Justice and Health Care

"Justice and Health Care" is the theme of this month's lecture series (Mon Sept 28 or Tues Sept 29) at Denver Seminary's Vernon Grounds Institute for Public Ethics. If you're in the Denver area, please consider attending.

Click here for more information.

Bahamas Watch

The Bahama Journal reports that "An early morning fire gutted one of the holding dorms at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre on Monday, leaving immigration officials scrambling to place 21 illegal immigrants in new quarters."

Victims Families Call for Halt to Death Penalty

Recent protests to resume the death penalty in the Bahamas have prompted a member of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights to write a letter to the Tribune arguing that killing murderers is not the solution to murder.

Twenty years ago, two shotgun blasts took my father's life in the doorway of our family home, right in front of my mother's eyes. That day changed my family forever, and as a result I feel a unique solidarity and kinship with anyone who has suffered the devastating loss of a family member to murder. I share the grief, outrage, and desire for recognition felt by the victims' family members who marched in the streets last month. Where we differ, however, is in regard to whether the death penalty is the best way to address our pain, our loss, and the injustices we have experienced.

Read the rest of the letter here.

Bahamian AIDS Activist Remembered

The AIDS Foundation will host a candlelight vigil in memory of the late Solomon Wellington Adderley on Tuesday June 10th at the Anglican Diocese office at Addington House on Sands Road here in Nassau. For more information, call (242) 325-9326.

Adderley, a fellow Baptist and a colleague from the Bahamas Human Rights Network, was an administrator for the Aids Foundation of the Bahamas. His activism on behalf of persons living with HIV/AIDS was recognized in the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean region.

More information about Adderley is available here.

Previous blog entries on his death are posted here and here.

BHRN Press Release on Adderley Murder

The Bahamas Human Rights Network has issued the following statement in response to the murder of Wellington Adderley:

The Bahamas Human Rights Network (BHRN) takes this opportunity to extend its most sincere condolences to the family of the late Wellington Adderley. I was first introduced to Wellington, as he was affectionately called, one and a half years ago when a group of us got together to form BHRN, a group dedicated to preserving the fundamental rights and freedoms of any individual within The Bahamas and in the international community.

Wellington was a man of sterling character, who I personally came to respect and admire! He was committed to defending the rights of women, children, persons living with HIV and/or AIDS, the poor and marginalized, persons in the immigrant community and persons in the gay and lesbian community.

Wellington preached a message of love for humanity, he despised intolerance and hypocrisy. Wellston you are loved and missed!

Therefore, on behalf of the members of BHRN we stand with one voice and say as Wellington would have said it: "We condemn all acts of violence in our society. BHRN is now more than ever fortified in its commitment to eradicate the scourge of violence that plagues us all and we call on ALL members of our community to work with the police to solve this matter and bring the person(s) to justice."

Elsworth N. Johnson

Acting President BHRN

R.I.P., Wellington Adderley, 1957?-2008

It is with deep sorrow that I share the news of the untimely death of my fellow colleague and activist Wellington Adderley. My wife and I first became acquainted with Wellington about a year and a half ago through our involvement in the Bahamas Human Rights Network. As an administrator for the AIDS Foundation of the Bahamas, Wellington was well respected for his work as an AIDS activist in the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean region. He will be greatly missed.

Yesterday's edition of the Bahama Journal reports:

AIDS Activist Murdered
By Viraj Perpall

Amid mounting concerns about the high level of violent crime in the country, Wellington Adderley, administrator for the AIDS Foundation of the Bahamas, was found murdered in his Delancy Street home Monday afternoon.

His death pushed the murder count for 2008 to 29.

The body of the 51-year-old was found in his apartment at approximately 2:45pm, police told reporters on the scene.

Read the rest of the article here.

