Windhoek — Bishop Joseph Garlington of the Covenant Church in Pittsburg in the United States says that if Bible studies as a subject is absent from the school curriculum in Namibia, it would cause harm to society.
He says Bible scriptures contain foundational truths that speak against injustice and people cannot point at human constitutions as the reason to remove or deny the validity of such foundational truths.
“The God who created us has given us standards and if we violate those standards, then we pay for the consequences,” he said and emphasised that when you remove Christianity from society’s conscience, then society would establish its own rules. Garlington and his delegation paid a courtesy call on President Hifikepunye Pohamba last week Thursday.
“In modern education, we teach students how to take an exam but never how to live their lives,” he explained, adding that education is not solely based on how to take exams to demonstrate the ability of answering certain questions, but also to demonstrate the ability to make sound decisions about life. The US bishop said he met many educated people who cannot make decisions based on common sense.
“I think education at some point has to give people an understanding that you really do have a destiny. You really were created for a purpose and if you live for that purpose, you find fulfillment,” he said, adding that universities, as they are now, are not teaching people purpose, but merely imparting information. He said many of the major universities, such as Harvard and Princeton in America have become secular in their views and understanding of the human race although they were started by Christian ministers to train Christian ministries.
He added that the US was born out of an understanding that all men are created equal, but questioned how you could have ‘creation’ without a ‘creator’. “The foundation of the USA is rooted in all those concepts. The idea of ‘In God We Trust’ on the dollar bill is really a statement about our historical roots. It is not saying everybody in the USA is Christian – our history says that,” he said.
He said that Namibia must have a history too, where you can go to and say: “These are our convictions about right and wrong, injustice, murder, racism, discrimination.” Garlington said Namibia has signed laws against discrimination, but the problem with the laws on paper are that they do not change people’s hearts. Asked what he thought of critics saying that schools should only teach ethics and morality, he asked whose ethics and morality would be taught then.
“I don’t want a stranger who doesn’t understand what my values are teaching my kids values about morals from their point of view. I don’t believe the school is capable of teaching ethics and morals – that ought to happen in the family,” he pointed out.
The Covenant Church Bishop said only the Gospels and Bible teachings change hearts. “If Namibia wants to see life changes, then my solution for what you are talking about is that people need to be born again. They need to understand that God created them for a purpose and that they live out that purpose.”
