Charles Knighton

On the same day the Advocate’s editorial lamented the virtual impossibility of screening the content of the various electronic media because of its instantaneous nature, and instead called on individuals to rely on their personal integrity and their ability to consider the implications and possible ramifications of their words, one of your editorial staff saw fit, with ample time to reflect, to let see the light of day the diatribe submitted by  Mr. Henderson Ward  on your editorial letters page. Should such proscriptions and prescriptions be taken to heart by Barbadians, Barbados would become the only Taliban outpost in the Western World, (somewhat ironic considering Mr. Ward’s reference material), and would literally be the final word not only on homosexuals but adulterers as well.

As Mr. Ward enlightens us, “One thing you can be sure of, and it has never been breached during man’s entire existence, and that is that God has never branded something as evil or abominable or perverse at one time and at some later date called it good or wholesome. This has never happened and will never happen, absolutely not, for the God of Creation cannot lie…”. Since God cannot lie and certainly cannot be questioned, His literal word, available to all by means of the Bible, must serve as our final authority on all things moral. Two issues in particular seem to have led to our current state of moral degeneracy, and Mr. Ward is quick to identify them as well as to offer a Biblical solution, and I quote: In Old Testament times adultery was punished by death, “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:10) Somewhat wistfully, it seems to me, Mr. Ward laments “but today, as far as I know, no country in the world does that.” Those living in fundamentalist Islamic states, at least the women, would beg to differ.

Having thus instructed us in the proper handling of adulterers, Mr. Ward progresses to the proper handling of homosexuals, leading with “Believers everywhere trust in God’s word and live and die by His pronouncements and teachings.” “God says this about homosexuality:”If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” (Leviticus 20:13)In a statement that would make even the most inept psychiatrist take heed, Mr. Ward claims that “God made homosexuality an act that carried capital punishment because this act is so repugnant, abhorrent, detestable and revolting and is so toxic to the morality and spirituality of humanity that God wanted to have none of it among his people.”

So there you have the cure for our moral decadence: we need to fill a large playing field with gallows or perhaps guillotines, line up all the adulterers and homosexuals living in Barbados, and make a public spectacle of their executions as a deterrent to others and as atonement to God. As to Mr. Ward’s suggestion that same-sex marriage might eventually lead to other absurdities such as being able to legally marry a donkey in the future, should such an eventuality come to pass, one need only look under “W” in the phone book if they would like to propose to perhaps the most prominent ass in Barbados.