Yaw Osafo Maafo, a Senior Presidential Advisor has raised concerns about the message that church leaders convey to Christians, especially as corruption persists in a nation that identifies itself as predominantly Christian, with 72 percent of its population adhering to the faith.
Mr Maafo questioned whether the teachings of the church are effectively transforming the mindset of the Christian population to discourage them from engaging in corrupt practices. He suggested that if the church’s message is not succeeding in fostering a change in behavior, then Christianity itself may be facing a dilemma.
Speaking at the 23rd General Meeting of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana held in Kwahu Abetifi in the Eastern Region, Mr Maafo called upon religious institutions to engage in introspection. He encouraged them to collaborate with the government to take decisive steps in addressing the prevalent issue of corruption in the country.
He highlighted the significant level of decay and corruption in the country’s political sphere and emphasized that the Christian community holds a responsibility in addressing this matter. Given that 72 percent of the population identifies as Christian, he posed questions about the effectiveness of the moral lessons and teachings being conveyed to this substantial portion of the population.
The former education minister inquired as whether the church’s teachings and moral lessons were losing their impact. He pointed out that if corruption continues to escalate despite such a substantial Christian population, then there might be an issue with the message being conveyed.
“There is that much decay and decadence in our body politics. The Christian community has a role to play. 72 per cent of the population is Christianity so what kind of message do we continuously give to those population of the country, what kind of moral lessons are we able to put through this high percentage?” he quizzed.
“If we are not able to do anything to make certain changes then Christianity itself has a problem in terms of making our words work.
“So I think we need to go back to the drawing board to see what we can do as a Christian group to influence the behaviour of the system.”
He questioned further “Is it that your preaching, your moral lessons are now not effective? We should ask few questions. If 72 percent of the population are Christians and corruption begins to go from bad to worse then there is something wrong with even the message we give to this 72 percent of the population.”
“We need to do some introspection and together with the government take certain actions to redeem the nation from corruption,” he added.
