A few weeks ago, I wrote a commentary in support of proposed legislation in The Bahamas – my country of birth – banning marital rape. And even though I knew religious zealots there would raise holy hell against this legislation, I thought citing the fact that virtually every civilized country in the world has criminalized marital rape would give them pause. Alas, it did not.
Here, in part, is what I wrote:
This proposed legislation has incited such widespread moral condemnation that one might think Bahamians were living in a Taliban paradise. Indeed, this condemnation exposes the fact that Christian fundamentalists, in many respects, are every bit as fanatical as Islamic fundamentalists…
[O]pposition to this proposed ban on marital rape is being stirred up primarily by religious leaders. And these are invariably men who proselytize the doctrinaire belief that a man has a God-given right to have sex with his wife whenever he wants it… even against her will.
[Banning marital rape in The Bahamas, TIJ, August 14, 2009]
It wasn’t long before self-professed Christians were damning me to hell. But the visceral and puerile nature of their attacks was such that the only appropriate response seemed to be:
Sticks and stones might break my bones, but words could never hurt me.
Perversely, my indignation turned into comic relief when their attacks became personal. I found it laughable, for example, when they asserted that my Daddy, who was a fairly well-known and revered preacher man, “must be rolling over in his grave.”
The reason this is such a joke is that no less a person than Bishop Dr Joseph L. Hall JP, my brother and (sole) heir to our Daddy’s religious calling, supports every word in my supposedly “wicked” commentary.
Moreover, I was heartened to read in The Tribune this week that even the Pope believes that it’s an abomination against God for a husband to force his wife to have sex against her will. Specifically, Archbishop Patrick Pinder (of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands) reportedly offered the Catholic Church’s “prayerful support” of this proposed ban on marital rape.
Of course, given historical tensions, the Protestant Church leaders who oppose it will probably dismiss the Catholic Church’s support as borne more of Papal mischief than divine inspiration.
All the same, I am more hopeful than ever that the Bahamian government will enact this legislation in due course.
The Free National Movement [FNM] is grateful and delighted for the declaration by Archbishop Patrick Pinder that the Roman Catholic Church is in full support of the government’s proposed amendment to the Sexual Offences Act which would outlaw marital rape in the Bahamas.
In point of fact, the proposed amendment reflects precisely the party’s long tradition of defence, honour, respect, dignity, and upliftment of Bahamian women.
(Chairman of the ruling FNM, Senator Johnley Ferguson)
Amen.
Related commentaries:
Banning marital rape…
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