Angels Watching Over Me

As I (Estela) arrived at the church to meet with the women on Tuesday morning, Elsa met me at the door and said, “Madam Daniel, you know that even though I am not a Christian yet, God looks over me and I think that is because we take time to pray for each other everyday.” Then she added, “I was supposed to be in this group that had the tragedy last Sunday night on the ocean. But because I missed my connection with the guy who was planning the trip, I had to stay and now fifteen of them have drowned, three are in the hospital, and ten are still missing.”

Elsa was referring to the small migrant boat that capsized Sunday night en route from Nassau to Bimini, a story that had dominated the airwaves since it first broke on Monday morning. Like so many who have gone before them, these migrants were using Nassau as a jumping off point to get to the “promised land” of the United States. Many of them came to the Bahamas from Haiti years ago and had finally saved up enough money to make the last and final leg of their trip. For most, it turned out to be a dream that would not come true.

Please pray for the families of those people who lost their lives, many of them who don’t yet know whether or not their loved one is dead. Pray for the many children who have been orphaned by this tragedy. Pray for the salvation of Elsa. And pray for us, that we might be able minister effectively to Elsa and the many other women like her.

For more information about this tragedy, see the Bahama Journal or the Nassau Guardian.

This story was written by my wife Estela Schweissing for the 26 April 2008 edition of News from Daniel and Estela Schweissing. The painting, titled "Hope I - Haitian Boat Migration" was done by P. Neko Meicholas, a local Bahamian artist.

Fidel Castro Retires

Fidel Castro has just stepped down from the Cuban presidency, following a year-and-a-half of illness (see here and here). Having come to power on New Year's Day 1959, Castro has been the head of Cuba for nearly fifty years.

The real question is how much will change will come to Cuba--politically, economically, or otherwise--now that Castro has voluntarily stepped down from power? Will he continue to play a significant role in shaping policy behind the scenes? Or will this pave the way for a younger generation to bring about political and economic reform?

Likewise, how much space will the Cuban people be given by the international community, in general, and the United States, in particular, to chart their own destiny in the post-Castro era? Given the rise of numerous strong populist movements and governments in Latin America while the United States has spent most of this decade quigmired in the War on Terror, it is certainly possible that Cuba will have a lot more latitude to shape its own future than it would have, say, even ten or fifteen years ago.

Regardless of where Cuba is headed though, the reality is that things are changing and those changes--whatever they may be--will be big enough to signficantly impact the rest of us throughout the Caribbean.

The next few years, no doubt, promise to be exciting yet challenging times for the Cuban people as they embark on a new and important chapter in their history.

The Immorality of Anti-Immigrationism

Too many times, both here in the Bahamas as well as at home in the United States, I have heard otherwise good Christian people piously argue that illegal immigrants are "lawbreakers" and, therefore, undeserving of amnesty, social services, charity, or other forms of private or government assistance. Such piety, of course, fails to consider that laws are not necessarily morally neutral--let alone morally just--and that they often serve to protect the interests of the privileged at the expense of the underprivileged. For this reason, Martin Luther King, Jr. often quoted St. Augustine who once said, "An unjust law is no law at all." Such piety is also selective in that it is quite common for anti-immigrationists to rally around the slogan "send them home" while failing to seek prosecution of businesses who encourage illegal immigration by regularly hiring undocumented workers. And, in some instances (especially in the U.S.), such piety simply ignores the role the host country may have played in fostering or aggravating poor economic and political conditions abroad, thus forcing would-be immigrants to involuntarily and illegally migrate. More importantly, such piety blatantly disregards much of what the Bible has to teach us about how we should treat the poor, the marginalized, and the immigrant amongst us. A few days ago, Sean McKenzie over at Ethics Daily wrote a column that specifically addresses this latter issue. Hopefully, his thoughts will challenge us to rethink our understanding of how can respond to the crisis of immigration--wherever we might find it--in a more Christlike fashion.

Over and over in the Old Testament, we are admonished to be kind to "the widow, the orphan, and alien." In the New Testament Christ admonishes us to welcome the stranger: "When I was a stranger you took me in . . . whatever you do for the least of these brothers of mine, so also you do for me."

