Parliament urged to sanitize church activities to a man

General News on Thursday, May 30, 2019

Source: ghanaguardian.com

2019-05-30

Parliament could soon pbad laws to regulate church activities solely owned and managed by self-proclaimed individuals and pastors called "one-man churches."

Some members of Parliament want the house to take steps to control and clean up these churches.

Some of these churches would have engaged in all sorts of unacceptable practices in the country.

According to MEPs, Parliament must critically investigate the activities of these churches and pastoralists to protect Ghanaians from exploitation.

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

MPs deliberated on the issue following a statement by Mfantseman MP, Ekow Hayford.

"Mr President, it is time for this House to decide how best to repress these churches," said Ebenezer, a member of Ablekuma's downtown parliament, on Wednesday.

Ahmed Arthur, a member of the South Okaikoi Parliament, argued that although some pastors are doing well, there are other self-appointed pastors who would fool unsuspecting people in the name of Christianity.

He added that some of these so-called pastors who cheat their members for gaining wealth also own media companies and abuse other people who do not agree with their fashion. of practice.

"We call them individual churches or churches to a man … there are churches that work very well … But I also believe that there are churches or people who claim to be pastors for the sake of life. absence of a better word, behaving badly in this country. You have people who have media and when they preach, it is full of insults and abuse of other people. "

"Apart from that, there are people who come to show what they have. They were able to trick their members into giving them [money]. I believe that appropriate regulations should be put in place because of some of these things that we see. This is an affront to religious organizations … The time has come for the nation and Parliament to critically examine this issue. "

The Ningo Prampam MP also explained that while some people may be termed charlatans as pastors, it is important that Parliament does not neglect some of the churches' contributions to the overall development of the country. .

He argued that any attempt by the state to regulate religious expressions in the country could have significant consequences.

"There are people you can call charlatans who risk discrediting the Christian faith or the affairs of the Church. I have always maintained that there is a difference between a church and a church administration. We can choose to legislate to govern the administration of the Church. However, any move to ensure that the state complies with the regulations on religion or religious expression could be one more step.

Sam George added that "there is ample and abundant evidence that there are people who abuse the relaxed rules governing religious affairs. There are cases where people are supposed to do all kinds of miracles but end up being mere extortions. "