Charismatic bishops oppose the regulation of churches to a man

General News on Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-06-04

The Ghana Conference of Charismatic Bishops opposes the Ghanaian Parliament's proposals to regulate the country's churches.

The conference said such attempts would seem to be a declaration of hostilities between the country 's church and the government, which would be of no use to national cohesion.

Some Members of Parliament (MPs) last week called for a law regulating the activities of churches solely owned and run by self-proclaimed individuals and pastors who engage in all sorts of illegal activities.

Legislators have argued that it was necessary for Parliament to critically investigate the activities of these churches and pastoralists to protect Ghanaians from exploitation.

MEPs said churches and pastors had adopted all sorts of unacceptable practices in the country.

They added that a certain level of regulation is necessary to prevent these churches and pastors from engaging in abuse, indoctrination and other activities that do not correspond to a valid Christian teaching.

However, in a statement, the conference stated that the government could not regulate Christian belief and that, as a result, attempts to regulate would be a flagrant prejudice against the Christian faith and religious beliefs of citizens.

While stressing that the government must allow citizens to use their own judgment to patronize churches and prophets, the conference said the government must recognize that the inability of the national leadership to find solutions to problems sometimes incited Christians to turn to their God. for salvation.

The conference also urged Parliament to focus on more urgent issues such as abandoned health facilities, bad roads and related road accidents, persistent floods, declining quality of education, recrudescence armed robbery and dirt.

"We will encourage Parliament to pay attention to the problems that Ghanaians are forced to solve through prayer. We suggest that Parliament address urgent issues in Ghana such as:

The absence of good roads across the country and the terrible accidents that occur because of our very poor narrow roads and highways. The legislation concerning bad drainage and severe floods is of great concern to our country today.

The decline in the quality of education in the country. Instead, let's legislate about the widespread and permanent leaks of exam papers in the country that characterize Ghanaian education today.

The government should ensure that new hospitals, such as Legon Hospital, remain unused and deteriorate, the poor health care situation in public hospitals where patients have to bring their own private nurses to care patients.

Let us deal with the legislation concerning unfinished and abandoned construction and housing projects scattered throughout the country.

Let us take care of the fight against the epidemic of armed robbery and murder in the country.

The spread of slums in Accra and huge garbage dumps in the city is also of great concern. Laws to regulate the spread of these slums in the city would be much appreciated.

Indeed, any attempt to regulate or determine who and what is acceptable in Christianity or in the church would be considered a statement of hostilities between the Church of God in Ghana and the Government of Ghana .

We think this would not be helpful for our beloved nation, "the bishops said in their statement.

About the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Ghana

The Ghana Conference of Charismatic Bishops was founded by Bishop Dag Heward Mills, whose ministry now includes more than 3,000 churches on every continent.

It is chaired by Msgr Kwame Yirenkyi Ampofo. Its secretary general is Reverend Kwasi Deh.