Bishop Rowan Edwards argues that unavoidable destruction could strike if lawmakers choose to greenlight the practice of Obeah.
Several churches on Wednesday marched against the practice of Obeah.
Pastor Dalbert Simmonds
Professor Clinton Hutton
Attorney Bert Samuels
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Bishop Rowan Edwards, Chairman of the 10,000 Men March; Pastor Dalbert Simmonds, Chairman of the Spanish Town Ministers' Fraternal; Attorney Bert Samuels
With a public sermon and chants, pastors and their congregants on Wednesday marched in Spanish Town to demonstrate their rejection of any plan to legalise Obeah in Jamaica.
The evangelical outcry comes as the constitutional challenge to the more than century-old Obeah Act, which was filed in the Supreme Court on May 16, is due for its first hearing on Thursday at 10 a.m.
The fixed-date claim form was filed on behalf of Director of the Institute of Theological and Educational Research at the Mico University College, Professor Clinton Hutton.
The legal move has been met with outrage from members of the clergy.
Scores of Christian followers peacefully marched from the Prison Oval to the town centre in the old capital.
Bert Samuels, the attorney representing Professor Hutton, said the move to invalidate the Obeah Act was influenced by the recent sentencing of Oshawn Grant in the St. James Parish Court who was ordered to pay $5,000 after he was found guilty of the practice.
But chairman of the 10,000 Men March, Bishop Rowan Edwards, argues that unavoidable destruction could strike if lawmakers choose to greenlight the practice of Obeah.
"We saw what Voodoo has done to Haiti. It mash it down bad. When it's not major storm, it's major earthquake; when it's not major earthquake, it's gangs wickedly control the country. We don't want that in Jamaica. So the pastors come together to make a cry against the wicked spirit of Obeah that they want to legalise in this country. The few parliamentarians that want that, let them go and repent. Those who are pushing for it, let them go and repent. The pastors have seen what the evil spirit of Obeah has been doing to our young people. Yes, we don't want that to happen in Jamaica," he warned.
Pastor Dalbert Simmonds, Chairman of the Spanish Town Ministers' Fraternal, further urged the government not to bend to pressure to legalise the controversial practice.
"I want for the government and its new cabinet to hear that the church is standing with it. Don't bow to pressure. Don't allow for this to happen in our country. Though in Haiti it is not called Obeah, it is called Voodoo, it is the same practice. There are similarities there. And we saw what is happening in Haiti. We don't want for that to come to Jamaica. Our belief as Christian is a Godly belief and this country is a Godly country with Godly principle. And that's something that we want to maintain," he stressed.
In response to the public criticism, lead attorney Bert Samuels maintained that no Jamaican should be persecuted for practicing their religious belief.
"It is my view that the Constitution of Jamaica says that there should be a freedom of religion and therefore any attempt to criminalise any religious group is an offence to the Constitution. So that when someone goes to court to say that all religious beliefs should be free, those persons are protecting the rights for Christian, Muslim, Indian fortune tellers, all those groups, they are being protected by the same provision in the Constitution. And therefore, it is best if those people look at the affidavit that was filed by Professor Clinton Hutton, rather than taking an emotional approach to the upholding of the constitutional right," he argued.
Mr. Samuels added that the push for the constitutional rights of those who practice Obeah to be upheld does not mean he is a practitioner.
"For example, Rastafarians were unable to practice their religious practices and they are now able to use sacraments, they are now able to carry their sacraments in a free way. It doesn't mean that we, the rest of us in the society who support the Rastafarians being able to practice their religious practices, are ourselves Rastafarians.
"What we do is that we say that as constitutional practitioners, that the law cannot discriminate between one religious practice and another religious practice," he contended. "Up to 2013, persons caught practicing Obeah were whipped and flogged by the state. The only other offence for which that was done is rape."
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