It seems whenever the country experiences a spate of senseless murders or an uptick in violent incidents, a familiar question is repeated: What is the church doing to stop crime?
Many believe religious leaders should take a more public role in denouncing criminal activity by stepping down from their pulpits and "taking action" on the issue.
However, one prominent man of God, Bishop Simeon Hall, believes Bahamians need to stop pointing fingers at the church over the crime problem and redirect their fury towards lawmakers and the judiciary.
Hall said church leaders are doing their part to prevent crime, but lamented the fact that spiritual leaders can only try to influence people to use their moral compasses, but do not have the power to limit the grant of bail to repeat offenders or hand down sentences that would deter criminals.
"Churches, I think, should continue to give direction and emphasis to the sacredness of human life, and not only in terms of how we ought to act kindly towards each other, but how we should respect that all life is God-given," Hall told Guardian Religion.
"But the minute crime takes an upward trend, people ask what the church is doing.
"The church does not have the last word in terms of what should happen to criminals. That is a political and judicial thing.
"Pastors raise issues, but in the long run all we say is, 'Thus said the Lord.'
"What we are going to do with crime is everybody's business."
Hall chastised politicians for using crime as a political football during election season but not doing more in Parliament, after the votes have been cast, to stem violence and murder.
He noted the impact that people who have been granted bail, although charged with serious offenses, have on society.
"The commissioner [of police] has been lamenting that criminals who have done several crimes before and yet they are out on bail," Hall said. "The lawyers and the judiciary are who determine who gets bail. You need to ask them what are they doing about crime. All the church can do is pray."
Hall also believes that parents of wayward teens who turn to crime should be held accountable for their transgressions and prosecuted when their children run afoul of the law.
Hall also cited the recent murder of a 15-year-old girl who was shot in the head outside a Grand Bahama night club and said the owners of the establishment and the girl's parents should be made to answer questions about the teen's whereabouts before her death.
"We want to be sensitive to that family, but every family in this country should be held responsible for the children under the age of 18, and we could put a serious dent in crime," Hall said. "The things that we should do to put a major dent in crime we don't do because they don't help us when it's time to vote."
He added that the government seems to be afraid to institute the "draconian" measures that are needed to fight crime because they would not be popular with the electorate.
Hall suggested that judges should give out sentences of community service for minor crimes which include "public shaming" such as wearing a sign that denotes the crime a person committed instead of jail sentences as a crime deterrent.
"Going to jail puts them on a downward path that they never sometimes get off," Hall said. "[We need to do] the things that I believe it takes to put a serious dent in crime. We cannot expect lawyers to lead the fight against crime because lawyers make money off of crime."
A British man who lived in Canada was killed on Tuesday. The victim, 56-year-old Edgar George Dart of Winnipeg, was shot and killed during a home invasion on Tuesday in Emerald Bay, Grand Bahama.
The incident marked Grand Bahama's fourth killing in 10 days and the sixth on that island for the year.
There were 31 murders in the country up to Tuesday.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian