A Pastoral Letter – General Election 2026

My dear Anglican Family,

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

General Elections have been called for Tuesday, 12^th May.  Elections are an important part of national life.  Every adult Bahamian should participate as part of his/her national responsibility and sacred right. We have a stake in this.  Make sure you GO OUT AND VOTE.

After all, Jesus, in response to some inquiries in Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:23, gave this advice: “Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”, instructing us to serve God through our role in our country, i.e., to honour civil authorities and systems while dedicating our lives to God.

I call on all citizens, residents, and friends of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas – especially you, my Anglican Family – to pray for the leaders and members of the political parties, for the nation and for the entire general election activity.

We are called to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  Why pray?  Because prayer influences and changes people and things; and because when we pray earnestly, prayer changes US and strengthens US, even if circumstances around us do not change as quickly as we might like them to.

As we approach General Elections, I beg of everyone:

• Cherish your right to vote. It is now too late to register or to verify in this cycle if you had not done so before.  But cherish your vote because there was a time when not every citizen could vote, when only persons who owned land could vote, and when women could not vote.  There are still places in this world where people do not have the equal opportunity.  Cherish what we have.
• Be a part of the national electoral process by being aware of national issues and development issues. Follow the news and the campaign.  Read and listen.  Analyze and discern what the truth is.  Do not be swept away by emotion and mass crowd reaction: LISTEN, ANALYZE, THINK, DISCERN!
• Be a part of the national electoral process by being involved with the party of your choice, if you are so inclined.

Yes, ordinary citizens – and church people – should be involved in politics.  If good, upright, honourable, Christian people do not get involved, how will the exercise be elevated?  Too many people of good character and sound morals stay out of campaigning and front-line politics – but we need them there!!

The political party machinery and campaigning are important and vital because these are the means whereby parties move toward a desired result by way of a national consensus.  We know that it can be a dirty game and some underhanded, scandalous things can happen in pursuit of a particular goal.  But it is not an inherently dirty process in itself: this is only what some participants make it.

Good people and Christian people need to be involved to influence the process and to help it to be its best rather than its worst.

Another challenge is that many people of good character and sound values and morals get into situations and, instead of holding to their principles, allow themselves to be compromised – for whatever reason.  This is when we fail to be the LEAVEN (Matthew 16:6), the SALT (Matthew 5:13), the LIGHT (Matthew 5: 14-16) that we are called to be.  These are three symbols of quiet, definitive and persistent influence – not a loud aggressive bomb blast, but a steady, unyielding identity that stands for something without compromise.  Does leaven (yeast) salt or light ever stop being what they are?  No, they do not.  So we must continue to be the good people that we are, and that we are capable of being.

So many of us make the sign of the cross in church but fail to make it over our everyday lives.  Shame on us!

• In campaigning and in rallies, deal more with issues and not people, personalities, mistakes or misfortunes. Campaign rhetoric and rallies focus too often on making fun of others, slurring, tearing them down, and belittling them.  Rallies are sometimes a show designed to make people laugh, and to entertain – as well as to whip the crowd into a frenzy, appealing to persons’ baser nature and instincts.  But should we feed into this culture of entertainment? No we should not!

Where is the sober discussion of issues and national development rather than hype?  I guess some find that boring.

Bartering favours, giving out money and gifts (buying votes), making fun of others, tearing down others, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, lights and special effects are too much the order of the day.  Rallies in some instances have become nothing more than a “feel good” party time, a spectacle full of much squeeze, but little juice or substance.

I am of the view that, while many in political realm love rallies and some feel they are indispensable – that they advance the party cause but do little to advance the country.  They certainly are not issue-oriented enough, and do little to educate the electorate or deepen the political culture, much less advance any national development goals.

Some will say, “Oh, you have to have rallies! This is just the way it is!”  Okay…but I say that this is not how it needs to be: this is simply how we make it.  And the crowd is no better than the political party organizing the rally: each feeds off of and stokes and ingratiates themselves to the other.  But is this right? Is this in the best interest of national well-being? One person once said to me: “Father, who cares about national development: we want to win!!”  Too often this is the goal AT ALL COSTS.  Too many of us think, feel, and ACT this out in our political lives.

I ask whether we want to ELEVATE and DEEPEN THE POLITICAL PROCESS or not?  That is the question because the above-mentioned activities will not.

Friends, we all love this country.  So many of us have worked with sweat, tears, and even blood to build her.  We have a great country and we have a promising future.  We have to think of that future.  Do we want our children and grandchildren to have a worse Bahamaland, or the best Bahamaland that they can have?  Then actions now need to reflect what we want in times to come.

Participate responsibly.

Make sure you VOTE on election day and encourage everyone around you to do so.

Make sure you VOTE on election day and encourage everyone around you to do so.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev’d. Laish Boyd

BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF THE BAHAMAS AND THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS         

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