Priests feel Jamaicans should be armed


Published on Friday, February 6, 2009 Email To Friend Print Version

By Oscar Ramjeet
Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent
Email: oscar@caribbeannetnews.com

KINGSTON, Jamaica: A number of religious leaders in Jamaica have said that they had no problem with Christians carrying legal firearms as long as they were mature and responsible enough to do so.

The churchmen spoke with the Jamaica Observer in response to calls from gun rights lobbyists and members of the public for the government to relax legislation to allow all law abiding citizens easier access to owning firearms.

Bishop Herro Blair, pastor of the Faith Cathedral deliverance Centre in Kingston and the country's political ****udsman, said that having a firearm for self-protection was no different from having a knife or a pit bull to protect one's home, as all were equally lethal.

He said there was nowhere in the Bible that said carrying an illegal firearm was wrong.

Firebrand pastor Al Miller also supported Christians carrying guns, saying they, as well as other citizens, should be allowed to bear arms.

He told the Observer newspaper that the argument that Christians faith in God should be enough to protect them was fallacious and "holds no water".

Archbishop of Kingston, Donald James Reece, said that he did not believe that it was a sin to bear arms. However, he questioned the reasoning behind the suggestion that more Jamaicans should carry guns.

He said that what the country needed was a good police force that people could rely on to protect them.

President of the East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Churches, Adrian Cottrell, said that Christians should be able to protect themselves in the best way they could.

We can't just go to our beds and leave our house unprotected or leave them open because God is going to protect us," said Cottrell. "I think we ought to do what we can.

Reverend Peter Garth of the Jamaica Association of Evangelists also supported more people, including Christians, carrying legal weapons. He said that a number of Christians had jobs that made them vulnerable to criminals, hence the need to bear arms.

He added, "The possession of firearms does not negate the fact that you have faith in God.