Jamaican Security Minister Peter Bunting suddenly has a lot more support from Christian pastors, thanks to an off-the-cuff statement he made about fighting crime in the island nation.
According to the Jamaica Observer, Bunting was speaking at a police appreciation ceremony when he stated, “The best efforts of the security forces, by itself, will not solve the crime problem in Jamaica; it is going to take divine intervention, touching the hearts of a wide cross section of the society.”
Whether or not Bunting intended to imply that “he had come to the realisation that he cannot operate without God,” as one pastor put it, the security minister’s remarks have generatedconversation among Christian pastors and political groups. While some support Bunting’s call for divine intervention in fighting crime, others say Bunting “has sent the wrong signal to the country.”
Meanwhile, Bishop of Jamaica Howard Gregory has denounced his government’s “slow response to a lottery scam that has defrauded thousands of elderly Americans.”
CT has reported recently on Jamaica, including the country’s ban on preaching on public buses and Jamaican churches’ offer to pay taxes in order to help their indebted government. Previously, CT reported on the case against a Jamaican pastor lauded by many as a hero who ended a drug war, but police said he broke the law.
