“I can’t Extend my Rights to the Church”: Examining Abuses in Ghanaian Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches
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Date
2019-04-25
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Abstract
According to UN Universal Declaration of Human Right, Article 1, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…” meaning all humans anywhere in the world must enjoy that right, contrarily to that is an abuse of human right. Most African countries have signed the UN convention, yet it will seem however that human rights have become a ‘relative’ term, as enjoyment of that rights depends on where one finds him/herself. Human right seems implausible in Ghana as the rights of religious clients or members are abused daily. This is so because the private is not so much linked to the public. Religion is practiced in freedom according to the 1992 constitution without the government’s supervision. Religious agents, especially leaders are on their own and willingly violates the right of clients or members within the religious space- verbally, sexually and economically. The religious spaces are often unquestionable as clients/members, individuals or the state machinery are silent on the happenings there. Human Rights can be said to have two operational sides- the right of a person in public and the ‘no’ right for the other in the religious space. While all religious forms in Ghana are complicit in these acts, the most common incidences take place within Pentecostalism/ Charismatic strand-the most influential Christian form in Ghana. This paper focuses on the diverse forms of abuses of female members or clients of selected Pentecostal-charismatic churches in Ghana and the implications these abuses have for human rights.
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Seminar
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UN Universal Declaration of Human Right, human beings, UN convention, Ghana