The BCC is arguing that Bahamians should say no to the upcoming referendum because it says legalising number houses and the introduction of a national lottery would violate national values, hurt the most vulnerable, produce social problems, promote negative lifestyles, increase crime, harm the economy and dishonour God.
“So to Mr. McCartney and all those who attack the church for merely seeking to educate and warn the Bahamian public of the danger of voting yes, please not that we are not going to be silent while others call wrong right and right wrong. Finally, as voting Bahamian citizens we have a right to articulate our position especially since we ‘have a horse in this race’ – the future wellbeing of the Bahamian people whom we are called to serve,” the BCC said.
The referendum is scheduled for January 28.
