Guest column: Don't let Manning use religion to divide T&T

On reading the following exerpts in today's Express (BOMBSHELL: Manning sets the election ball rolling), I was stunned at the coded message he was sending to his Baptist minions gathered to hear him speak, those who have him believing he is the divinely ordained and guided instrument of God.

According to the Express Manning said, "the PNM Government provided employment for these women in CEPEP, work which the Opposition has ridiculed as ’painting stones’.

"Manning told his audience (and the 6,000 CEPEP workers) that ’if we put God out of their thoughts and let them occupy the corridors of power, one of the first things they would do, I could bet you, is to close the CEPEP programme’...

"He reminded his audience that the UNC closed the OJT programme in 1996. Today 9,000 were involved in OJT, he noted. ’Those who seek political office, what do you think they are likely to do (to OJT) in the face of what they did in 1996?’ he asked, warning at the same time: ’Don’t put God out of your thoughts’ by putting them back into office."

This is the self-declared Pastor-in-waiting, whose past exploits include the removal in the dead of night of the 'dragon' on the Red House following the defeat of the NAR in 1991, and the razing of the jhandis at the Prime Minister's residence followed by the exorcism of the house, grounds, and even of the PM's official vehicle, when he stole power from the UNC in 2001.

The implication in his carefully chosen - and twice repeated - words is clear: that the Opposition is headed by a non-Christian leader (read Hindu) and supported by same, and that to put them back into power, this (by implication) group of idolators and pagans, is to "put God out of your thoughts".

This is a continuation of the outrageous incitement of religious war that Manning first initiated in his 53-minute tirade in Parliament, in his 'response' to the question of what his involvement - if any - is in the mysterious Guanapo church.

This nonsense must NOT be permitted.

Manning is treading a very dangerous line when he seeks to divide the population, not just on political and ethnic, but now also along religious lines.

To imply that this is no longer a struggle of people's political ideology, but now an all out war between the forces of Good and Evil, is unforgivable, and MUST be resisted at all costs.

RMS