MORAL CRUSADE, A MUST (JUNE 18, 2009)

THE Church has a big stake in the country’s development agenda, particularly at this time when indiscipline and moral ineptitude are on the increase.
Every day we accuse politicians of abusing political power, corruption and other social vices, and yet the question of moral decadence cuts across all facets of society.
Some members of the clergy who are supposed to assume the moral high ground and provide leadership to get us closer to God are themselves involved in the worst forms of moral indiscipline, such as rape, robbery and teaching of hate doctrine.
We have unscrupulous characters in the Judiciary, the media and the security agencies. Some security personnel even go to the extent of assisting criminals to commit crime for material and selfish gain.
Similarly, the Civil Service and traditional authorities cannot escape blame for the breakdown of the moral fibre of our society.
Receiving a delegation from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) at the Castle, Osu, last Tuesday, President J.E.A. Mills recommended stronger state-church relations in a collective effort to combat what he described as moral laxity in the country.
The appeal from the President is timely because the Church and the state have the responsibility to help in the character formation of the youth.
We cannot expect a crime-free society because we are humans. Perhaps a crime-free society can only be expected of angels, not mere mortals like us who live on this side of the universe.
In a society where majority of the people adhere to some belief system, such as Christianity, Islam and African traditional religion, it behoves all of us to try and do what is sanctioned by law and our conscience.
We call on the clergy to put their house in order and lead in the national crusade for a moral rejuvenation.
The Christian Council, the Pentecostal Council, the Catholic Bishops Conference, the Muslim Council, as well as other religious organisations, should not only be pontificating about the evils in the society but they must also serve as a fountain of moral values and set examples for others to emulate.
The DAILY GRAPHIC calls on them to institute measures to deal with recalcitrant ones in their fold as part of the effort towards the restoration of our moral and time-tested traditional values.
Many social psychologists agree that human beings are innately evil. Therefore, given unbridled freedom and without checks and balances, there is the highest temptation for people to breach the law and engage in acts of indiscipline.
The state should, therefore, put in place systems to check waywardness and punish and shame wrongs in the society.
The situation where the rich and well-connected could easily get away with their crimes, while the poor are punished for even minor offences, must give way to equity and equality before the law.
Elsewhere, institutions and systems put in place to control the behaviour of people are made to work and, therefore, irrespective of one's standing in society, one cannot get away with crime.
Since the behaviour of people is sometimes influenced by the society in which they live, we endorse President Mills’s call to the Church to continue to embark on social and economic programmes intended to enrich the lives of the people and make useful suggestions which could be factored into the government’s development agenda.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks this move will help to forge a viable partnership between the state and Church and contribute to the material and physical well-being of the people.