Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 31, 2013 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
While political parties and the politicians elected to govern offer daily rhetoric, posturing and speeches trying to win and keep supporters on their side, it has escaped them that the very citizens they are trying to win and keep on their side, are hungry for solutions that affect their daily lives.
It has now emerged that on average, two women are murdered every month by their spouse or a male relative, 23 up to December 28th (Kaieteur News,28/12/2013). Hundreds more are being subjected to abnormal use (abuse) by men of both affluence and power and by those who do not have a vision beyond tomorrow.
Spousal abuse and violence is a crisis of growing proportion and is a threat to our nation’s future, since our nation’s future is grounded in our families and the many children whose lives are wrecked by the murder and abuse of their mother.
But I can forgive our politicians and policy makers for not having a solution to the violence wreaking havoc in our families and in the nation, because domestic abuse and violence are spiritual issues. The government is not equipped to deal with spiritual issues; only the church is equipped to deal with the spiritual violence in our families.
It is not enough that women’s organizations like Red Thread lead the fight for women and our families. Our churches must be in the vanguard of this fight, not just from the pulpit and from within the walls of our places of worship, but in the streets of our communities, in schools, in community centres, on social media and in the media, with social programmes for men, couples and families.
We have a generation of boys and men who aren’t clear about what it means to be a man, let alone how to go about nurturing the relationship with their partner and spouse. The church must play a leading role in restoring our men and our families. This is particularly important because the church – not the government, not the parliament – is the most potent force for community change.
For our churches to be relevant and fit for purpose in the lives of our citizens and their congregations, they need to be focused on building and restoring strong families and strong relationships. The messages of prosperity and abundant blessings in 2014 will be of no value if the souls of our men and families are failing.
Our churches must seek to understand the hearts of our men, not just our women who seek refuge in the gospel. Failed and violent relationships cannot produce the unified, enduring families needed to support our troubled society. Families are a creation of God and by delegation, the church has a primary responsibility for equipping men and women to build and model strong relationships.
As we prepare to enter 2014, I encourage our men and women of the cloth to make hearing the hearts of men and building families a priority of their ministries. As a citizen, I also expect that our Ministers of Religion within the Government and Parliament and those with responsibility for the Men’s Affairs Bureau and the Family Bureau will be Champions of Change within their spheres of influence. The very sanctity of our nation is at stake.
K. Bonnett
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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