Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nettey George has admonished Parliament on attempts to pass a legislation aimed at regulating churches in Ghana.
He said “the constitution states that everybody will have the freedom of religion and so I don’t know how you may want to regulate freedom. You cannot legislate on the Holy Spirit even though I admit that there are few charlatans who are abusing the altar.”
To the MP, any attempt to control the activities of religious groups in Ghana will be an affront to biblical teachings and the basic freedoms of the Ghanaian.
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Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, the Ningo Prampram MP, who believes churches were already being regulated in Ghana, urged Parliament to adopt a more workable solution.
“The church and religious organisations are already regulated in this country. We have the Christian Council, Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches so what we can do as a State is to collaborate with the leadership of these churches.
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“They have even said that what they want Parliament to do is to strengthen these organisations and make it mandatory for every church to come under the umbrella of one of these recognised bodies so Parliament and the State should tread cautiously as issues of faith cannot be legislated even with logic”, he added.
His position follows calls by some MPs for a law to be enacted to regulate activities of churches solely owned and run by individuals and self-professed pastors termed as ‘one-man churches’ who are engaging in all sorts of illegalities.
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To the MPs, there is the need for Parliament to critically investigate the activities of these churches and pastors to protect Ghanaians from exploitation since they are alleged to have been engaging in all manner of unacceptable practices in the country.
“A certain level of regulation is required to prevent these churches and pastors from engaging in abuse, indoctrination and other activities that are not in line with sound Christian teaching,” the MPs argued.
Source: Adomonline.com | Gertrude Otchere