Ronald Thwaites | Donald Trump or Pope Leo?

Students of history might have thought that the tension between the followers of Jesus and the adherents of worldly empire had been overtaken by the tolerance of liberal doctrine, the increased secularisation of Western society and the retreat of religion into the sphere of private behaviour. The flare-up of tension between the President and the Pope puts paid to all that.

The Make America Great Again philosophy is grounded on a co-option of Old Testament warmongering to justify a tyranny of conquest ostensibly justified as restoring fundamental Christian values. Among these are said to be godly authoritarianism, no longer subtle racist nationalism and ultra-crony capitalism.

Israel’s aspirations for more safe territory, for which the Old Covenant in Scripture is prayed in aid, the resurrection of endless Philistines now called Muslims who control oil, water and practise conquest by migration, all combine to justify Armageddon, genocide and the imperilling of people like us Jamaicans.

OUR PERIL

Check your light bill and the price of gas if you don’t believe me. Consider the story of reconquest narrated by Peter Espeut last Friday in this space. America, already enjoying the highest levels of material consumption and living on the credit of the rest of the world, is determined to maintain this by any means necessary.

Consider deeply the narratives of official supineness and complicity offered by Dennis Minott, Danielle Archer and other voices of resistance. “The dye is cast”, as the late O.T. Williams would say.

The point is that most of us, as in other instances of gradual subjugation in history, are so preoccupied struggling with the 16 Grand minimum wage, repairing the roof, hustling the visa fee while dodging bullets from criminals or police, that we are unable to process the cosmic changes impinging irreversibly on us.

THE NEW WAY

Enter Pope Leo, himself an American who can’t be as easily demonised as Francis was, herald of the new Covenant defending human rights, equitable international relations, just social structures and peace. His voice of integrity influences the consciences of a billion and a half professed followers and many others who find purpose, give and receive respect not Truth Social curses, and yearn to live consistent with the principles of Micah 6, Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25.

Christian social teaching confronts the anti-Christ of left and right autocracy – as well as the spineless, petty local tyrants whose venality and licky-licky behaviour Rubio and his Boss see right through and know they can control. Look how it took only one frown to get rid of the Cuban doctors and so sell out the health of poor Jamaicans.

The choice between these starkly divergent ethics for personal life and the exercise of statecraft faces every one of us. Since the bulk of civic (and religious) leadership has adopted postures of subservience disguised as prudent caution, broad public conscience- raising is our only hope. To this end, the mainline churches must reassert their authority over the input in their schools which influence the thinking of most of our children.

Given the ways history has predisposed us, linked with current and future geo-politics, Jamaica needs a set of ethical and religious beliefs and institutions that are embraced and respected by the broad mass of the population, so as to cultivate a widely shared interpretation of the Jamaican story, defining us not just as victims of advantage-takers and beset with the limitations of small size, but as a people of intellectual and spiritual strength who “never turn their back on their own” (Isaiah 58).

ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES

This message is the kernel of Pope Leo’s encouragement on his visit to the fast-growing church in Africa. He emphasises unity around the values of the sanctity of life and equal opportunity for all. This is teaching which can transcend denominational and cultural fractures. It has profound broad institutional and economic implications. It is the opposite of Trumpism.

Christian social teaching should form the foundation of thorough-going constitutional reform to mitigate the cancer of divisiveness and corruption. This does not blur the separation of Church and State. It provides an undergirding of ethical values upon which statecraft must operate.

Which praxis, the fusion of principle and structure and action, will yield just results? A moment of choice is being forced upon us and, indeed, all humanity.

CHOICES BRING CHANGES

One change locally would be to honour the principle of subsidiarity. No higher authority should arrogate to themselves the responsibilities of a subsidiary agency. One of the frustrations of inner-city political representation was the inability to keep the environment clean. Neither the councillor nor member of parliament has any authority to manage and be accountable for public sanitation. What could be more basic to their purpose?

Last week, the news pictured the helplessness of the St Ann Municipal Corporation regarding maintaining the Brown’s Town market. Similar dead-ends are often reported for other parish councils. How does government, at any level, dare to face the people of Negril who, after being promised that last year’s water crisis would never recur, find themselves in the same prekke again? Is there no shame?

Why do talented municipal representatives resign themselves to be beggars and satraps of central government? It is the creep of centralised power, low trust and the absence of a compelling appreciation that individuals thrive sustainably only when others do also.

Connectedly, local government meetings receive regular reports about public infrastructure, health services and security. They should add to those concerns rigorous scrutiny advocacy and assistance to the schools in their jurisdiction. Councillors should hear from education officers and school board chairpersons the details of student and teacher attendance, parent involvement, behaviour and academic outcomes.

Make local governance a partner in education transformation. No big money required: just the political will to better contribute to a vital common cause.

Leo’s prescription for human flourishing is preferable to Trump’s white-supremacist plunder. This nation must never be so compromised that we fail to proclaim this by what we teach our children and how we organise our society. When we look at how we engage, produce, tax, reward, expend and respect one another, which tendency, Trump’s or Leo’s, do we really support?

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.