Church claims future victimization if buggery is decriminalized in Jamaica

Clearly the latest move by the church groups if we are to go by the Jamaica Observer's report on a planned march and prayer scheduled for next Sunday to pray that buggery is not repealed in the upcoming challenge by Javed Jaghai and AIDSFREEWORLD alongside Maurice Tomlinson that the church groups do not understand or have misunderstood what is being agitated for, they seem stuck on the old message of a repeal instead of decriminalization. Apart from the promised buggery review by government to see if a repeal is in order the court challenges in question seek to test the constitutionally of the law itself while JFLAG for the most part is asking for the law to be decriminalized however the media has not been reporting the matter properly it seems and many are still walking away with the thinking that it is a full repeal that is being asked for hence the frenzy now on and fear mongering by said religious groups and louder anti gay voices. One thing is clear is that the church is mobilizing while our community is still yet not awake to come as a united force.

Here is the Observer report:

THE leadership of Prayer 2000 — a partnership prayer ministry — has called on all churches across the island to participate in a 'peaceful prayer march' next Sunday, ahead of the hearing of an application challenging the constitutionality of the buggery law by the Supreme Court on June 25.

The claim was filed by United States-based advocacy group AIDS-Free World on behalf of Jamaican Javed Jaghai. The group is asking the court to determine if the anti-sodomy law breaches rights guaranteed under the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms which was passed into law in 2011.

The initiative, dubbed, "Jamaica Mercy Cry", will see churches from the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, Portland, St Thomas, St Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, and in Eastern St Mary gathering outside the Houses of Parliament on Duke Street in downtown Kingston at 2:00 pm.

Meanwhile, churches from the parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James, Trelawny, St Ann, and in western St Mary will gather on the grounds of the Trumpet Call Ministries Church in Montego Bay at 6:00 pm the same day.

President of Prayer 2000, Rev Dr Naila L Ricketts, in an invitation circulated to churches last week, said the pending action marked a very serious crossroads in the nation's history.

"Our constitutional rights to preach the truth of God's word is also threatened and, should the law be repealed, what you and I preached may be termed "hate speech" and will make us criminally liable before the courts in Jamaica," Rev Ricketts warned.

"The removal of the buggery law may result in the legalisation of same-sex relationships and marriages, which "would have far-reaching effects for us as a nation," he contended.

"In the sight of God we will position ourselves as a covenant-breaking society without natural affections. For you as pastors and leaders, you may lose your freedom to preach the undiluted Word of God, you may no longer be able to stand with scripture on this moral issue of same-sex relationships - which the Lord clearly outlines, is an abomination to Him," the Prayer 2000 president stated.

"It is a direct attack at the institution of marriage. This will open the way for homosexual curriculum to be taught to our children from an early age in our school system; that same sex relationships is "normal" and that it is a viable alternative for everyone," Rev Ricketts added.

Noting that the voice of the church must be heard now, he said "the only way to stop our laws from being changed is for the church and the people to rise up in peaceful prayer to protest this direct attack on our freedom".

He added: "We must do this now, let us all take a stand or bear the consequences of our lack of action and muteness. This is a final clarion call for all pastors, leaders, believers to stand up and to let our Parliament and Government know that we will not accept this in our nation."

"We are calling all denominations, all churches and all believers to gather in your numbers and demonstrate your support at any of the two locations on Sunday, June 23," he said.

"This is our final chance, our final opportunity to make our voice be heard. We need the masses to gather and pray and march for our freedom. We need each and every one of us to stand and be counted," he said.

Prayer 2000 was created and mandated to sufficiently raise the awareness of the need for prayer throughout the society in order to facilitate the transformation and revival of the country.

The partnership includes a cross section of individuals from numerous denominations.

ENDS

here is what a supporter of JFLAG put together on their behalf to try to simplify what their new position is as they have rescinded the call for a full repeal for over two years.

my scan of a Gleaner caption

JFLAG as I have always said faces a credibility and poor communication problem especially in the crisis communications arena that maybe due in some part to the media's blocking in the early days when press releases were not published when sent out but now when it should matter most there is fidgeting taking place, it came as a surprise to some in fact even in the LGBT community that they no longer were agitating for repeal but for decriminalization even when it was suggested as a strategy some twelve plus years ago after the original parliamentary submission in 1998.

The church now claims what has happened in other countries where supposed religious voices are legally persecuted for either opposing or speaking out on homosexuality will eventually lead to their speech labelled as hate speech. Recent court cases in the UK have been sited as benchmarks for this so called inevitable abuse of Christians. Case in point: Espeut, West says “Homophobia” was invented to abuse Christians as hate speech  sometimes I wonder if persons do not speak their own doom into reality, what a lovely way to give the very secular and supposed anti-Christ all the ammunition they need?  

Then there is the business of associating moral nihilism agendas by the lobby and supposed missing moral compass so anything goes, Dr Wayne West's brainwashing of local leaders has worked and is now having a major effect. Also see: The False Dichotomy of the religious right on the lgbt advocacy's Godlessness the conflation with a Godless LGBT lobby while gay Christians are for the most part silent so the impression is left on the church that all voices who speak openly are secular or atheists when the false dichotomy of whether God exists or not is now mixed into gay rights on privacy and consent which are the crooks of our struggle. I warned about this in my small way via this audio entry done September 2012 when I saw some cracks in the debate after a television appearance by Javed Jaghai on CVM TV where he rubbished the Bible, the response since then from churches has been loud:

Yet these same religious voices have no problem masking hate speech and skewing studies and data to label and stigmatise vulnerable groups. Case in point from the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS ad both in full paged expensive print and electronic versions, loads of money for that but kids who are hungry?

Amending the law as postured by JFLAG et al has no language as far as I have seen to mute or future mute, demean or silence as it were church groups, in fact the reality is they get much space for their rhetoric albeit loaded with falsities and misnomers. It is about privacy and consent between adults. There is also a concern about non consent between same sex persons and the protection of children even as carnal abuse and other statutes presently protect them.

Following the Jamaica Society for a Healthy Society's recent public relations campaign with an HIV is a gay disease tinge is discussed on Nationwide Radio hosted by the not so tolerant George Davis, the illogical posturings by Mr West and his team is exposed by Mrs Narcisse:

There needs to be some clearing of the air and more listening on all sides here or we may go down a road we needn't have gone. We want the law decriminalized, NOT REPEALED.

Peace and tolerance

H