Christian opponents of immigration, however, have what they believe is a trump card even to Scripture: the rule of law. Illegal immigrants are breaking the law, and that is the most important consideration.

"Amnesty" opponents seem to believe that a hard-working, otherwise law-abiding immigrant is completely defined by the one law he or she breaks. But certainly we're not so harsh on ourselves. I've sped, jaywalked (illegal crossing) and as an 18-year-old even stole a grocery cart from a local shopping center to impress my Berry College dorm buddies.

Yet "amnesty" opponents see the crime of illegal immigration as somehow different and more serious. The crime is different, all right, but not for the reasons they imagine. It is a more- and not less-justifiable crime than speeding, jaywalking or youthful indiscretion.

These misdemeanors are committed for selfish reasons--not seriously bad, but selfish. Illegal immigration is often committed for much more admirable reasons.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Christian Principles for Immigration Reform

David Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, offers some helpful theological insights on the recent immigration reform efforts that were derailed in the U.S. Congress last week. While I'm not certain that I agree with Gushee's assessment that the bill on the table was the "best approximation of Christian principles" (which is a moot point anyway, as the bill is no longer under consideration), I do think that he provides some thoughtful reflections on the biblical principles that come to bear on the question of immigration. Even though Congress has, for the time being, washed its hands of the issue, the immigration debate will continue to rage on and Gushee's analysis will give U.S. Christians a theological framework for positively contributing to the ongoing discussion.

I have become persuaded that immigration reform is one of the most important moral and policy issues facing Christians and the nation today. And there is landmark legislation on the table -- the bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill, supported by the president -- that in my view reflects the best approximation of Christian principles.

The first question a Christian must ask when thinking about immigration is whether the highest priority for us is American self-interest or biblical principles. As American Christians, are we more Christian or more American?

I think that we should be Christians first. We should seek God’s will for his people (the church) as revealed in Scripture. Only then do we take the second step -- considering our loyalty to the nation -- to see how we might best apply biblical principles there.

Biblically, the five most relevant moral principles on this issue are love, justice, hospitality, family and humility.

Click here to read the rest of Gushee's commentary.

Immigration, of course, is not an issue that is unique to the United States. Many countries here in the Caribbean such as the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Dominican Republic are challenged with significant immigration problems as well. Given the large numbers of professing Christians in these countries, it seems that Gushee's analysis of immigration might well be a good starting point for Caribbean believers to begin articulating a truly Christian response to the immigration crises in our own region.

Oversimplifying the history of abolition?

Today's issue of Ethics Daily has run an article that helps us to look at the history of slavery and abolition in a more nuanced way.

Close reading of history should make us wary of the broad-brush approach, in which an over-simplified reading of the past shapes our understanding of the present. For instance, there is a strong case for saying that Britain should just apologize for the trade, rather than patting itself on the back for abolishing it. Put that way, it's like a mugger wanting to take credit for stopping hitting his victim.

But what does "Britain" mean? Conditions on the plantations of the Caribbean or the Americas were little different in degree from those in some of Britain's burgeoning factories and mines. Was it in Jamaica or Manchester that small children had their ears nailed to tables for minor breaches of discipline? Manchester, actually. So are the descendants of these white, British slaves responsible for Britain's slave trade?

We are entitled to both our heroes and our villains, but we have a responsibility to see the issues as clearly as we can.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Not Showing in a Theater Near You: Why Amazing Grace hasn't come to the Caribbean

Thanks to the persistant detective work of Nicolette Bethel, we finally have an answer as to why Galleria Cinemas is NOT showing Amazing Grace in the Bahamas, at least not for now. Apparently, the movie is in limited release--having opened in the U.S. on February 23rd and, now, slated to begin showing today, March 23rd, in the U.K. and Ireland. In the meantime, Galleria Cinemas' distributor has agreed to let them know when, or if, the film is available to be shown locally.

