BARBADOS — Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley has taken the Government to task for leaving “God” out of the Charter of Barbados, declaring that God cannot be thrown out with the monarch as Barbados prepares its transition to republican status next week, Barbados Today reported on November 24, 2021.
But Prime Minister Mia Mottley countered that the lone opposition MP was seeking to mislead the House of Assembly as lawmakers debated a resolution to endorse a charter that will not have the force of law.
Visibly upset that the charter does not make reference to the supremacy of God, Bishop Atherley said he has serious issues with the section of the charter that refers to all being equal by virtue of “our humanity, in the eyes of the Creator”. He said this phrasing is watered down and departs significantly and tragically from that which appears in the preamble of the 1966 Constitution.
Atherley said: “We acknowledge God in the National Anthem; am I to be led to believe from the language of this Charter that we will address that line with the part that says ‘The Lord has been the People’s Guide’. Are we going to remove that too because we are of the view that we are excluding others? Is this what we are not saying? And if we are not saying it there, we need to make sure the language here is correct so that we don’t give people the opinion that we are saying it here. Because I tell you, if you trifle with the National Anthem with respect to that line, you are going to have some problems in Barbados. I humbly say that and you can take that for what it is worth.”
Debating a House resolution that “Parliament take note and approve the Charter of Barbados”, the Opposition Leader said the charter includes no expression of a sense of duty, devotion, or dependence on God who is supreme and sovereign.
He said: “It is humanist; it represents a mindset in this world today that is prominent, it represents a value that we are importing from abroad and it is a departure from that to which we have always premise our lives. It gives no primacy to God. This charter needs, in my humble view, very clearly, to express that we who share in my view this binding sense of values recognize that we share these values commonly under the eyes of him who is supreme and sovereign to all of us. For me, he is called God.” See complete article in BARBADOS TODAY at https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/11/24/god-or-creator-atherley-mottley-tussle-over-reference-in-charter-of-barbados/
