The DLP administration has called for three days of fasting and prayer beginning on Friday to Sunday, but dissenting voices said the call is hypocritical. The Minister for Governance and Ecclesiastical Affairs, Gretta Roberts, said the public is to engage in prayers as a measure of thanksgiving for God’s protection and mercy upon the nation.
Roberts said the fasting and prayer session will begin on Friday, June 25, and end on Sunday, June 27 with particulars hours of the day dedicated to public prayer sessions on radio stations. The minister said the prayer activities were sanctioned by PM Roosevelt Skerrit and the Cabinet as a way to engage God for the continual peace and progress of the country.
The government is mindful of the goodness and mercies of God to us as a people, not only in preserving us during the Covid-19 pandemic but also for His constant help and protection during all of our endeavours in the past. Prayers will be offered throughout the day at 9:00 a.m., 12 noon, and 3:00 p.m. on various radio stations as we pray for protection during the hurricane season and the covid-19 pandemic. We also pray for a spirit of unity so that we may live peaceable lives as children of God.
Gretta Roberts, Minister for Governance and Ecclesiastical Affairs
She urged members of the public to set time aside for the prayer sessions on radio and at individual homes.
But Pastor Randy Rodney finds the call for national prayer hypocritical. He said the government is calling for the people to pray when both the government and the people have not repented of their evil ways. He said it is laughable that people would call for mass prayer when they do not have a relationship God; and that it is even more serious when governments call for national prayers out of a hidden agenda.
While different pastors have been shortlisted to handle the radio prayer programmes periods over the three-day period, Rodney said he was not surprised that he wasn’t invited to lead any prayer sessions knowing fully well that he is not a government errand boy. He added that it is not right for the government to mandate the people to pray, and that the people should not pray simply because the prime minister said so.
Social activist Loftus Durand also called the prayers hypocritical, saying the Church community should not be reduced to a government play-thing. He said the government has called on the Church to pray a prayer of convenience, and that it will not pass beyond the roof of the ceiling since there is something dubious in the government’s call.
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