PM commends Spiritual Baptists for strength

The Prime Minister has praised Spiritual Baptists for their commitment, holding unshakeably to their beliefs, and always visualising beyond their day-to-day struggles.

In his message on Tuesday to commemorate Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day on Wednesday, Dr Rowley further encouraged members of the faith to remain resilient and remember the struggles and efforts of those who fought to have the Shouter Prohibition Ordinance repealed.

This law prevented the Spiritual Baptists from practising their faith in public.

Rowley said, “The struggles and pains which they suffered are now acknowledged as part of our socio-historical matrix, and today the entire nation commemorates their struggles. Lifting it into celebration, we recognise too that their story is not wholly exclusive.

“Having now received from the Government the land grant and the availability of assistance towards the building of your cathedral, I anxiously await the day when we can meet to celebrate in the shadows of the edifice and, as God wills it, to meet in praise at your own cemetery grounds which you now have within your grasp. Progress is being made and celebrated on this day.

“At this stage, what is required among all citizens is first the recognition of that need for tolerance, then a search for forgiveness and healing, which the Spiritual Shouter Baptists have shown us.

“We should each try to reach into ourselves, searching, up and beyond, for that place within, in which we can all live every day with the dictum of Christ in which we can find Love, then showing, in some measure, tolerance and respect to those around us, individually, collectively and as a people, as a nation.”