ZUMA'S WARNING TO CLERGY: RENDER UNTO CAESAR . . .

President Jacob Zuma recently addressed members of a church group, and used the opportunity to berate churches and clergy for engaging in politics instead of praying for political leaders. 

Our President is seemingly unaware that most organized religions regularly offer prayers to bless him with divine empowerment in the performance of his role as head of government.  

Inasmuch as prayers for divine empowerment remain answered, religious leaders are duty bound to "get political".  They must champion our foundational principles - including the importance of human freedom and justice for all, the danger of unchecked corrupt political power, unlimited government, looting of state resources, and living within our national means to prevent future generations from drowning in public debt.  To this end, religious leaders are compelled by a moral imperative to "get political". 

What if Martin Luther King Jr. and Archbishop Desmond Tutu had decided not to "get political" when it came to institutionalised racism?  

People of faith, and certainly the clergy, are obligated to speak out boldly to Zuma and his government that in so many ways have lost their way.  They must speak truth in the political sphere, even if it means "getting too political," no matter what the consequences.