Conflict, identity and co-operation : the relations of the Christian church with the traditional, colonial and national states in Ghana with special reference to the period 1916-1966
Abstract
A traditional State in the Gold Coast was an
amalgamation of towns and villages in a given
geographical and ethnic area whose people possessed a
common language, culture and religion and ruled by a
democratic central government headed by a Paramount
chief. The colonial State resulted from the European
presence which was motivated by commercial and political
interests. It superseded the traditional States but
did not destroy them. In their efforts to advance their political
interests, the European authorities needed the help of
the christian missionaries whom the traditional
authorities regarded as part of European political
power. The relationship between the colonial State and
the Christian Missions was most prominently seen in the
field of education. The missionary enterprise resulted
in the planting and growth of the Church which had to
relate to both the traditional and the colonial States,
giving them its social and political allegiance. The
religious allegiance of the Church belonged to its Lord
and its refusal to give it to the traditional State
resulted in conflict between the two. The Church's
success in securing a degree of customary law and
religious observance exemptions for christians
including chiefs, was an aspect of the influence of
Christianity which desacralized the traditional State
and chiefship to some extent. By providing formal education, the use of the
christian press and serving as a role model for African
leadership, the Church proved to be the architect of
Gold Coast nationalism and thus the achievement of
Ghanaian independence. The Church's reaction to some
of the policies of the Nkrumah Government compelled it
to get actively involved in national politics while
living outside party politics. The result is that
subsequent course of Church-State relations in Ghana has
been dictated by the events which took place under the
First Republic. The Church in Ghana is the only
conceivable counterbalance to the national State. The
Christian Council of Ghana and the Ghana Catholic
Bishops' Conference are a powerful instrument for the
Church's actions on national issues.