(THE ANALYST) Monrovia — The Liberian Council of Churches says it is taken aback by the decision of organizers of last Sunday’s Marathon Parade to choose the Lord’s Day for the event.
A press statement signed by LCC President Dr. Jonathon B. B. Hart said the event unprecedentedly disrupted countless church services across the nation’s capital on August 25, 2013, thereby violating the rights of Christian to congregate and worship their creator.
“The Liberian Council of Churches further considers the action as an unwelcome and unacceptable overstretched of the tolerance capacity of the church in Liberia and advises that public actors avoid making decisions that could cause a dent in, or undermine efforts at building, a healthy church-state relation,” the LCC statement noted.
It continued, “The Liberian Council of Churches considers this as a serious miscalculation on the part of the organizers that frustrated the worship desires of congregants as a consequence of poor planning and lack of coordination skills that gave the government of Liberia bad publicity within the Christian community in Liberia.”
The Council admonished future planners of public events to heed the advice of Proverb 3:5-7, which reads, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”
The Council did not say what it would do in the event future planners of public events failed to observe Sunday as a Christian holiday.
Observers say with Liberia being a nominal Christian nation, it would be difficult for the LCC to sequester Sunday as a day of exclusive Christian devotion to God and prevent other Liberians from executing events designed to bring peace and reconciliation to the nation.
Even though Article 14 of the Liberian Constitution protects the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion of all Liberia and holds that the government must hold that inviolate, they say such guarantee does not cover exclusive use of public property on religious days.
If fact, they argue, the constitution promises to protect only religious adherents who conduct themselves peaceably, avoid obstructing others, and conforming to the standards set by the government for security consideration.
It is in order to prevent religious tyranny, according to one observer, that the constitution notes, “No religious denomination or sect shall have any exclusive privilege or preference over any other, but all shall be treated alike; and no religious tests shall be required for any civil or military office or for the exercise of any civil right.
Consistent with the principle of separation of religion and state, the Republic shall establish no state religion.”
With the LCC statement silent on how the marathoners disrupted church services, analysts say, it is difficult to decipher the alleged wrongdoing on the part of organizers that the umbrella church organization called “bad publicity within the Christian community in Liberia” and “dent in the building of a healthy church-state relation”
