Reversing our Moral Decay & Dependence
As Christians, to be in church on Sunday’s is something that needs to be instilled among our Naga citizenry. Not that we should attend church just to fulfill an obligation but more importantly the one hour Sunday service should be a time of reflecting on the state of our spiritual condition and perhaps a time for renewal of our spirit—to be able to make sense of the right from the wrong. And if Naga Christians can be good practitioners of their faith, then our present society and polity will be a much better place than what we have right now—corruption, violence, pleasure seeking indulgence etc. However it does not mean that Naga Christians do not attend church. In fact if we go by the logic of statistics which says that Nagaland is 99 percent Christian State, then ours will be a place of paradise. But all of us know that this is not the reality. It also goes to show that our Christianity is about the numbers (quantity) and not about quality. So we need to improve every aspect of our Christian ethos. Our Pastors and clergy will also need to use the Sunday pulpit to better illuminate on the ills prevailing in our society, encourage social reformation and individual good conduct. If Sunday service can achieve this, then the quality of our Christian living is bound to improve and isn’t this the need of the hour for our land plagued by all kinds of problems and not to forget the moral decay?
The high level of corruption and violence in Naga land is something that all of us know only too well. Both are very old problems which we speak about all the time for decades now. Nothing has been done. For instance, a senior ruling party politician from the NPF accuses a former Congress Chief Minister of ‘institutionalizing corruption’ and ‘using armed elements during elections’ in Nagaland. But it becomes obvious that those who are in power for now close to a decade, they have also not done anything to check these vices. Rather corruption and violence is only increasing. Then we have the so called new phenomenon of ‘Road shows’ which started as an innovative programme highlighting the activities of the government but now it is encouraging pleasure seeking activities, sexual immorality, free liquor flow etc. Then we also have this ‘begging mentality’ always looking for charity and government assistance. Jobs in the government sector are getting saturated but we have this aversion to do other work. Because of this there is free flow of illegal immigrants into our State and they are happy to do whatever work that Nagas are not willing to do. As a senior government official points out: Illegal immigrants come because there is work and income. We lack dignity of labour. It is said that the political, economic, and social problems we encounter are the symptoms of the spiritual deterioration of a people. Nagas must learn from others history. Our moral decay and dependence on others will lead us into bondage and despair unless off course revival and reformation is able to reverse the inevitable decline of the Naga people. Perhaps we need to get back to Church and that Sunday lesson is going to be vital.
