Jamaica's Prime Minister Moves To Ally Churches With Government

Jamaica's recently-elected prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, has created a good deal of concern in her nation as she has taken steps to mix religion with government. Yesterday's Trinidad & Tobago Express carried an editorial raising questions about her claim that she was appointed by God to run the country, and about her proposal to name pastors to all state boards. Today's Jamaica Express reports that Miller has won support of the influential Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) for her proposal that clergy become members or chairmen of all new state boards. Philip Robinson, president of the JCC, said that the Prime Minister's moves "ought to have been a natural expectation since we are a Christian country". The JCC represents most of the mainline Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches in Jamaica.