Render Unto Caesar What Is Caesar’s
Who is Archbishop Alick Banda first? A cleric or a citizen. That is the only honest place to begin.
Scripture is unambiguous. “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” The verse was not a poetic filler. It was a legal and moral boundary. Jesus did not exempt priests from civic duty. He reminded them that spiritual authority does not cancel civil obligation. 
So, when the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) summons Archbishop Alick Banda, what exactly is being violated? Faith, or the law?
Let us interrogate the facts without incense or emotion. Archbishop Banda is a Zambian citizen. Before the collar. Before the mitre. Before the pulpit. Citizenship is not suspended by ordination. The law does not genuflect before church titles. Every citizen is accountable. Full stop.
If the DEC summons a marketeer, nobody cries persecution. If it summons a politician, nobody quotes scripture. But when it summons a bishop, suddenly the law must retreat. On what legal principle? On what biblical authority?
The Catholic Church prides itself as a global champion of social justice. It lectures governments on accountability, transparency, and moral governance. That reputation was earned through centuries of standing with the poor against abuse of power. But credibility is fragile. It collapses the moment standards become selective.
A Toyota Hilux received as a “gift” from a regime accused of raping State coffers is not a neutral object. It is a moral statement. It raises questions of propriety, judgment, and complicity. No amount of holy water can wash away the stench of plundered public resources.
Ask the uncomfortable question. If a politician received such a gift from a looting regime, would the Catholic Church defend him? Or would it issue a pastoral letter dripping with righteous anger?
Then why the sudden amnesia when the recipient wears a cassock?
Defending a bishop who is on the wrong side of the law does not protect the Church. It exposes it. It suggests that moral outrage is reserved for others. It tells citizens that accountability is for lay people, not clergy. That is a dangerous theology and a disastrous civic message.The DEC is not judging doctrine. It is enforcing the law. Summoning is not conviction. Questioning is not persecution. Cooperation is not humiliation. It is citizenship in action.The Church should know this better than anyone. Its own social teaching insists that laws, when just, bind the conscience.
Silence or resistance in the face of lawful inquiry is not prophetic courage. It is institutional self preservation.
Well – meaning Catholic leaders should be the first to condemn the acceptance of gifts tainted by corruption. Not because the DEC says so, but because the Gospel demands it. You cannot preach against looting with one hand and receive its proceeds with the other.
Render unto God holiness. Render unto Caesar accountability. Mixing the two to shield wrongdoing is not faith. It is hypocrisy dressed in vestments.
The law must stand. The DEC is right. The Church must decide whether it stands with justice or with convenience.
