The Church: a not thought about in this way strong colonial presence in Jamaica

By Sankofie | Published June 2, 2025 | No Comments

The Church, of course, is very important in a land like Jamaica, where, before it ‘discovered’ us, we laid lost and forsaken in the embrace of our indigenous spirituality.  A spirituality that behooves us, a nice English word, to make meaning of existence in a way that promotes ceremony, balance, harmony and honours our connection to the land.  A spirituality that fostered community and allowed us to honour and respect the wisdom, experience and knowledge of elders and ancestors.  To see the interconnectedness of all living things, and to make goodness a daily ‘livity’, to borrow a word from the Rasta man.  

So Jesus the Christ, didn’t do his usual walking on the water, I am guessing the church might have been too heavy to carry in his hands or on his shoulders.  Instead, misguided by his then followers, he was transported by ship, into the Caribbean waters, having gotten lost on the way to India.  Our early Taíno inhabitants were the first in the Caribbean to be greeted by the, lost on its way to India, Church, and the ones who mis- navigated it and themselves here.  Clearly these miscreants were not in the class when our ancestors were teaching sea fearing 101.  The first Church brought here was the Roman Catholic Church.  It was their latest acquisition, having, they said, been founded by Jesus himself, his apostles and perhaps some other well wishers.   Other churches came later to fulfill the second objective of this most important expedition, the soul saving, rescue from hell mission.  Oooops!!! Soul saving? But they have no souls?!?!?!  Ahh! The Taíno had souls, it was the Africans who came later who were declared soul-less, cargo, remember? But that aside.

Jesus and him bredren dem, brought his father with them, (dem claim him is part of a trinity), a whole band of angels, (all of dem still here), Saints (we even have parishes named for them), some diseases (Jesus had probably stopped his healing mission), sexual (especially those involving little sons and daughters} and other lifestyle practices (unbeknownst to the early inhabitants), foreign languages, clothing, a devil, a hell, guns (to sacrifice the local inhabitants 13 at a time, one for Jesus and one each for their 12 long dead apostles), greed, plenty politics, genocide and even more.  Remember now that this Church was already fully engaged in politics from a long time back when Saint Simon Peter, the Jesus appointed Head of the Church also became the first Bishop of Rome later dubbed Pope, a power seeking merger of religious and secular responsibilities, if ever they could agree on the similarities and the difference.  In the quest for a holy sovereignty the Church assumed responsibility and guardianship of not just religious, but also social, political, intellectual and other aspects of life within the State.  

When the Church arrived in Jamaica, via Europe, it was also accompanied by all these self appointed rites and responsibilities from its early days in Rome.  This ChurchState combo proceeded to usurp the spiritual authority of the ‘natives’ and forcibly, tortuously, imposed Christianity upon them.  It also deposed the government and without proper elections installed their own.  As time moved on and others came from afar to replenish the labour force, they had to waive their rights to spiritual, moral and political autonomy and disclaim their human rights, so that the ChurchState could reign supreme.  This allowed the ChurchState, and who and all that it sanctioned, to claim ownership, possession and the right to enslave and torture in the most unthinkable ways.  

The ChurchState vested on itself the rightfulness to make laws to entrench their abominable practices and protect their ill earned income.   

In today’s Jamaica the church, a now diverse entity, still maintains ‘Jesus Christ Our Lord,’ as its foundation.  What then should have changed?  It no longer owns slaves nor cat o’ nine tails, but clearly has not relinquished its colonial robes.  Are we therefore in any way surprised that the Christian churches, in their many manifestations, would even think to stand against those who would continue to enforce the colonial laws that the Church itself participated in making and enforcing?   Over time the Church has raised it’s impressive voice on many issues.  More recently it has been engaging in conversations on obeah, another colonial construct.  Is that fair though, given that they were slave owners themselves and totally involved in the creation and administration of the obeah law?  Is there not some conflict of interest going on here? It may or may not be, but what has become very clear is the rationale that provides for the recently charged (Judge suggests Bible reading for man guilty of practicing obeah – Jamaica Observer) young man to have been sentenced to the Christian Holy Book, J$5000 or 5 days in jail.  The Church is still in charge.  Jesus Christ is standing at the border between Jamaica and Heaven and only he has the authority, rights and permissions to allow us to commune or in any way engage with God.  Religion came with colonialism.  The are twins.  As we decolonize may we also dereligionize?   

As long as the Church and churches remain a strong colonial presence in Jamaica, those who are part of the majority (at least 76%) of the Jamaican population who claim African ancestry, and who may want to choose to worship the God of their ancestors will continue to be, shall we say, ‘encouraged’ to choose to worship the God of the ancestors of the minority (about 15%) who claim Europe.  It is very clear then, that in the Jamaican space, even as we pretend to be independent, African spirituality and spiritual systems are still enslaved.  Take careful note that the Muslims, Jews, Chinese, Indians and others freely practice their religion without any condemnation from what has become the dominant expression.  We know it to be true that it was mostly Africans who were brought and enslaved here. It would seem then that it is only the African or African ‘derived’ ways of praise and worship that are abhorrent to the replacement Colonial ‘masters.’  I anticipate unceasing support from the Church, churches, followers of Jesus Christ, friends of Spain, Britain, for all things colonial and would even question their participation in, for example, the Reparation conversation.  With them in charge the African ancestors and us their descendants shall be sucking salt through a wooden spoon.  

June 2025