When I caught my six year old son at Veiuto Primary School some 15 years ago, with a stolen pencil sharpener from his class mate, I did not punish him but went into nostalgia, and had a feeling of deja vu.

When I was of a similar age at Rarawai’s dusty farm land in Ba, I had stolen my cousin’s toy from his compound. My illiterate but highly educated father gave me an ear-bashing about virtues of honesty, quoting some verses from the Holy epic Ramayan. I returned that stolen toy and vowed never to repeat that act. That incident about honesty and the good ways has been embedded in my mind since and I was placed on the track of righteousness that is with me to date.

I subjected my son to the similar treatment, a similar sermon and lessons rooted in Hinduism, and he has been an exemplary son since. Today he is a teenager at Auckland University and I can trust him with my life, my bank account eftpos and credit card pin numbers. That is the religious value that my Girmitiya grandfather from the stony hills of Karauli in Rajasthan brought with him when he came as an indentured labourer and such values have passed over the generations.

That raises the question about family and religious values in Fijian Christian families. When my house was burgled in Suva and police went to arrest the thief in Raiwai, his Fijian father was fighting back – he was supposed to be a Christian. If I was ever caught with any stolen goods at home, my father would have whipped me and handed me over to police. Isn’t this should happen in Fijian Christian (read Methodist) families to send a message to thieving youths? Should not they be influenced by the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ? If the Churches were true in their spiritual activities, then why is this failure manifested in jail numbers of people from supposedly Christian homes? Is it that some Christian parents condone robbery as long as Indo Fijians are victims?

In another anecdote, Dharma, a hard working Hindu cane farmer was asked to convert to Christianity by a Fijian Padre, tasked to liberate the so called heathens. The Padre went on with his sermon,… there was so much violence, so much theft and robberies, so many family breakups, so many ills in our society, so many people in jails,  so you need to convert to Christianity and accept Jesus Christ to stop such ills in society.

Dharma replied, those who needed help were either in jails or in Church. He was a Hindu, for him, religion was a way of life and not a ritual on display only on Sundays. If there was violence, and crime, then the Padre needed to visit jails and ask why there are so many Fijian youths in jails. If anybody who needed converting to Christianity, it was these so called Christians who were not living the life of a Christians. If Christianity has failed to inculcate religious values and spirituality in their flock, then perhaps there was something wrong with the Church leaders, especially the very representative, heavily politicized and influential Methodist Church.

Therefore it did not come as a surprise when some of Rabuka’s 1987 marshals, who were behind the racist 1990 constitution, got together under the cloak of Methodist Church to give  a sermon on democracy to Frank Bainimarama and the Interim Government. In the process they rubbished the President of Fiji as well. You need to take their sermon with a pinch of salt, as it was a distant shadow of these religious flotsam and jetsam that had planned to abduct and rape the wife of a former head of their own church.

In 1987, the same people did not understand the meaning of democracy; they bandied with militant nationalists to beat up Indo Fijians and abuse Hindus under the guise of Sunday bans and never displayed any bit of humanity, justice, love and neighbourly goodwill that Lord Jesus Christ preached. They were in the front line of marchers who demanded overthrow of Bavadra government that was an epitome of a multiracial democracy.

Now, the same chameleon Christians all of a sudden started singing the virtues of democracy. In the events of 2000 during Speight’s adventures, these so called Sons of God went and preached hatred against the lesser Gods and performed satanic rituals on the sacred Parliamentary grounds.

The sad part is that some believe that these hypocrites are doing it for God. One of them is the apologist for SDL and Methodist Church, the Political Reporter of the Fiji Sun who believes that the so called reverends from Methodist Church believed in what they had said came from God, they had Fiji at heart and all they wanted to have was a democratically elected Government leading the country. Then what was Bavadra Government of 1987? What was Chaudhary Government of 2000? We still have not forgotten the role of Manasa Lasaro and that of Methodist Church in the two events.

Therefore, this abuse of their positions by the officials of Methodist Church in denouncing Frank Bainimarama is not surprising at all. These Christian derelicts need to have a trip to the confession chambers to confess their sins and hypocrisy. Perhaps Fiji Sun’s Political Editor can explain to the people of Fiji, if these so called Methodists had such a great love for democracy, then why did they abandon this love for democracy and the high principles in1987 and 2000? Where then were these Pundits, oh, sorry, the Padres of democracy then? Why all of a sudden have they got a pang or prick of conscience when the shoe is on the other foot?

If the Fiji Methodist Church, especially since 1987, had placed more importance in its core functions rather than politics then perhaps Fijian Christians would have been happier people.

If KPI or key performance indicator of any religion was to see how spiritually inspired its flock were, and generally reflected in lack of criminal activities, family breakup and reflection of its religious values in its leadership, then Methodist Church will be at the end of the queue. The deafening silence of Methodist Church on sacrilege of Hindu temples has not gone unheard. How many Hindus have broken into Churches or schools? On the other hand, how many Christian youths have done this? Do you know how many Padres preach hatred from their pulpit against idol worshippers? Indeed the breed of Christian values in Fiji is very wanting.

Churches , especially the Methodist Church has been accused of placing heavy financial burden on its members, and other church activities are said to take so much of people’s time that little time was left for family. Instead of giving us lectures on the principles of democracy, the Church needs to look at its own performance and records. For those who themselves are lost, they are least qualified to pontificate on democracy or how to run a government.

If like my father, the Methodist Christians tried to live according to the teachings of their religion, preached their children the spiritual richness of Christianity, then perhaps we may have had a better multi racial community in Fiji.

If they could reduce the number of their youths in jails through religious enlightening and spirituality of family values, then they would be true to Lord Jesus Christ.

If they could tell their people that Christianity was a way of life rather than sinning on six days but showing off of their fine wares on Sunday Church service rituals, then perhaps we could have a better Fiji.

Lord, forgive those who do not know what they are doing, and lead the misled people onto the path of righteousness. This aptly applies to leadership of Methodist Church of Fiji which tries to hide behind the cloak of Padres to indulge in politics.

Perhaps the clean up should apply to Methodist Church as well, and this is not the job for the Military. This is the job for the silent spiritually-enlightened members who have been tolerating a wanting leadership of the Church for so long.

It is time for a clean up in the leadership of the Methodist Church as well.

About the Author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is a human rights activist, former Publisher of Fiji’s Daily Post newspaper, and an advocate of good governance, based in Auckland, New Zealand.

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