Daily Times

With the NA-120 by-election looming large, the Dear Daughter of the deposed Prime Minister received an overwhelming welcome by the National Christian Religious leadership at Lahore’s St Anthony’s Church. Undeniably, the clergy had been persuaded by the handpicked Christian parliamentary representatives to have the Church host a political event.

Time and again the Christian community has raised concerns over the unfair electoral system for minorities. And the offering of the Church as a platform for the ruling Nawaz League to do the business of politics represents just how deep runs the divide between Christian parliamentarians and their respective communities. Added to this is the fact that the Church leadership was taken into confidence about this latest stop on the campaign trail, engineered to win votes and therefore political gain.

Yet the Church, as an institution, is not meant for this. Historically, the Church is unique. Nowhere in the Scriptures do we receive directions to spend our energies, time and money in governmental affairs. Simply put, this is because it is not the responsibility of the Church to change a nation by way of political activism. Rather, its first and foremost duty remains changing hearts through the word of God. Force feeding congregations the notion that the spread of the Christian faith is somehow linked to government policies — risks corrupting the Church’s real mission, which is spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ and preaching against the sin of our times.

Today, the Church leadership is confronting the reality of these challenges. Yet the political alignment of the Church through Christian parliamentarians may well contribute to additional fissures between Church and congregation. From the first century, right after Jesus’ crucifixion — the Church successfully sustained faith against staunch pagan governments, firm in the belief that it represented the light of the world, the salt of the earth. Conspiracies, intrigues and manipulation by individuals or groups against the Church never bore fruit. The Church in Pakistan carries forward the traditions etched out by the first ever Church mentioned in the Gospel. Indeed, the legacy of the glorious tradition of St Peter — the first ever Pope — still continues to this date.

Maryam Nawaz chose a church to talk about the sanctity of the vote. Yet determinedly oblivious was she to the fact that the community to whom she was addressing herself has never been given the right to elect its own representatives

Nevertheless, the political show conducted at St Anthony’s jeopardises all this. The majority of ordinary Christians have raised objections to the co-opting of a holy place of worship by politicians. Many may or may not be interested it the ongoing political saga in today’s Pakistan. But on one thing they agree: the sanctity of the Church. To ordinary Christians this is a place of worship, prayer and thanksgiving. Thus do they hold dear the following words of the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 21: “Then Jesus went into the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He declared to them, it is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of robbers.’”

Those religious leaders sitting on either side of Maryam Nawaz are better positioned than anyone to expound the true meaning of this verse. Yet by opting to entertain the desperate political manoeuvrings of the PMLN — the leadership of St Anthony’s has proved that it has no standing among the masses. As for its part, the PMLN high command will likely blame these selected parliamentarians for failing to woo the Christian vote in terms of the NA-120 battlefield. And for their part, the custodians of the Church have exposed themselves as week community leaders and even weaker defenders of the Christian faith. Moreover, the move has given the go-ahead to other political parties to approach churches of different denominations in a bid to secure votes. And the worst part of all this is that an already small population has been divided by this carefully handpicked Christian political leadership. Yet what the Church high command doesn’t seem to understand is that by allowing the exploitation of the Church for political gain — it threatens to also fall divided.

Nawaz Sharif has talked about restoring the sanctity of the vote. Whereas Maryam chose a church to talk about the same thing. Yet determinedly oblivious was she to the fact that the community to whom she was preaching to has never been given the right to elect its own representatives. Admittedly, the Christian vote bank may have little impact on the overall electoral outcome. But by contrast, the efforts of the PMLN Christian parliamentarians may well afford the party another five years of power and prosperity.

The time has come to confront this phenomenon that sees mainstream political parties the least concerned when it comes to legislating a viable mechanism for direct minority representation. The time has come to unite communities — for fragmentation will simply serve individuals and never the masses. Thus Christian thinkers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, journalists, professors, teachers and all other professionals from this community must coordinate efforts in order to realise their right to have a fair stake in the political system. Being at the forefront, the Church leadership is tasked with leading the flocks, as opposed to being itself led by self-seeking Christian politicians. Bluntly put, it is the Christian duty of the Church leadership to re-establish the Church as a house of prayer. As opposed to this den of robbers.

The writer can be contacted at kaleem.dean@mail.com

Published in Daily Times, September 5th 2017.