My
late grandfather was a staunch catholic. His love for catholic doctrines was commendable.
As a curious young boy, I probed the rationality of many of the doctrines but I
was rebuked for “questioning” the authority of God. I grew up in a family where
we could not challenge or question the things of God as commanded; “Touch Not my anointed,
and do my prophets no harm – 1 Chronicles 16:22, Psalm 105:15”. This scripture was boldly carved on a wooden
plaque in our bedroom.
Fast
forward into my university life, I realized I was slowly but surely drifting
away from church because of my abhorrence for ambiguous yet unquestionable
doctrines in the church. I became a consistent critic of religious dogmatism.
In first year, I shared room with four Christian fanatics. They could skip
lectures the whole semester with the alibi of attending to ‘spiritual
responsibilities’. Though a Christian, I was considered “unreligious’ because I
refused to get as deeply involved as they were.
It
is very common to see many Ghanaians use religion to escape their
responsibilities. Many people complain of hardship but abandon their jobs for
long hours of prayer meetings. Many students spend every evening at prayer
meetings to the detriment of their books. Pastors are cashing in on many
gullible church members. In a synopsis, prayer and church meetings have become
full time jobs for many people. The most successful fraudsters use religion as
a bait to get to their victims. In my 4 years in Legon, I can recall at least 50
fraud cases involving some “pastors” who duped their victims (mostly females)
using false prophecies.
Drive
through town and see posters of “Mallams” and fetish priests advertising their
illegal activities in the name of religion. Quite surprisingly, the nauseating
sight of these posters is yet to provoke an appropriate response from law
enforcement agencies. How can we allow people go away with an advert for
rituals?
Is
it not ironic, that there is a proliferation of many churches, yet corruption
has become pervasive? Can we justify the moral decadence? Despite our Holier
than though attitude, we continue to borrow from the same countries that we
have condemned as satanic. The USA has endorsed gay rights and Germany has
legalized adultery but they continue to flourish whilst we flounder. What is
the role of religion in our quest to develop?
Many
of us spend the most productive hours of the day on religious activities. The
craze for religion without principles is becoming too much. Take a tour to the
Achimota forest, Sarbah field, Aburi Mountains and some of the known prayer
camps during working hours and you will be amazed at the number of people
praying for prosperity but working for nothing. There are disturbing videos of
pastors physically abusing the vulnerable but the Christian Council has been
loudly silent.
It
is dangerous, very poisonous for our generation to place faith in religion when
even the Holy Scriptures support hard work and innovation. I dare say, we have
become an extremely lazy generation that expects to reap where we have not
sown. The subject of religious dogmatism must be given meticulous attention.
Self-styled
prophet Obinim has been trending, this supposed man of God has verbally abused
people in the past, captured on tape physically abusing a pregnant woman and
engaged many unethical things in the name of religion. Sadly, he is just one of
the many “pastors” who are carrying out indecent activities in the name of
religion.
Quite
disappointingly, the Christian council is only able to condemn politicians for
indecent acts when they have a bug in their own home. How long can we accept
such height of irresponsibility because we are afraid to offend the so called
religious people?
Eric Edem Agbana
Founder of United volunteers Network and former SRC President, University of Ghana