Monday,
March 2, 2015
Folks, many happenings in our
contemporary Ghana leave me wondering whether we really are serious about
spending time and resources solving problems to improve living conditions. We
seem to have too much time and too little to do and make ourselves idle enough
for the devil to give assignments to.
And our leaders are happy that we
have all the zeal to do such unproductive assignments, even as they (themselves) do worse assignments
but manage to exploit the situation for personal gains. Too
pathetic!!
The heads of some second cycle (mostly Christian) institutions
have intensified efforts to ensure that students attend church services against
their will and religion. Recently, Muslim women were also asked to
remove their hijabs before they would be allowed to take passport pictures for
their examinations.
Two conflicting positions on this
controversy have emerged so far from official circles. While the government has
decried this directive, the Ghana Education Service (the enforcer of official
policies on education in the country) is vehemently supporting it to boost the
morale of the heads of schools bent on twisting arms.
The government opposes the
directive by the heads of the mission schools, which explains why president
Mahama gave the directive to all heads of public institutions, including
schools, to desist from forcing Muslim students to compulsorily join Christian
fellowships. And that is also why the Communication Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, released a statement
condemning the acts of religious intolerance in schools and warned of punitive
measures against heads of institutions who would violate the country's
constitution which upholds freedom of religion.
Again,
the government’s position is reinforced by the Education Minister, Prof Naana
Jane Opoku Agyemang, who is reported to have said that she would not tolerate
any acts of religious coercion in the educational institutions.
Speaking
on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Monday, the Minister said the school is a
place to build tolerance as well as respect for diversity and any attempt to
subvert such values will be dealt with severely.
Despite these official directives
and declarations of intent, the matter is being further worsened to create the
impression that the government is ambivalent.
In a press release, the Public Relations officer of the
Ghana Education Service, Charles Parker Allotey, insisted that all students in missionary
secondary schools to attend morning devotion sessions if it is a school rule.
The impression being created is
not good. It is negative and alarming as far as how religious bigotry is
creeping into national affairs to add to existential woes. Why should the
Ministry of Education oppose religious bigotry but its technical wing (the GES)
support it?
Nothing is more disturbing than
the twist being given the matter by Parker
Allotey: “We are trying to encourage our students notwithstanding their faith
to come together to worship and it brings about national unity. If a Muslim
takes part in morning worship, it doesn’t mean the person is being forced to
convert to Christianity.”
Plain
stupidity on display here. How can all students come together to worship,
irrespective of their faith? What will be the liturgy at that meeting under one
roof? Will the Christians do things as they wish and the Muslims too do same?
What babel won’t there be?
And
if we bring in adherents of other faiths (traditional African religion, Hari
Krishna, etc.), what cacophony won’t there be at such a gathering?
Is
there any need at all for any “morning devotion”? I don’t think so. Although
there is need for a morning assembly at the schools as part of the rigours,
turning such a gathering into a religious convention is unacceptable, clearly
because of the risks involved.
I don’t want to be told that such
morning devotion is serving any useful purpose toward “national unity” or
anything else coming from the GES. It is pure humbugging of students and must
be condemned.
Religion doesn’t ensure national
unity; it threatens it, especially in our Ghanaian situation where multiple
religious faiths exist and where, despite the mushrooming of Christianity,
there is little evidence to prove that virtue has taken over from vice in national
life. Just look around you to see those in public office professing to be
Christians and consider the dirt that exists wherever they work: theft of
public funds, immorality, social injustice, and many others that undermine
Christian values.
I have singled out Christians
because they make the loudest noise about religious issues as if they don’t
know that Christianity is a lifestyle and not a faith to be professed by word
of mouth!!
Morning devotion as a catalyst
for national unity, my foot!!
The fear is that if the matter
becomes politicized, it will inflame passions and set the country on a time-bomb.
The recipe for disaster is solidifying. Those sowing the seed of discord should
be quickly identified and dealt with before their religious bigotry matures.
It is not as if the mission
schools are in the hands of the various missions. Ever since the Rawlings
government divested them of control over such schools, they have been largely sidelined
and their stentorian calls for the schools to be returned to them have not been
heeded. In effect, the schools are being managed by the government as public
schools, which is why their doors remain open to just any student who seeks
admission into them, regardless of religious faith or fervour. Why, then,
should any directive on morning devotion the Christian way be imposed as the
norm?
The truth must be told that this
directive will combine with others already destabilizing life in the schools to
compound problems. Of all issues bothering our second-cycle schools, is it
morning devotion that should engage official attention? Is it morning devotion
that will solve problems?
We can take issues further,
especially to question what is happening in Muslim schools too. Do these
schools have any room for non-Muslims or will the non-Muslims be tolerated to
do things as their religious faith permits? If not, why not?
The truth, though, is that there
is too much attention to religion in our public affairs. In civilized
communities practising our kind of democracy, the line is drawn between matters
of religion and public conscience. No single faith is imposed on anybody nor is
anybody punished for not toeing the line.
Ghana is a secular state and must
be upheld as such. That is why what is emerging now is scary!!
What is it about Christianity
that Islam (or any other faith) lacks? It’s all a matter of doctrinal differences.
Clearly, there is no difference between a Christian’s “God” and a Muslim’s “Allah”.
So also is there no difference between the Christian’s Jesus Christ and the
Muslim’s Muhammad, regardless of the Christian’s conception and perception of Jesus
as a God-head. The truth is that Muslims regard and respect Jesus as one of the
prophets.
Muslims hardly condemn Christians
for what they are, contrary to what Christians do. The foundational issues here
have more to do with the arrogance of Christians than the religious intolerance
of Muslims, something superlatively qualified as religious extremism or
fundamentalism.
On the basis of arrogance,
Christians are quick to dismiss all other religions as “heathen”, pursuing
their so-called “Great Commission” to proselytize, deceiving themselves that
the more people they convert, the more successful their ministry will become.
I am seriously perturbed at such
manouevres. Let’s recall the impudence with which the late President Mills
acted by banning African traditional religious rites at national functions.
That singular act will go down as a sad reflection on the confused state of
mind with which he ruled Ghana.
If the country is still a secular
state, then, those in positions of trust should know how to do things so as not
to create fertile grounds for disaffection, which will definitely lead to acts
of sabotage by embittered segments of the society. Of all “touchy” issues that trigger
terrorism or national destabilization, none is more scary than religious
intolerance.
What has begun being enacted and
enforced in the so-called Christian mission schools will definitely endanger
well-being and set the stage for unpleasant developments. The government must
act firmly and decisively to curb it before it festers.
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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