Stop the desecration of funerals
Published:Wednesday | February 5, 2025 | 12:09 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
The disdain for, and departure from traditional values that has now inundated the Jamaican society could hardly be more pronounced than in some bacchanal milieu called funeral service.
Under normal circumstances and for normal people, the death of a loved one produces some of the deepest degrees of pain and sorrow known to the human race.
And because we think we are still dealing with normal people, we take it as a given that the rites to commit the loved one’s soul to its Maker and it’s body to the ground will be conducted with an atmosphere of sobriety, solemnity, and dignity.
Regrettably, these features that should define every funeral service, are not only trampled on by some churches and some members of our society, but they have been replaced by behaviour so crude and vulgar that makes one wonder if Satan is the one officiating at this bacchanal session.
With the rapid decline in respect for the Christian church, one finds it very puzzling why so many so-called pastors and church members give consent and participate in these vulgar exercises that only desecrate and dishonour the dead.
Are we to conclude that these church members and so-called pastors are incapable of being embarrassed for allowing hard liquor, weed, and other illicit drugs to be sold and consumed on the churches’ compounds?
In addition to this desecration of what is supposed to be sacred grounds, the scope and degree of nudity both in and outside of the church rivals any carnival road march.
There are two reasons this despicable behaviour has become so widespread. First, far too many pastors and church members have no interest in the integrity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And, second for these pastors and church members, not even the gospel can compete with money.
For the sake of the integrity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I beg all pastors and churches to establish guidelines and criteria for conducting funeral services, especially for those done in inner-city communities.
CASHLEY BROWN