Church leaders have spoken out against the growth of \u201cgang culture\u201d\u009d in the West Indies, urging Anglicans to take the lead in combatting the moral causes of the region\u2019s crime wave.<\/p>\n
In an interview published on 27 February, the new dean of Barbados, Dr Jeffrey Gibson, told Barbados Today the church was \u201cnot only concerned about the level of violence\u201d\u009d but was \u201cprepared to do something to change people\u2019s outlook, to provide care for people who have been affected by violence and to serve in some position where we can rehabilitate those who might have been affected by violence.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
He argued the church should seek to address the moral and social causes of crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe denounce all forms of violent behaviour but we should also seek to uncover what might be the underlying causes of the violence and to see how one can move persons from that sort of spiral of violence, where they perpetuate violence and experience violence to adopting a new form of harmonious living,\u201d\u009d the senior cleric said.<\/p>\n