The irony here is that even though the people of the Bahamas, along with their Caribbean neighbors, are the primary beneficiaries of the abolition of the slave trade, they will not have the opportunity to see the film in conjuction with this weekend's bicentennial observances. Bethel elaborates on this irony:

If the film is not intended to be released in the Caribbean at the time of the Bicentenary of the Abolition, then that is a significant lapse of judgement of the filmmakers and the studio. There is really very little to be gained, either for history or for Christianity itself, to show the film in the homes of the people who perpetrated the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and not to do so in the homes of the societies that were created by that very trade.

Something is askew.

Yes, something is indeed askew! But given the nature of the pre-film publicity, we should not really be surprised. Nearly a month ago, I observed that:

In the United States and Great Britain, for example, many well-meaning Christians are using the bicentennial of abolition [and the publicity surrounding the release of the film Amazing Grace] to raise awareness of and generate support for campaigns against modern day forms of slavery such as child labor, prostitution, and human trafficking. While I applaud these important efforts, I am concerned that they have largely obscured the legacy of slavery that still persists for Bahamian and Caribbean descendants of the liberated Africans and slaves who originally benefited from abolition.

While I don't believe that any of these oversights are intentional, let alone sinister, I do believe they tell us a lot about the worldview of the of the folks who are distributing and promoting the film. Basically, theirs is a worldview that--consciously or subconsciously--assumes that the evils of slavery came to and end with the abolition of the slave trade and, subsequently, emancipation. It is also a worldview that recognizes that slavery--understood as physical bondage--continues to exist in the world today and, more importantly, it is a worldview rooted in a moral passion to fight this injustice. Hence, they have siezed upon an inspirational event in history and held it up as a model to emulate as they seek to abolish modern day forms of slavery.

For the most part, this is a good thing. The problem, however, is that such a worldview ignores the fact that while abolition and emancipation brought an end to the physical bondage of Caribbean slavery, they did not come anywhere close to bringing an end to the economic systems that allowed and continue to allow one group of people to unfairly benefit from the labor of another (for more on this topic see my post on the legacy of the Atlantic slave trade). More critically, this worldview fails to acknowledge that the Caribbean descendents of liberated Africans and slaves are still struggling today with injustices perpetuated by the descendents of former slave traders and slave owners.

One reason for this, perhaps, is that it is easier to fight against injustices, such as human trafficking or prostitution, in which one is not directly involved. But for those of us--like myself--who are the descendents of countries who profited from the slave trade, it is much more difficult to join Caribbean peoples in their modern day struggle for full emancipation because to do so is to admit that we are still beneficiaries of the modern day economic systems which keep them enslaved.

Even two-hundred years after the fact, there a great need for reconciliation between the countries who benefited from the slave trade and those that were created by the slave trade. The failure of Amazing Grace's promoters to include the Caribbean in their efforts is not the problem so much as a symptom of something much more serious, our failure to recognize that while abolition and emancipation were important steps in the right direction toward mutual reconciliation, they were just the beginning of the journey, not the end.

Planning to show Amazing Grace?

It appears that the National Cultural Development Commission has sent an inquiry to the management of Galleria Cinemas regarding their plans (or lack thereof) to show Amazing Grace in the Bahamas.

Read a copy of their letter here.

Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Over at Blogworld, Nicolette Bethel suggests that the upcoming elections here in the Bahamas have muffled public discussion of the bicentennial of the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Interestingly, many of the points she makes are similar to those my students raised when we got sidetracked into a discussion on this topic during last weekend's class session. Bethel observes:

Perhaps this is why we aren’t discussing abolition and what it means for us. This should, of course, be a source of shame for us all. When the United Kingdom is making a big deal out of this year, and out of the anniversary that’s coming up on March 25, we’re strangely silent. Is it because people on the PLP are afraid to make too much out of it because of the long years of invoking slavery in election years (the running of Roots on ZNS, in 1977, 1982, and 1987, the references to Exodus) have rendered the concept of slavery impotent as a political tool? Is it because people in the FNM have rejected the concept of slavery because they believe that it alienates those people who are not the descendants of slaves?

