Bishop Claude Berkley’s Message for Trinidad and Tobago General Election 2020

August 7, 2020.

Brothers and Sisters, Fellow Citizens,

Greetings and best wishes to you and your families! I pray that you are keeping safe during this Covid-19 pandemic. You have no doubt observed the recent spikes in the figures for infections in our nation. We must read the signs given to us and respond with the intelligence, discipline and creativity with which we have been blessed as a people. At the very least, we are called to live out the mandate to love our neighbour as we love ourselves thereby exercising due care and concern for ourselves and our fellow human beings. God is on our side, but he would hardly do for us what we could do for ourselves. Please take good care!

Our nation is on the verge of National Elections and we are called to exercise our God given right as citizens to elect those who would govern us for the next period. It is a sacred duty and should be treated as such. The Christian model is to see God’s kingship as the model for our governance; governance that expresses itself in justice, compassion and kindness. We are called therefore, to spare no effort to procure the nearest prototype of Godly governance that is possible. That requires our participation by vote and good conversation that is respectful, tolerable and disciplined. We will all inhabit this space after the election and we ought all to work together to build this nation.

In that spirit, the denigrating depictions of any group of citizens is unacceptable and must not be supported. Lessons from history would remind us that an assault on people’s dignity sets off a chain of events of which we will not be proud for many decades after. The disrespectful depiction of African persons or any other ethnicity, must be condemned. Given the plethora of talent and creativity we possess as a people, we are more than capable of campaigning in dignified ways with effective communication of the messages we wish to send. I wish to call on all concerned to desist from bringing this noble act of citizenry into disrepute.

Let us continue in prayer for our nation and its leaders and particularly for those presented for selection for the new term. In all these things God is working His purpose out and we have our part to play. Consequently, we ought to go out to cast our ballot as the Spirit leads us, bearing in mind that ‘we are God’s servants, working together…’

With every good wish for a free and fair and safe process on Election Day.

Yours faithfully,