Religion and National Development
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
July 21, 2003
Like most countries of the world, Guyana is a secular society. But it is a society in which a majority of its people embraces one of the faiths that dominate religious life in the country.
It may or may not be that this many Guyanese (the majority) are religious. Religious leaders themselves distinguish between those who are staunch adherents of their faiths and those who merely attend weekly-scheduled ceremonies at their respective places of worship. So a packed church, masjid or temple doesn’t necessarily reflect spiritual commitment to one’s professed faith.
In another sense, “secular” has a number of nuances. As University of California at Berkeley sociologist Earl Raab puts it, the term can denote anything from greater freedom of doctrinal interpretation for the individual believer to the outright denial that a sacred order exists at all. Generally, however, “secular” is used to describe a movement, of whatever intensity, towards worldly concerns.
Not surprisingly, many Guyanese see Hinduism, Islam and Christianity as representing individual parts of an ethnic, historical and socio-economic identity or group culture.
Yet, religious leaders are being increasingly identified in our society as influential agents of change, as people who can motivate grassroots Guyanese into the kind of productive action that Guyana needs to transform it into the era of modernization.
Happily, religious leaders recognize the clout they have with many or most of their congregations and have given notice of their intention to play a pro-active role in propelling national development.
Whether or not arguments about their partisan interests held true a decade or so ago, today’s religious leaders say they no longer subscribe to a label that dilutes the role of religion as an embodiment of spiritual values in Guyanese society.
We have seen what attempts to secularize religion can do. Those religious leaders who found it more expedient to substitute the thrust of their faiths towards general piety for political activism and/or pandering to the socio-economic character of their membership and ministering to their passion for affluence, fell prey to a political order that negated the asserting of spiritual values.
We’d like to see these prophetic spurts of “social gospel” activism evolve into catalysts for profound social change, for the revival of moral standards in the Guyanese society.
We’d like to see Hindu, Muslim and Christian leaders come together not only on those occasions when a crisis looms, but on a regular basis to meet the challenge thrown out to them by President Jagdeo. Their goals should be to devise and implement benign ways to stimulate people’s thinking and to help our young people develop good moral characters, recognize the importance of human value, dignity and worth, be innovative and creative, have a sense of purpose and work at going beyond their perceived capabilities in order to realize their God-given potentials.
The secularization of religion has led to a crisis of confidence among many lay members and to large numbers dissociating themselves from the community aspect of religious life. The result has been a parody of socio-cultural woes: a surge in crime, suicides, ethnic cleavage, racial animosity, family discord, truancy, delinquency and many forms of corruption.
Religion can help to turn things around for Guyanese. Hopefully, then, our religious leaders will speak out and act up as the spiritual and moral conscience of our nation - and play a sterling role in transforming our nation.