Dialogue that ignores electoral injustice is a waste of time, resources

In this Christmas season, it is befitting to reflect on the things that belong to Caesar and on those that are God’s. We read in the Synoptic Gospels, of Matthew, Mark and Luke, about pharisaic and Herodian tricksters who once tried playing Jesus Christ against the Roman authorities. Mark reports this in Chapter 12:12 – 17. “Teacher,” they said to him, “We know that you are a man of integrity. You teach God’s ways according to the truth. You are not swayed and you have no respect for people’s status. Tell us, is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar?”

Having seen through their tricks and reprimanded them, the Lord asked them for a coin. He asked them about the head on the coin, whereupon they answered that it was Caesar’s. “Then give to Caesar things that belong to Caesar and to God those that are God’s.” Now, when you see Caesar’s things messing about with God’s things, you should worry. For, they are like oil and water. When they mix in your engine, it will cease. Indeed, in another biblical narrative, we read of the Lord accosting moneychangers and animal vendors in the temple in Jerusalem. The Lord angrily descended upon them with a belt, telling them that his father’s house was a house of prayer and not a den of robbers (Luke 19: 45 – 47). The holy cathedral and the worldly stock exchange market are cast worlds apart in John Bunyan’s authoritative Pilgrim’s Progress. When you see them in an amorous tango, please smell a rat. That is why an invitation to a proposed “national conversation’ by what claims to be a religious fraternity, the business community and “like-minded diplomats” reeks like a rat.