CHURCHES in the Solomon Islands have been challenged to address the worsening situation of corruption permeating all aspect of its societal affairs.
In opening a three day church conference on Rethinking the Household of God in Honiara, Anglican Church of Melanesia Archbishop David Vunagi said corruption had left a paralysing impact on the ability of people to trust.
“In our country, it is unfortunate that corruption has taken precedent over general orders, the normal administrative procedures and to say the least there are elements of corruption even in our political system so we do know how to trust,” Archbishop Vunagi said.
Coupled with corruption, Archbishop Vunagi lamented the ecological damages that was plaguing the Solomon Islands and challenged church leaders to exercise their duty to speak to the destructive impacts of irresponsible development practices and policies promoted by government.
“On the ecological front the damage that logging and mining has caused to the environment has been disastrous” the Archbishop said.
“It is in this regard that Church leaders as stewards of God’s creation, stewards of Gods good people and stewards of the environment must enter into serious dialogue with the government and other stakeholders and request for a space if they could listen to the voice of the churches on issues regarding logging and mining.”
“Uncontrolled human activities on logging and mining have no doubt contributed to the drastic changes on weather patterns and climate change that have adversely affected many of our low lying islands,” he said.
“So in this conference we need to listen to each other and discern how we can attain genuine physical, economic, administration, moral and spiritual developments that are in agreement with God’s purpose in creation.”
The conference, co-organised by the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) and the Pacific Conference of Churches, ended yesterday.
Source: PCC
