Religion: A Human Construct That Needs To Be Regulated!
From the divine perspective, and because my faith is anchored to the Christian Doctrine, myBible tells me, in Genesis 1:1& 26 that,“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth … Then God said let Us make mankind in Our own image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds of in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”.
At no point in time in the story of Creation is it captured that God created Religion – such that man should use religion to have dominion over his fellow man.
This whole concept of, Religion/Denomination, is a, human construct – created by Man to satisfy more of Man’s ends as Man deems fit in Man’s quest to worship God.
Whether the worship is in accordance with God’s original purpose for His creation to worship Him, I leave that to the determination of God, who looks at the heart of men and not at the outside as mortals do as captured in, 1 Samuel 16:7, “… The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
From time immemorial, Religious Bodies have continued to spring out of existing Religions Bodies as a result of either, doctrinal or personal differences.
It is in the light of the fact that, Religion is a human construct, that, I am, prepared to look in the direction of the current move by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religions Affairs to engage the nation in line with the possibility of having a, National Policy on Religion.
Beginning from Monday, November 20, 2023, the Ministry in conjunction with the, United Nations Fund Population Fund (UNFPA), is organizing Regional Stakeholder Engagements in all the 16 Regions of Ghana, to brainstorm on how to find more appropriate ways of giving greater collective meaning to the human construct called Religion to meet our current needs and aspirations.
Also, in the wake of the needless storms brewing in the direction of religious intolerance by some political leviathans, I am of the informed opinion that the move by the Ministry to engage the nation in fashioning out a workable policy that would be acceptably binding, is a move in the right direction.
For example, why should some (majority have well-grounded doctrines and codes of ethics) religious bodies be allowed to operate without any form of acceptable codes of ethics?
In as much as many of the Religious Bodies operate under the guidance of doctrinal codes, there are also many of such groups that operate with very dangerous doctrinal codes.
Using Ghana’s recent history as an example, sometime in the early 1980s, there emerged a character who called himself, “Dzorwulu Jesus”.
This character, who operated his religion in and around the environs of Dzorwulu, had a doctrine that was visually and practically grossly disturbing and detrimental to all forms of decency as far as human dignity is concerned.
In his state of mind, this Dzorwulu Jesus, used to feed his cajoled followers with his urine and force them into all kinds of human indignity.
Where in the Bible did Jesus feed His followers with His urine?
Of course, those were the early days of the Jerry John Rawlings led Revolution and so the System cut Dzorwulu Jesus to size with the speed of lightening.
Fast forward; Ghana is facing more dangerous Dzorwulu Jesus’s, who have corrupted aspects of the Word of God and using to satisfy very immoral and sectarian desires.
Individuals, families, friends, groups, and societies, are suffering under the weight of all kinds of characters masquerading around as Men/Women of Faith, and sending innocent souls into states of, injury (physical and emotional), penury, and perpetual damnation.
Uncontrolled noise pollution levels have reached abominable heights with noises from worship centers disturbing large sections of our settlement areas.
Residential areas have become breeding grounds for all kinds of worship centers – leaving residents in perpetual states of anguish as their fundamental human rights are being infringed up with impunity.
In some extreme cases, and because of doctrinal brainwashing, adherents of certain faiths, in claiming divine superiority over other faiths, lead congregants to attack non-congregants.
Beyond Ghana, and because of the closeness of the world due to the internet, there exists a plethora of poisonous religions that are having debilitating influences on lifestyle patterns across the globe.
The innocence/virginity of belief systems are being raped and deflowered with scary speed - leaving God wondering if He made a mistake in creating human beings.
Therefore, I am in full support of what the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has set out to do – hoping that it is being done in good faith and with the supreme interest of the Republic of Ghana as the pivot around which the whole essence of the exercise is revolving.
I repeat; it must be done in the supreme interest of Ghana and Ghanaians and not be skewed for any tunnel-visioned agenda.
People cannot continue to hide behind Religion to perpetrate all kinds of evil and preach divisive messages that do not augur well for national cohesion – a critical sine qua non, for national development.
By way of picking a leaf out of the book of, Best Practices; Rwanda has been able to build a working National Policy on Religion that is helping the country grow at an appreciably fast rate – without allowing laggards and slouches to hide behind religion to have their way.
In Rwanda for example, inter alia, “By law, groups may not use their faith, religious practices, or preaching, to jeopardize national unity, peace, security, public order and health, good morals and good conduct, freedom, or the fundamental rights of others.”
Ghana is not insulated from the dire happenings facing nations because of religious intolerance as well as the abuse of excessive freedoms in the name of religion.
“Righteousness and Justice” are the foundation of the Throne of God and in like manner, “Freedom and Justice” are the Foundation of Ghana’s Throne and so, let us not embrace the Freedom, and throw away the Justice because every coin has two sides – without which the coin shall not be considered as a, legal tender.
It is my fervent prayer that, a lot of good will come out of this Exercise for it to help illuminate better our paths of sustainable growth and development.
As a nation, all we must know, is that, there is a God Who must be worship in truth and in spirit.
Let us work in ways that will allow God to bless our Homeland Ghana and make our nation greater and stronger.
Let us build the Better Ghana that we can all be proud of for this generation, and into generations.
United we stand, divided we crush!!!
Samuel Koku Anyidoho
Founder, Atta-Mills Institute For Transformational Leadership,
Graduate Of Trinity Theological Seminary &Student Of Political Theology
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