Was at the world-famous Kensington Oval cricket ground today, along with thousands of Barbadians to witness the public ’swearing-in’ of the new Democratic Labour Party Cabinet before the Governor General.
It was obviously a celebratory occasion for most but remarkably in today’s world it was an essentially ‘Christian ceremony’ with much prayer, singing and dance, with church leaders giving keynote exhortations and which seems to mark a strong change from the former Government’s stance of embracing religious pluralism. Cynically the danger of this is an outward show of religion for political purposes but one sensed here more genuine motives than that and certainly the opportunity given to the heart-felt prayers of the good cross section of church leaders was more than could be expected in most countries of the world. All in all, a remarkable occasion
with much potential for good, although we are in a nation which still retains much outward religious activity which can inoculate people against catching the real thing! Let us pray that the vows publicly made today in God’s presence will be honoured and this Government really will seek the guidance of God in these globally troubled times.
Source: Rowland Whitehead’s Webblog
It has been some years since the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Barbados. They are some who will say that the slide in the morals of the Barbados society maybe traced to that period. Whether this is true or not is left to others decidedly more learned than the batty folks in the BU household to ponder. Maybe our friend Bush Tea will be able to delve into his repertoire of many theories to offer up a basis for a meaty discussion point on the subject. At the ‘swearing-in’ ceremony yesterday, Barbadians who witnessed it were able to make a ‘connection’, call it spiritual, call it connecting to something familiar; call it what you want but something ‘greater’ emerged last evening at the controversial Kensington Oval in our opinion.
Did you feel it too?
The decision by Prime Minister David Thompson to have a ‘Christian ceremony’ is consistent with David the family man, whose religiousness can be traced to his days at the Combermere School, where it is reported that he was an active member of the now little known ISCF (Inter School Christian Fellowship). This group is comprised of young people who wanted to keep God at the centre of their activities – is this group still active? We make this point to brush the argument which will be offered that Thompson may well have used the occasion of the swearing-in of his Ministers to be opportunistic. The evidence is strong that what Barbadians witnessed at Kensington Oval yesterday is Thompson the real deal. When the camera panned to his family it was easy to discern that they were in a comfort zone through-out the proceedings. Daddy, mummy et al were all singing along to the medley of Joseph Niles classics; I’ll be damn 🙂
The majority of the partisan audience seemed to be fully on-board with the direction Thompson took them. The big question left to be answered is the point which our friend alludes to in his blog. How will the Barbados society which was being taken in a direction of religious pluralism and relativism under the previous administration react to the unfolding shift in doctrine? To use jargon which was prevalent in the election period just concluded, if we were to analyze the large sample size at the Oval yesterday, a good conclusion can be made that Prime Minister Thompson maybe on to something. If this is the case it might provoke some to ask the question whether the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) will have to respond to this new path Prime Minister David Thompson is prepared to trod. This we know is bound to open the debate as to the qualification of Mia Mottley for the role of Prime Minister of Barbados. No doubt we will have some time to debate this issue in the future – you are free to do a search using ‘Mia Mottley‘ keywords on BU to read related topics.
Prime Minister David Thompson and his cabinet from all reports have started the job of governing even before being officially sworn-in yesterday. At this early stage Thompson has signaled his intention that his will be a government which is people centred. Perhaps we should rephrase, his is a government that will put FAMILY FIRST.
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