Sanitize religious broadcasting 

Some of the content of religious broadcasting on radio and television in Ghana belong to the profane category. Increasingly, anyone who claims to have been called by God (which god?) rushes to pay money to a broadcasting station and begin disseminating his (mostly his) own brand of religion to poison the minds of unsuspecting and gullible citizens. 

Anyone, even a crook, is free to enter a broadcast studio to say and do whatever is within their warped personal theologies. Since church has become big business in our country, some of these pastors use the broadcasts for self-promotion, staging popularity contexts, and doing things that are far from being sacred and qualify as religious.  

The worst offenders are the charismatic and evangelical one-man family-owned miracle-working prophetic hallelujah tongue-wagging churches. The 1992 Constitution fully grants religious freedom, free speech and a free media. But religious freedom does not permit craziness and irresponsibility. During this country’s struggle to liberate and open up the broadcast airwaves, no one anticipated that religious folks will use the hard-earned media freedom against the people of Ghana with an onslaught of fakery.

When you look at the way religious charlatans operate, it becomes clear that their targets are the most vulnerable, desperate, poor, sick and gullible in society. Broadcasts from the religious swindlers are packaged to draw in the vulnerable and to defraud them.

NIGHT-TIME AND DAWN RELIGIOUS BROADCASTS

I have monitored broadcasts during the night-time and at dawn in Accra and Kumasi; and get troubled and alarmed at the content, approach, and free-for-all nature of the broadcasts. In the darkness of night, the craziness in religious broadcasting is yanked up to the lowest-low because anything goes—anything. Any uncertified and untested person who claims to be a pastor, reverend, prophet, evangelist or something of the sort preach freely and engage in a heightened display of self-promotion.

On an egoistic trip, a prophet will announce his telephone numbers and invite callers into the programme. At times, he will give a general prophesy over the radio or television and with that, impress and grab the attention of the viewers/listeners.

To close the deal, the prophet quickly zooms in to invite listeners and callers to physically visit the church premises the following morning. Of course he provides vivid directions to the location as in: “Take a tro-tro; get down at Alomo Junction; ask the kenkey seller for directions on how to get to Prophet Abavadzor’s church, My Holy Redeemer Lives Forever Temple International. It is not far from the kenkey seller. You will only walk for about 15 minutes. If you want your life to change, rush and come see me tomorrow morning.” 

The above is a sales pitch that truly desperate persons cannot resist. So out of anguish over one issue or another, chiefly, grinding stinky poverty, a person (mostly women) may wake up at dawn and head to the church of the con-artist pastor, and to be exploited. It is not by accident that these funny religious locations are not found in the plush parts of our cities and towns, where the privileged live. 

Some pastors go to the extent of exposing children to ridicule, pronouncing them as witches on radio and television. By so doing, the children are traumatized and damaged for life. Without a doubt, such crude treatments will not be meted out to the children of the pastors or the children of the middle- or upper-class. Typically, it is the children of the poor, down-trodden and under-privileged who become victims of such abuses. 

ENTERS NMC’S GUIDELINES FOR RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING 

The highest number of complaints the public make to the NMC is about the abuses in religious broadcasting. So this week, the NMC launched Guidelines for Religious Broadcasting. Church groups, individuals who think they have a religious calling and need to propagate their messages, as well as broadcast stations are to be guided by the Guidelines. It is a very brief document, which is printed on a poster so it can be placed on walls and serve as a constant reminder and a guide.

The Guidelines were developed after broad consultations with various religious groups. The twelve rules are as follows:

i.     Religious broadcasts should always endeavour to promote cultural, moral and ethical values, and respect personal freedoms, rights, obligations and privacy. 

ii.   Religious broadcasts should not involve any abuse, exploitation, intimidation and manipulation of people, especially the vulnerable; and should reflect respect for fundamental human dignity.

iii.  Religious broadcasts should protect children and the vulnerable. 

iv.  Religious broadcasts should promote and defend the public interest, national identity, and cohesion.

v.    Religious broadcasts should not be used to incite, denigrate, ridicule and humiliate any faith, sect or people.

vi.  Religious broadcasts should not be used for the promotion of extremism, religious violence, and recruitment of people for religious militancy.

vii.The content of religious programmes should have high regard and respect for the cultures and beliefs of the Ghanaian society.

viii.                 Religious broadcasters should use language with decorum and decency.

ix.  Religious broadcasts should not show nudity and graphic images that undermine the dignity of the human condition.

x.    Religious broadcasts that contain manifestations within the healing, deliverance and prophetic ministry should be done with discretion, circumspection and respect for human dignity. This should be especially so in the case of children.

xi.  Public proclamations of directive prophecies or pronouncements that have the potential to cause fear and panic in people and threaten stability and social cohesion should be avoided.

xii.Re-broadcasts of materials, especially from social media, should be handled with care and circumspection.

TIME FOR RELIGIOUS RESPONSIBILITY

As a country, if we lose our morality at the altar of religious extremism, then all hope will be lost. We cannot afford to allow religious quacks to take over the soul of Ghana. We should save our culture from religious fraudsters and keep what is noble in us as a people. 

The indiscretion that has characterized religious broadcasts must cease. The “public proclamations of directive prophecies or pronouncements that have the potential to cause fear and panic in people” must stop. The vulnerable should be protected from religious gangsters and swindlers. 

The writer is a member of the National Media Commission (NMC)