Paying one’s death to society
BASED ON the allegations, he was facing ‘grave’ consequences;
Orville Taylor but who has ever seen a lawyer file a writ of habeas corpse? Here we were, waxing biblical about religious leaders like the deceased pastor Kevin Smith purporting to have supernatural powers, and now, my ordained senior police officer seems to also have that link.
Posthumous or preposterous but not even a dead automotive battery can hold a charge. So as with the 2010 movie Jonah Hex, where the protagonist temporarily resurrected outlaws to interrogate them, the popcorn and nachos with a full cup of ice tea are beside me as I stand for the National Anthem : “... keep us free from evil powers.”
My condolences to the family, relatives, friends, and colleagues of the deceased police officer, Orlando Irons, and yes, to those of Smith. No celebrations here and no supernatural explanations either. Perhaps we might have forgotten the message that it is appointed to us all to die, and, therefore, death is no punishment. Moreover, one dies when it is one’s time. Prayers are up for a full recovery for the injured police officers, who were hurt in the fatal crash, which occurred while Smith was being transported to Kingston from St James by the police.
Still, a smattering of holier-thanthou people from the ‘true church’ are making pronouncements about the state of his soul and his destiny in the afterlife. Nothing spectacular here. According to Christianity, the dead will have to answer all charges against them in the afterlife. Let us be realistic, however, and limit our legal oversight of the behaviour of religious organisations and personnel to this life.
Never mind the poppyshow and drama. Smith, a convicted sex offender, formerly resident in Canada, slid into Jamaica unnoticed, built up a large following and what looks like immense wealth, in a parish already troubled with high levels of youth violence. His video clip where he went on a conspiracy rant about the Canadian government and its monitoring of citizens, immediately raised several coloured flags for me and not just the red. Speaking out against the Canadian authorities either means that he was a citizen or had no desire or prospect of going back. How come no one in the hierarchy of the constabulary felt that they should have looked deeply into his background?
COME UP WITH ANSWERS
Although it is post facto, the police need to dig as deep as possible and come up with answers. And for the record, my opinion is that like many other men of the cloth, he had misled thousands in parting with their cash, whether legally or ill-gotten. After all, it is rumoured that he offered spiritual protection to some of the gangsters out west. If that is so, then by now, the ‘shotters’ who trusted him know they were also tricked.
We are too vulnerable a population to have unmonitored people further abusing the poor and powerless. If 80 per cent of Jamaicans say that they are members of a Christian denomination and reputedly, we have the most churches per square kilometre in the world, it is easy to understand that the minds are ripe for exploitation. Our tiny CARICOM neighbour, St Lucia, has a ministry with responsibility for ecclesiastical affairs. We need government regulation to protect us from spiritual predators.
It might be surprising that we already have laws that can apply. With as much ignorance surrounding it as the Bible, many have jumped into debates about the antediluvian statute, the Obeah Act of 1898, in total bliss. Yet, Section 2 defines “a person practising obeah” as “any person, who, to effect any fraudulent or unlawful purpose, or for gain, or for the purpose of frightening any person, uses, or pretends to use, any occult means, or pretends to possess any supernatural knowledge.”
WHAT IS OCCULT?
This definition is not limited to those who are evildoers. The act specifically includes “myalism”, an Afrocentric creole religion, specifically oriented to ward off evil, heal and ‘do good.’ Occult simply means “supernatural powers or practices and the things (such as gods, ghosts, and magic).” Moreover, it does not require an element of fraud, although it includes it. The practitioner merely has to do it either for ‘gain’ or to scare others or to merely pretend to have the ability to use powers that are not of the flesh. Tell me, how does that differ from a pastor who guarantees a specific outcome from a prayer?
Churches, if they wish to collect donations of any sort, must have the same level of scrutiny as financial institutions such as credit unions. They must be registered; the directors be subject to ‘fit and proper’ tests and file annual returns. And like credit unions, the directors must be unsalaried while approving a livable stipend for the chief executive officer, the pastor. Nonetheless, as non-profit organisations, their proceeds cannot go unmonitored and be allowed to enrich a few unscrupulous men/women.
But back to the police. If the arresting officers can make a dead man ‘answer’ charges, shouldn’t they themselves be charged for obeah, too? Maybe it is the confusion with the Jamaican Patwa, but although homophonic, the pastor paying a ‘debt’ to society is not the same as paying a ‘death’.