You can read the rest of Bethel's post here.

The Sin of Omission: Reflections on Censorship and Christian Values

Like Nicolette Bethel over at Blogworld, I am disappointed that the film Amazing Grace is not being shown in the Bahamas. Bethel offers a number of possible reasons as to why it has not shown, including Galleria Cinemas' monopoly over the local commercial theaters or the possibility that the Bahamas Plays and Films Control Board has decided to prohibit the screening of the film. [UPDATE: Bethel has just updated her blog to indicate that Amazing Grace was released only in the U.S. on Feb 23rd, not worldwide as she had originally stated. The film is slated for release in the UK on Mar 23rd, leaving open the possibility that it may still come to the Bahamas. That being said, I believe the major thrust of my argument below is still valid.]

Bethel along with other Bahamian scholars and journalists (see here, here, here, here, and here) have publicly questioned the seemingly inconsistent criteria that the Bahamas Plays and Films Control Board has utilized to determine which films can and cannot be shown in the Bahamas. Likewise, they have expressed concerns about the undue influence of the Bahamas Christian Council and other clergy on the outcome of the Board's decisions. For the most part, I am in agreement with their conclusions.

But for the sake of argument, let’s assume that it is good public policy to regulate what types of films the public should see and, further, that such regulation should be done on the basis of Christian values (keeping in mind that the precise definition of "Christian values" is a hotly debated issue itself). This, of course, is a position that many--but not all--religious Bahamians would strongly agree with. By taking such a position, we would not be surprised to see strong opposition to films that present morally controversial or theologically heretical (not to mention historically inaccurate) content as was the case in last year's debate over whether or not Brokeback Mountain and the Da Vinci Code should be allowed to show. (Interestingly, the former was banned while the latter--which was considered by many to be a deliberate and scathing attack against Christianity--was permitted to screen). Conversely, we would expect to see strong public support for films that powerfully communicate Christian values and heritage.

But in practice, this rarely happens. Opposition to films that do not measure up to Christian values tends to be selective and we can all readily identify numerous films, apart from the Da Vinci Code, that have been shown despite their dismal failure to meet this one simple criterion. On the other hand, high-profile vocal support for explicitly Christian movies--not to mention secular movies that are consistent with Christian values--has been deafeningly silent. It is this latter point--the lack of support for good Christian movies--that I wish to elaborate on here. Consider, for example, the following five films that—to the best of my knowledge—have never been screened in a Bahamian theater and, most likely, remain unknown to the vast majority of pundits who have eagerly sought to ban other movies deemed to be of "no value to the Bahamian public."

Beyond the Gates of Splendor (2002) – This documentary narrates one of the most compelling missionary stories of the twentieth century, showing how five young American missionaries (Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully) were speared to death in 1956 while trying to evangelize the Waodani tribe in the Amazon basin of Ecuador. But the story doesn’t end there. A few years later, Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of one of the men, and Rachel Saint, the sister of another, went to live with the Waodani and successfully evangelized their tribe. Decades later, Steve Saint, the son of one of the slain missionaries was reconciled with the Waodani man who killed his father and, as a result, moved his family to Ecuador to live with the Waodani and continue the ministry started by his aunt Rachel.

Mart Green, the producer of Beyond the Gates, also made a feature film version of the same story, which was released as End of the Spear (2006). The film is not overtly evangelistic but instead strongly emphasizes the themes of truth, love, and forgiveness. Christianity Today reports that the cinematography was even of sufficiently high quality to receive “measured praise from the mainstream press,” which is rare for a Christian film. Both of these films won awards at the Heartland Film Festival and Beyond the Gates also won an award at the Palm Beach International Film Festival (see here and here). Naturally, one would expect that both of these films should be of great interest in a country that is making increasingly significant contributions to the global church.

