As crime rages on, many Jamaicans have turned to churches for a hand in taming what is regarded by many as Jamaica’s main problem.

Many people have increasingly called on religious groups for guidance, stemming from what has been described as a breakdown of morale and savagery across the island.

The Jamaica Observer posed the question to five notable religious leaders: How can churches be more involved in the national fight to erase the culture of crime?

Rt Rev Howard Gregory, Anglican bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and head of the Church in the Province of the West Indies said: “The Church is not a crime-fighting agency. But the Church is involved in an area of life that focuses a lot on values in its orientation and in its mission which seeks transformation of human lives. If you were to take the Church out of the equation in this society right now, I shudder to think of what society we would have because the Church is currently involved in the values that even allow us to critically examine the activities of the criminals.”

He reasoned, however, that the Church is involved in a “significant amount of caring for persons” that isn’t usually publicised.

“Some of our crime and criminal activity has been attributed to the fact that people don’t have, they are poor and need. The Church makes a significant contribution in that area. Many churches don’t advertise what they do. As a leader of one congregation, since COVID, we have spent millions of dollars on the alleviation of need. We don’t have any pictures going out in the media and that is not peculiar for the church that I lead.”

In addition, Rev Gregory told the Observer that some criminals are beyond redemption.

“In terms of the criminals, some of them are too far gone. They will have to be held by the system of justice. Some can be rescued because there are persons who go into the system in prison, and they go through a time of reflection and transformation, and they come out and they look towards a different way of life. Whether the society helps them is another matter,” he said.

Rev Dr Peter Garth, president of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance (JEA) and senior pastor of Hope Gospel Assembly, told the Observer that churches ought to engage communities and target the children by showing genuine interest and assist by helping them with their challenges.

Therefore, he said, the change must begin from the home or the family.

“It is an undisputed fact that all around us, families and family life are breaking down. If the family is strong then the community will be strong, and the nation will be strong. Our young teenage boys are being drafted into gangs and the church should reach out to them and put them on a path to success by making sure that they get in school or in some kind of trade school,” said Rev Garth.

“The Church should target the troubled areas and start with one or two of them and assist by finding out the needs and seek to assist. Funding is available for the transformation of communities outside of government.”

Rev Garth also said politicians should be very careful of the type of rhetoric being used in Parliament.

“The consensus on crime was signed by the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition, along with many other stakeholders and the Church in Jamaica. And yet, when they go to Parliament, they use language that can insight the poor and dispossessed persons in Jamaica. I hope that in the event of the use of the SOE that innocent persons will never be scraped up and locked up.”

Bishop Grace Ade-Gold, founder and bishop of Arise Shine Apostolic and Deliverance Ministries, told the Observer that deliverance counselling needs to be introduced in Jamaica’s educational institutions as part of a counselling department, from the “cradle stage.”

“A church like mine has established a deliverance college that is taking deliverance to the world. We have been training people over the years who are now deliverance ministers in this nation and beyond. I am available for training in churches, para-church organisations, colleges, government parastatals. Let those who have been exposed to witchcraft be willing to come to our counselling and deliverance clinic – soon to be a hospital – where they can be set free,” Ade-Gold said.

“Every evil enterprise in Jamaica that makes people to taste blood, take baths, drink concoctions, mark their skin, read palms, use telepathy, use horoscopes, necromancy, read tea leaves, jump fires, smoke ganja or its products and other drugs, perform sex rituals and play evil or demonic games need to be shut down.”

Ade-Gold added: “God has instructed us to build a revival village where many shall run to for spiritual renewal, moral transformation and economic turnaround for the nation in the near future. Jamaica shall be a land that dispatches missionaries to the nations of the world in Jesus’ name. Jesus is Lord!”

Ade-Gold stressed that Jamaica’s laws should be amended for stiffer penalties.

“Let criminals be brought to justice as swiftly as possible. Let our leaders be transparent in their dealing with criminals and have no connection to gang members for protection. They should be sent back to school, learn a skill or start a good business. Good education never decays, as sung by Desmond Dekker in his song Labour for Learning. Education is also a weapon of liberation from ignorance and poverty is a wise saying in Nigeria,” she added.

Rev Canon Garth Minott, deputy president of United Theological College of the West Indies, said churches are very much at work.

“Churches are on the ground providing well-needed social protection services such as soup kitchens, back to school supplies, homework centres, counselling, etcetera, which prevents numerous persons, especially the young from pursuing a life of crime. To be more involved, churches will need to avoid the nomenclature ‘fight’ and instead, address the root causes of crime which have been well documented by criminologists,” he said.

“One way is to identify the unattached youths in the communities in which they live and work with the government agencies to provide social protection such as registration of birth, skills training, jobs, etcetera, for these vulnerable young people.”

In order to stem the tide of young people joining gangs, he added, the social protection services of the government need to be more accessible to vulnerable families.

“PATH (Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education), Poor Relief, services offered by the Ministry of Labour, along with those offered by churches, the private sector and NGOs must be further streamlined in order to maximise the benefits to families and the young people. In addition, changes to policies must be undertaken to make room for youth and community organisations to be represented on municipal councils so as to influence the policies and programmes at the local level,” he said, noting that this will ensure the voices of young people and the most vulnerable are always at the policy making level of the society.

Rev Kenneth Richards, president of the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC), told the Observer that the council recommends that priority be given to the “indispensable and invaluable” church-State partnership in education.

“This partnership must have as its goal; the fullest possible development of human excellence linked to a sense of ethical and moral values, promotion of justice, and commitment to serving others with humanitarian concern, to the needs of the poor. That is why getting our children back to face-to-face learning must be a priority. But also, resourcing early childhood education with specialist teachers as the foundation to develop human excellence,” said Rev Richards.

“Our nation’s strategies for addressing crime and violence must therefore give priority to the social environment and the human psychosocial contributors that facilitate crime and violence.”

Rev Richards said the authorities must improve strategies to cut off the source of guns and munitions entering our borders.

“Protect businesses from criminal elements that charge for security, traffic discipline, increase the efficiency of technology to address the crime challenge, and reaffirm the multi-stakeholder civil society partnership. Indeed, poverty, transaction of drugs, guns and munitions, which involves conflicts over the spoils of crime and turf wars, are obvious contributing factors to crime and violence. But, more fundamentally are the circumstances of a societal climate, and a family structure with parental neglect, that contributes to persons having low self-esteem, lack of respect for self, and lack of respect for others, that makes it easy for persons to resort to crime and violence.

“The Jamaica Council of Churches is aware that the causes of crime and violence are complex. In addition, the council acknowledges that there are grave concerns when the harming of persons and the tragic loss of life is prominent in the mix of crime and violence,” Rev Richards said.