Wesley Girls: Methodist Church promoting religious intolerance – COMOG

The Coalition of Muslim Organizations-Ghana (COMOG) has said that the stance by the leadership of the Methodist Church in the Wesley Girls saga smacks of tacit endorsement of religious intolerance.

A Press Statement issued by the Coalition said it takes serious exception to the Church’s position “which seeks to offset the directives of the GES, instructing the school to allow the practice of Fasting and Prayer by Muslim students.”

COMOG maintained that the peculiar culture of the Methodist Church cannot override the laws of the country.

“That notwithstanding, it is out of place for any institution, for that matter the Methodist Church, Ghana and its actors to attempt to put its culture and regulations over and above the constitution of Ghana,” the Coalition noted in its statement.

It thus called on all religious bodies and stakeholder’s in the country to make peace paramount in all their endeavours.

“We would wish that; all stakeholders continue to work together in expanding the frontiers of peaceful coexistence among the diverse religious groups,” the Coalition urged.

The authorities of Wesley Girls SHS have taken the flak for preventing Muslim students from fasting during the ongoing Ramadan.

The issue has since caused an uproar with many legislators and religious leaders calling on the school to reconsider its stance as it infringes on the rights of students.

Below is the full statement:

For Immediate Release

5th May, 2021.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE METHODIST CHURCH MUST RESPECT THE CONSTITUTION AND PROMOTE RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

Our attention has been drawn to a letter dated 4th May, 2021 purported to have been written by the leadership of the Methodist Church Ghana, indicating they “cannot accede to the unilateral directive by the GES”.

It will be recalled that in the wake of the Wesley Girls High School religious controversies, the GES issued a directive that, Muslims should be allowed to observe their religious obligations, after the Headmistress of the school was found to have prohibited a Muslim girl from observing the Obligatory Ramadan Fasting.

This stance by the leadership of the Methodist Church smacks of tacit endorsement of the intolerant behaviour of the Headmistress and the Board Chairman which in our opinion cannot be the policy of the church which has tolerated other faiths in the schools originally for the church…

We, therefore, take serious exception to this position which seeks to offset the directives of the GES, instructing the school to allow the practice of Fasting and Prayer by Muslim students.

At a time that the Muslim Ummah, who are the victims of such unpleasant religious intolerance have remained calm for a peaceful resolution of the matter, we least expected such a provocative response from the leadership of the Methodist. In all indications from the said letter, not only did the Headmistress acted unilaterally but with the institutional endorsement.

Unlike other countries in the sub region and the world over, our country, Ghana has over the years enjoyed some relative peace due to the level of tolerance exhibited by all the religious groups in the country. We would wish that; all stakeholders continue to work together in expanding the frontiers of peaceful coexistence among the diverse religious groups.

We again take cognisance of the peculiar culture of every institution without exception. That notwithstanding, it is out of place for any institution, for that matter the Methodist Church, Ghana and its actors to attempt to put its culture and regulations over and above the constitution of Ghana.

We therefore wish to urge the Leadership of the Church to adhere to the GES directives and allow Muslim students to observe their religious obligations so that, they would also contribute to upholding the fundamental human rights of all citizens, as guaranteed by Article 21(1)(C) of the 1992 Constitution that states among other things;

“All persons shall have the right to freedom to practice any religion and to manifest such practice”.

We finally wish to serve notice to the Methodist Church that, we shall continue to remain calm as responsible citizens while we wait on the GES to work to bring the matter to a peaceful conclusion.

Thank you.

….……Signed…………

Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman
President, COMOG.