Some Ghanaians have opposed a government policy to facilitate Christian pilgrimages to Israel and other destinations.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has come under intense criticism after it announced the policy last Friday. Government committees will plan and oversee the trips for the Christian community.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”8eM2f4lUPRbcelwF6AwSMixMjZKtEjBb”]But there is seeming opposition to the policy, as some Ghanaians shared their opinions with Citi News<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government cannot continue to sponsor these things. A time will come there will be a problem and this can bring religious conflict. So government should not get involved in these kinds of religious practices,\u201d a Ghanaian said.<\/p>\n Another also said: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair because with religion I know that they don\u2019t pay taxes so they should sponsor themselves.”<\/p>\n Another Ghanaian noted that, \u00a0\u201cI have never believed in government doing same\u00a0for the Muslims so they should do it for the Christians. I think we have a better understanding of our faith than that. At least it\u2019s not one of our faiths that you need to visit Israel in your lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n Some civil society organisations as well as the clergy in a Citi News<\/strong> interview, urged government to reconsider the policy.<\/p>\n Franklin Cudjoe of the policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, said the policy indicates that \u201cclearly the Ministry for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has no job to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the ministry wants to be a travel and tour agency, they should say so. There are many travel and tour agencies that organize pilgrimages to Israel every year. I cannot believe that a whole Ministry would think that they want to organize trips. They need to get serious,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Opuni Frimpong, also explained that such an idea was pitched to them in 2012 by the Mahama government but they rejected it.<\/p>\n According to him, they are not yet ready to back track.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had that invitation sometime ago around 2012 during former President John Mahama\u2019s administration and the Christian Council of Ghana together with the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and I believe the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic\u2019s also made that decision that while we would want our members to visit holy sites like Israel, Vatican and other places, we wouldn\u2019t want such trips to be a burden on the Ghanaian taxpayer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have not changed our position. What will go into facilitation of such trips we don\u2019t know; but whatever will cost Ghanaian taxpayer any cost for church leaders to make such trips, we have a position that we will not accept it; and because we took that decision collectively together, we wouldn\u2019t want government to fund our trips,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Sixtus Don Ullo\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some Ghanaians have opposed a government policy to facilitate Christian pilgrimages to Israel and other destinations. The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has come under intense criticism after it announced the policy last Friday. Government committees will plan and oversee the trips for the Christian community. [contextly_sidebar id=”8eM2f4lUPRbcelwF6AwSMixMjZKtEjBb”]But there is seeming opposition to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[8356,8250,3,8357,8358],"yoast_head":"\n