Legalising obeah will fuel God’s wrath
Published:Thursday | October 2, 2025 | 12:07 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
What if I started a religion tomorrow, with one of its tenets being that it is okay for members of that religion to marry dogs? Should that religion be allowed to exist and practise, given that freedom of religion is a constitutional right that we should all enjoy? There must be a moral line that ought not to be crossed, even where religious freedom is concerned, and more so in a country that labels itself as a Christian country.
As a Christian country, the practice of Obeah should not be legalised.
Same thing goes for sex marriage, buggery, theft and murder. Will all those anti-Christian and illegal acts continue being perpetrated nonetheless? Of course! However, a line must be drawn by the government and the courts in this country, where Christianity is still the dominant religion.
No matter its historical/ancestral (slavery) and geographical (Africa) roots – which academics, human rights activists and lawyers use as justification for legalising obeah – like Voodoo, it is antithetical to Christianity. As such, obeah should remain illegal, that is, if Jamaica is to honour, preserve and give precedence to its strong Christian history and traditions.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 (NIV) states, “ Let no one be found among you, who, sacrifices their son or daughter, in the fire, who, practises divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells or who, is a medium or spiritualist or, who, consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you.”
Last, were obeah made legal, tomorrow, God would pour His wrath over Jamaica the way the waters at Dunn’s River Falls flow, powerfully and continuously, over the rocks.
PATRICK GALLIMORE