Evangelicals Tell A.G. to Back Up ‘Venomous’ Words

On Friday, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte took square aim at the church and fired off a salvo of very harsh criticisms, chiding the religious community for its tardy objection to the marijuana law.  He even went a step further to challenge the church’s moral authority on matters having to do with individual vices.  Well, the President of the National Evangelical Association of Belize has fired back at the A.G., calling his statements vile and malicious.  This evening, Pastor Lance Lewis told News Five that Peyrefitte needs to substantiate his statements and be very specific who he is referring to.

On the Phone: Pastor Lance Lewis, President, NEAB

“The comments were very poisonous, very unprofessional, very, I wonder if I can use the word vitriolic, venomous then, poisonous because of the way it was said and what was said.  He said the church has lost its moral authority.  What does he mean by that? And he also went on to say that if you want to say something then you put your name on a ballot.  So he is implying that only politicians have anything to do in a democratic society and he is from a democratic party.  To make that statement is totally undemocratic and not right, and it’s also saying that everybody must agree with what you put out.  We were sorry that we did not go earlier but given the impression that there was going to be some forums, there might have been but we didn’t know that it was going to be so quick, and so we were caught off guard in a sense.  But we still believe that it was unbecoming and unprofessional and saying things that he now needs to substantiate.  But I suppose he can substantiate if he wants to, but he needs to call out names.  You see, saying that the church has lost its moral authority, where is this and who is this?  So I’m a bit concerned about that statement.  And in the churches here, to always uphold standards, we see the smoking of marijuana as something detrimental to the society.  We are not against the use of marijuana for medical and industrial purposes because it has its place.  But the smoking of marijuana is certainly going to destroy the nation.  Ten grams of it will be all over the place and more people would be all over the place and more people would be coming in.  You also cannot, by right, legally grow the marijuana, so where are you going to get it?  You’re gonna do something illegal and then people from outside can come in and then this creates a whole other level of crime scene, whole other level of problems in the society.”

Pastor Lance Lewis will appear on Channel Five’s Open Your Eyes on Tuesday morning to discuss the church’s position on the decriminalization topic.