The Bahamas Christian Council and its Grand Bahama counterpart have set themselves up as the arbiters of morality in this country, an authority their members have bequeathed to themselves because of their positions as religious leaders in their communities.

They have become so powerful that whenever they are opposed to something, if it requires government approval, those who govern the affairs of this country become paralyzed with fear of incurring the wrath of these "men of God". As a result, whatever plans the government might have to move forward with are shelved. We have seen this happen on more than one occasion, with efforts to legalize a lottery and the numbers game in The

Bahamas.

The latest "victims" of the Christian Council's strong-arm tactics are members Grand Bahama's homosexual community - and homosexuals in general, for that matter - who were the focus of a hard-hitting press conference held last Wednesday by Grand Bahama Christian Council President Bishop Sobig Kemp.

Referring to what he described as an "abominable drag queen contest" promoting homosexuality, Bishop Kemp said, "The very fact that such an event is staged suggests that their is a market for this kind of entertainment. The Council wishes to remind our community that this particular lifestyle is condemned in scripture, due specifically to the fact that it is unnatural and was never intended by our Creator."

There, of course, are opposing views on whether homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God, as Bishop Kemp suggests. Surely, Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Anglican priest who was consecrated as bishop of New Hampshire in the United States several years ago would disagree that it is.

Rather than engage in this debate, however, what those who profess to be religious leaders in this country should keep foremost in their minds is the scripture quote from John 8:7, which states, "Let the one among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her."

What's more, some of these religious leaders need only look over their own congregations from their pulpits on any given Sunday and they will come eye-to-eye with far more than one member of their church who would have qualified to be prominent citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah - those biblical cities that were destroyed because of the wickedness of their people. But rather than concentrate on saving their own flock, so to speak, they hypocritically choose to condemn a group of people who, like them, should only have to answer to God for their sins.

Truth be told, more likely than not, the GBCC's primary objective in tackling this controversial issue was to generate headlines and prominent coverage on radio and television, as a means of trying to convince Grand Bahamians that its leaders are making a contribution to the efforts being made to address some of the pressing problems that exist in this country.

There is no greater problem in this regard than the crime wave that is sweeping the nation, and the overriding consensus is that young men who took a wrong turn at a crossroad earlier in their youthful years, are the major contributors to this crime wave. There are more than 150 churches on Grand Bahama, and if each of them make a concerted effort to save just one young man from embarking on a life of crime, they would do this country a far greater service than trying to change the lifestyle of practicing homosexuals. If the proclivity of these homosexuals is wrong in the eyes of

God, then it is to God that they should have to answer.