In his July 21st Tribune column titled “Our constitution should be secular” Andrew Allen argues for the removal of the reference to “Christian Values” in the Constitution. He contends that this phrase –
- “Implicitly incorporates a spirit of discrimination into the founding document of our democracy”; and
- Defines the Bahamas as being “pre-modern”, a polite way of saying that the country is behind the times.
The removal of “any hint of preference of Christianity over, for example, Islam” would reduce for all Bahamians the “points to argue about” …allegedly producing a happier country. The example that he cites is the remaining attachments to the British monarchy and the “associated cultural baggage” that “waste many of the best energies and the talents… in the service of ideals, values and cultural goals conceived elsewhere.”
Denial and Wishful Thinking
To some readers his argument seems like a bad case of denial and wishful thinking. The Bahamas has been and still is a predominantly Christian country. Denying this accomplishes little… whereas a serious discussion of values or ethics can accomplish a lot.
Let’s start by looking at Christian Values as observed by a sympathetic non-Christian writer of the first century. Elaine Pagels in her current best seller, Beyond Belief, refers to the work of a pious Jew writing ten years before the Gospels of Mathew and Luke were recorded. That author described the teachings of the apostles starting with their golden rule:
“The Way of Life is this: First, you shall love the God who made you, and your neighbor as yourself; and whatever you do not want to have done to you, do not do to another.”
The first century author amplified this with moral warnings against the evils of Roman society that sound very similar to Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
“You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not have sexual intercourse with boys… you shall not practice magic; you shall not murder the child in the womb; nor kill newborns… you shall not turn away the destitute.”
These prescriptions for a moral life are ageless; they are a call to humans to live an ethical life with… in the case of the religiously inclined… the promise of spiritual rewards for doing so.
History adequately documents the conclusion that achieving perfection is a never ending struggle. The horrific events of the last century alone are a cause for skepticism and hopelessness about the humanity of man even though the material progress of man is abundantly clear. Christian Values are “points to argue about” and such discussion doesn’t make people “happy”; but the problems of people dealing with each other just won’t go away.
The Material World
And today Bahamian Christians and non-Christians alike are faced with important moral issues. Recognizing them is painful since denying their existence or blaming others is the easier and politically safe road to take.
The Bahamas is a very small country with unique natural resources and opportunities. In the 1990s it experienced outstanding economic growth. It has avoided actions that in the extreme have literally destroyed other post-colonial countries; and it is the undisputed “king” of the Caribbean Basin countries. This explains the intensity of the current “courting” being done by the full-members of CARICOM to get the Bahamas into their single market economy and whyﾠ the Bahamas is trying to restart the economy.
The search for the key to growth by governments, international lending agencies and lenders has been going on for 55 years; it now is focused on the elements within a society that foster sustained growth. The Miami Declaration of 1994 as signed by the Bahamas started the Free Trade of the Americas process and clearly sets out the road ahead. That road is one of increasing economic freedom for workers and entrepreneurs alike in an environment that creates opportunity and rewards for all. These are the goals of that process.
The Tourism Taskforce Report on Trade Liberalization examined the issues raised by the Draft FTAA Agreement. It found that the Bahamas is a high operating cost country and these high costs limit profitability, reduce the incentive to invest and push job creating investment elsewhere. It concluded that the country must deal with this situation whether it chooses to sign the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas or not.
There is no mystery as to why those costs are high. They are —
- Low labour productivity
- Pervasive pilferage
- Politics that promotes inefficiency and excessive taxation
- A disregard for the rule of law
- Family and school environments that produce young adults unprepared for employment.
- The “race card” that can never be overlooked but that can produce an unfounded or exaggerated sense of “victimization”
They are easy to identify but dealing with them is especially “painful” to anyone valuing the original Christian message and to any politician looking forward to the next election.
However, rekindling that growth and sustaining it will require new initiatives and the further evolution of the Bahamian character. The 2003 Consultation of the International Monetary Fund with the Bahamas was particularly critical of the reluctance of the Bahamian Government to make “structural changes”. In explaining its inaction the Government repeatedly pointed to the need to develop a “political consensus”.
Adam Smith
The Free Trade of the Americas Agreement is attacked by those who feel that free markets are immoral and simply make those who act in their own self-interest richer and those who do not poorer. Such criticism is often directed against Adam Smith, the 18th century philosopher. That characterization of Adam Smith is grossly inaccurate and is based on the materialist view of man contained in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations and overlooks the more benevolent view of The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
The great contribution of Smith was his observation that a system based on the pursuit of self-interest within a free market environment produces greater material welfare than a society directed by the altruistic intentions embodied in the deliberate planning of kings and churches. Smith focused on the relationship between intentions and outcomes.
Adam Smith contrary to popular belief did not identify personal liberty with the absence of legal constraint or even self-restraint. He saw links “between political liberty, institutionally fostered self-control, and the moral development of the individual.”
“In the society [Smith] intended to promote, men and women were freer from the traditional, direct controls of political lords and state churches. But that had been made possible, he showed, only by the growth of central government, and it would only be desirable when coupled with a panoply of social institutions which fostered self-control. The ‘liberty’ Smith advocated was not ‘freedom’ from all control, but freedom to control one’s own passion. That freedom would be learned from and encouraged by such social institutions as the market, the family, religious communities, and the law.”
(Jerry Z. Muller, Adam Smith in his Time and Ours, Free Press, 1993.)
For Adam Smith there were material rewards for a society that lived a moral life.
Clearly the phrase “Christian Values” should not be deleted from the Constitution. The Christian heritage of the Bahamas can be a mighty source for constructive change and cannot be dismissed as if it were no longer relevant.
And… shouldn’t Bahamians add “Adam Smith” to the Constitution? He may be pre-modern; and to some his ideas are cultural baggage conceived elsewhere. But, in fact, they also are relevant in a modern and heated debate on values.
Just think of it. To get a political consensus, it could be Jesus Christ and Adam Smith to the rescue.
by Ralph Massey
The Nassau Institute
