The possibility of separating politics from religion

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

March 12, 2015

The Overseer and General Manager of High Praise Tabernacle Church, Rev. Dr. Adjei Mensah, has disparaged Rev. Prof Matey, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, for mixing politics with religion.

This raises a question about religion and politics in general. Can the two be kept separate in Ghana and who among these two religious leaders knows how?

Rev Dr. Mensah criticized Rev. Prof Martey on a radio talk show in the following manner:

"The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is ...more of a politician than a man of God," he said.

Dr. Mensah's accusation was in response to what the Moderator was purported to have said in a sermon " that some politicians were deliberately stoking a nonexistent Christian-Muslim war to divert attention from the worsening power crisis"

Dr. Mensah continued, “If Rev Martey believes he is a righteous man he can enter his closet and pray a faith prayer which will change the course of Ghana, but attacking the president, insulting [him] every time is not fair."

Not preaching from "his closet," therefore not a "righteous man"?

Well, how about the view that Dr. Mensah's response was not made from the " closet" either, but rather from the national airwaves?

The answer perfectly sums up my view of Dr. Mensah.

 
I take umbrage at the implied self-idolatry of not being a "righteous man." It is not polite, coming from a leader of a religious group. And worse, it betrays a rancor that is deeply partisan than churchly; more so than what he saw in Rev. Martey.

As an academic, Dr. Mensah could have raised the issue on theological grounds, in a letter to the Christian Council or with the Presbyterian Church.  Perhaps, he did. But I doubt because if he did, his accusation would not have gone suddenly public.

Furthermore, his challenge for Rev. Martey to fix the broken-down Presbyterian schools omitted the fact that it was government's interference that reduced the mission's schools to the present condition. 

Is Dr. Mensah interested in helping mission schools?  If so, he could raise the issue with the government on his own.

The Presbyterian Mission Schools that Dr. Martey represents has a legendary history dating back to early or mid-19th century. Should we assume that High Praise Tabernacle Church has the same standing?

Still, some civility is required here, certainly among pastors.  But since insults have become the common dialect among our politicians, shouldn’t we assume that Dr. Mensah, with the insult to Dr. Martey, is on his way to becoming a politician?

Dr.  Mensah’s style is, perhaps, up there in league with that of local politicians and that must warn us that there is trouble ahead for our entire nation.

But back to the main theme.  Does Dumsor deserve a theological comment from a pulpit? Obviously, it does, because of its manifestation of the spiritual stress it puts on people.

A refutation of the false alarm on Christian/Muslim conflict is also evidently a theological necessity.  Raising this conspiracy theory of a conflict just to quell the crisis of Dumsor is not only stupid. It is dangerous and explosive.

In some matters, one cannot keep religion out of politics any more than one can prevent his or her lungs from breathing these days. God's work on earth must be done at all levels before the deserving can get to heaven.  And no pastor must be exempted.

It is obvious Dr. Mensah is for the government.  It is his right to do so.  But this must not earn him the right to use Christianity to bash Dr. Martey, who obviously is not for the government.

Dr.  Mensah by doing so sounds like a shill for the government.  Any bootlicker or fake faith-healer can mount the pulpit to provide this service. 

Still, nothing must prevent Dr. Mensah from making his observations on Dr. Martey known to the Christian community. But he is yet to explain rationally why this Moderator, in the face of a national disaster like stoking a conflict between Christians and Muslim Dumsor, must be silent.

The government itself already knows that Dumsor is a national disaster.

Somewhere in life, politics and religion do collide. The sacred cannot stay out of commenting on the failings of the secular.  Governance attracts amoral pursuits like corruption.  Dr. Mensah, the Overseer of his church, must have a concern here.

All of us, including the Moderator, have civic obligations to push for solution to crisis of the sort that is lurking here. But, apparently, Dr. Mensah would rather have Rev. Martey remain silent because as a pastor, he should have no role in politics.

Keeping an opponent silent in this manner is the job of politicians and political parties.   Dr. Mensah has already done the job, run a perfect interception for the government. 

The edict "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" would have sufficed had government in the modern age not taken over so many areas of our lives.

Caesar has transformed himself into a god. Therefore, the religious need not be reticent about all secular matters.

Dumsor has taken too long to fix and it is causing havoc in Ghanaian lives; deaths, serious setbacks in the economy and some other consequences. 

Has Dr. Mensah so far said anything publicly about Dumsor?  Nor really.  This leader prefers to stand in the pulpit and watch the flock dance to the front of the pew to drop their offerings!

Rev. Martey spoke not only because of government's inability to arrest Dumsor, but also to warn off the possibility of a Christian/Muslim conflict.  This act has nothing to do with interference of governance.

The notion that religious leaders ought to respond to the societal as well as spiritual needs comes from the underlying goodness that most religions embrace. It is this goodness that some theologians through sermons seek as impact on governance.

I grew up knowing some pastors of the Presbyterian Church who were outspoken on social issues. This practice is historical and universal - dating back to the days of the Prophet Jeremiah and to those of our ancestors of the indigenous religion.

As a protestant church, the Presbyterian Church had a beginning that spoke against political power. The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther, and the resulting Reformation movement, had theological concerns at its core but many of them were also political.

There are copious examples in recent age of church leaders taking on civil society - Martin Luther King, Jr. and Pope John Paul II for example.

Perhaps, Dumsor affects the flock at High Praise Tabernacle Church in the same manner as it does the rest of us.  But its Overseer and General manager prefers to be silent on the matter.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher, www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, March 12, 2015
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