By MALCOLM STRACHAN

WE often hear it said that The Bahamas is a Christian nation – but sometimes that seems open to question judging by the actions of our people and the decisions of our leaders.

When the barge The Brooklyn Bridge ran aground off Abaco, the looters came out in force.

Videos and photographs soon started circulating of people making off with whatever they could. One video I saw showed a car so heavily laden with appliances and boxes of goods that it was being pushed rather than driven – the driver’s view completely obscured by more and more boxes piled on the front of the car as well as the back.

Elsewhere, people talked about getting there as quick as they could to grab things from the grounded vessel. It didn’t matter what, no thought, no plan, just “tings”.

Meanwhile, social media commenters joked about how Santa’s sled had grounded, or how it was a good day in Abaco, or if anyone had a boat to spare. People talked about it being an early Christmas or how the spirit of wrecking lives on.

Plenty were saying how it was perfectly legal to do this – the ship was abandoned (which it wasn’t really) so it was a free licence to loot the containers.

Not so many talked about how we are a Christian nation and should refrain from such behaviour.

It really should not take much explaining that taking something that isn’t yours is an unchristian form of behaviour. There are many things in the Bible that can be discussed and debated, but “You shall not steal” is about as clear as it gets.

If you want more, how about the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus told people to “do to others as you would have them do to you”. If those were your belongings stuck on a reef, would you expect people to help or would you expect them to snap them up and drive away joking?

If you want even more, how about St Paul in his letter to the Ephesians where he said: “Let the thief steal no longer, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”

Now those apologists who claim this is not stealing because it’s salvage – despite the police showing up and putting the boat under heavy guard – might want to consider the second part of St Paul’s letter. You might quibble over the legalities, but this surely is not honest work with your own hands.

Right here, writ large, shown in live streaming and social media likes and shares, is the lip service we give to the idea that we are a Christian nation.

We are a performative Christian nation with every ceremony starting off with a prayer even if what follows does not reflect everything that precedes the “Amen”.

We sometimes hear the phrase “Christian nation” used as an argument to limit the rights of others – or as a lament after a particularly heinous crime.

Even constitutionally, we are not a Christian nation. Yes, the preamble to the constitution talks about having “an abiding respect for Christian values”, but the preamble does not have legal weight. Article 1, however, says the country “shall be a sovereign democratic State”. Article 1, you don’t have to read too far.

That said, while the constitution does not legally frame it, Christian belief is the strongest faith group within our nation. In that sense, we are a Christian nation – but too many take a pick-and-choose approach to that.

I have a very good friend who is a priest, who gets more than a little grumbling from his congregation because of his opposition to gambling.

Oh, the church fair is coming up, can we do a raffle to raise money? No, he says, gambling does not abide with Christian principles, he insists.

Consider this – the very act of holding a raffle is to make money. The very foundation of your action is to deprive others of money while making them think they will come out with the upper hand. The way raffles work are to reward a few while depriving more. Sure, it can be fun. But the principle of how it works is to cover your losses from everyone’s spending, and make more on top. That is without even taking into consideration those who have an addiction to gambling – is it Christian to put temptation in the path of such people? Indeed, is using temptation at all any kind of Christian behaviour?

Which brings us to the second story recently that puts a question mark after the words “Christian nation”.

The Bahamas Christian Council is to release a statement on Sebas Bastian running as a candidate for the PLP in the next general election.

As readers will know, Mr Bastian is well-known as a web shop boss, the head of Island Luck, although his portfolio has certainly diversified over the years.

Still, he was certainly a beneficiary of the decision to regularise web shop gaming despite the outcome of the 2013 gaming referendum when the voters said no, loudly and clearly, to both legalising web shops and establishing a national lottery. About 60 percent of those who voted said no to each of the questions.

When the government went ahead with regularising web shop gaming anyway despite the vote, the Bahamas Christian Council, under then president Rev Dr Ranford Patterson, criticised the decision.

Dr Patterson said at the time: “Why come to me for my advice and I give it and you determine that my advice isn’t worth anything.”

He added: “The Church has always stood diametrically opposed to any form of gambling in this country… the Church has always been good at picking up the pieces and the Church will continue to be there to pick up the pieces for those who fall through the cracks. But we cannot support the legislation of numbers in The Bahamas because we see too many of our people hurting.”

It is absolutely, 100 percent consistent for the Bahamas Christian Council today, under president Bishop Delton Fernander, to express an opinion on the matter – although we wait to see what that is.

He said: “I think it’s dangerous to try to put the church against politics, especially in political season, but what we say has to be from the majority of the churches.”

Now let us be honest here – the church goes up against politics all the time. By its nature, any time the church speaks out on public issues, it ventures into the realm of politics. When it campaigned against a yes vote in the gaming referendum, when it campaigned against yes votes in the equality referendum, when Bishop Fernander himself only in September acknowledged that a Pride group was free to host events but said the council would condemn what it considers wrong, that is venturing into the political realm. There is nothing wrong with doing so – acting on faith inevitably involves interaction with the politics of the world – but let us not pretend that the two are entirely separate.

But when it comes to the issue of gaming, it is absolutely consistent for the church to speak out on the issue of gaming even as the party in power chooses a candidate that is not representative of living up to the ideals of a Christian nation as they define it.

We do have one law that serves as a limitation on gaming and its interaction with politics – the Gaming Act bars Cabinet ministers and their immediate family members from holding gaming licences.

Mr Bastian says he is stepping aside from his gaming business. Is that a sign that we still cling to some of those Christian ideals? Or will we soon see that particular clause removed? Prime Minister Philip Davis says there will be no changes to the act – but then, as church leaders well know, the outcome of the referendum was very different from the actions of government in the past.

Whatever the future may hold, between the looting we have seen and the pathways we have created to let gambling flourish, our Christian nation aspirations are being put to the test.