THE religious community has a critical role to play in ensuring peace and unity among Guyanese, even as elections loom and tensions run high. This charge was issued on Wednesday by Head of State Donald Ramotar when he declared open the Guyana Conference of Seventh Day Adventists’ (SDA) Fourth Quadrennial Session under the theme, “Revived by his word; United in His Mission,” at the Central SDA Church, Queenstown.
The President noted that the conference is taking place at a very important juncture in Guyana’s history, and as politicians compete for people’s votes, emotions sometimes run high.
“As Christians, I know that you all feel a sense of duty to promote peace and equality for all mankind and this is an important value to cherish, to see everyone as equal,” the President told the church.
Quoting Galatians 3:28, the President said there should be no discrimination, as the scriptures state that “you are all one”.
“This is a very important principle that I hope you would hold on to, because I believe that Christianity must not only be practised in the four walls of the church. It must become a principle that guides our life and that is what I hope we can depend on as we move forward to preserve the integrity and peace in our country,” he said.
Recognising the work of the SDA community in Guyana, President Ramotar noted that many of their values are familiar to him and identify with his personal philosophy, such as helping the vulnerable, sick and poor. He commended the church for their consistent and tireless efforts to improve the quality of people’s lives, noting that this principle is akin to those of his government.
“We are the only country in the Caribbean where 30 percent of the money from the budget goes to the social sector, the largest portion going to education.” He added that his administration views education as the tool to eliminate poverty and raise people’s standard of living. He noted that there is a clear correlation between poverty and education, as “where education is low, poverty is high and where education is high, poverty is low”, and he commended the church for its work to reduce poverty and the work it has done to help, especially in the interior.
He urged church members to therefore invest their time in their children’s education and to encourage their children to stay in school and maximise on available opportunities provided by the state, such as free provision of text books and other support through the school system and the Guyana Learning Channel. “…we are providing all the exercise and text books and uniforms for children in school so that no child coming from an economically under-privileged family will feel inferior to a child coming from a rich home, and I believe because of what we are doing, we have the lowest drop-out rate of our children in school life in the whole of the Caribbean.”
The opening ceremony was also attended by Presidential Candidate for the APNU+AFC coalition David Granger.
Participants included delegates from congregations across Guyana coming together to review the operations of the church for the last four years, and to elect administrators and other officers to serve the local church body and wider community for the next four years.
The SDA comprises 216 congregations with a membership of about 60,000. It has been in existence for almost 130 years and has worked in numerous areas of development and welfare of the people, in the areas of health and wellness, senior citizens, education and biblical teachings on organisational and financial structures. (GINA)