Luther (2003) – This film explores the life of Martin Luther, the sixteenth century priest who spearheaded the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s legacy is not just limited to the history of the western church. His life and work significantly impacted other areas of European thought, politics, economics, and society, making him a major figure in the history of western civilization, apart from his contributions to the development of Christianity. Even though the Bahamas touts its identity as a Christian nation and, in fact, is predominantly Protestant, I am routinely surprised by the disproportionately large number of students in my church history classes who—when we get to our unit on the Reformation—get confused because they think that I’m talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. instead of Martin Luther. This highly acclaimed award-winning film, of course, does an outstanding job of bringing this important history to a more general audience.

The Second Chance (2006) – Unlike the above movies, which are all based on actual historical events, this award-winning film is purely fictitious. It is about two American pastors—one from a white middle-class suburban mega-church and the other from a poor multi-ethnic inner city congregation—and the conflicts that result when they are forced to work together. It’s a film that demonstrates how Christianity—at its best—is about overcoming our prejudices of race and class and breaking down the barriers between the streets and our sanctuaries. While the film strongly challenges Christians to recommit themselves to these goals, it refuses to downplay the difficulties that one will face when trying to live up to such a vision. Given the growing disconnect between church and society, this is a message that we all need to hear.

Amazing Grace (2006) – Currently playing in theaters around the world, this film shows how William Wilberforce, a member of the British parliament, and John Newton, a former slave trader turned Anglican clergyman, and others teamed up to bring about the end of the Atlantic slave trade in the British empire (1807) and, eventually, slavery itself (1834). Given that this year is the observance of the bicentennial of the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade and that the Bahamas was one of the primary beneficiaries of this legislation, this seems like an especially timely film as we seek to reflect on what this legacy means for us today.

I have shown (or intend to show) all of the above films in the theology classes that I teach at Atlantic College. And with the exception of Amazing Grace (which, for obvious reasons, I have yet to see), I can personally vouch that these are all films that embody important Christian values and/or document important events in our Christian heritage. Undoubtedly, the astute reader will readily identify additional films that achieve these objectives as well but—for reasons unbeknownst to us—have never been screened in the Bahamas.

If our genuine desire is to promote Christian values and heritage, then perhaps we need to consider how we might go about that task in a more productive way. Instead of seeking to ban movies that are inconsistent with Christian values, perhaps our time and energy would be better spent advocating for films that do reflect our values. In other words, perhaps the Gospel message is best served by clearly articulating the positive things that Christianity is about rather than defining ourselves by the negative things that we are not.

Celebrity Fatigue

I was living in the Dominican Republic when the Lísten Diario scooped the U.S. media on Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley’s secret wedding, performed at the home of a Dominican judge near La Vega during the summer of 1994. At the time, neighboring Haiti was suffering an economic embargo, causing floods of refugees to pour over the border into the D.R. or set sail for Florida on rickety yolas. The U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba was filled to overflowing with both Haitian and Cuban refugees. And far away on the other side of the globe, the Rwandan genocide was in full swing. Given those realities, the scandal surrounding the Jackson-Presley wedding seemed a bit trivial.

So trivial, in fact, that I had totally forgotten about it.

Until the saga of the late Anna Nicole Smith and Bahamian immigration minister Shane Gibson.

This past six months has been a bad case of déjà vu as the media has spared no efforts to keep us fully abreast of every sordid detail of the developing scandal.

So I was pleased to see that Pastor Jim Evans' column on the cult of celebrity put words to much of my thoughts on this matter.

Amongst other things, Pastor Jim argues that "this celebrity obsessed voyeurism serves as a terrible distraction from what is really real going on around us. We are distracted from a terrible war, and endangered environment. We are distracted from an economy that constantly generates new levels of poverty, all while the rich get richer."

He goes on to suggest that "Perhaps it's time to turn the television off and begin the process of building a real life. Maybe visit a sick friend, or do a kindness for a neighbor. Strengthen a relationship, or go out and make a new one. Do something other than wallowing in the misery of make-believe people. Go out and get a life that really means something. The celebs will be just fine without us watching."

Preach it, brother!