The National Cathedral – My ‘faith and common sense’ Response

Since I read the book titled “Faith and Common Sense for Effective Living” the promotion took place around the same time that the construction of a national cathedral has become a hotly debated issue, many who have followed me on social media have sought to know what my “Faith and Common Sense” position is.

I have finally decided to respond. However, I do not have a lot of facts relating to the purpose and positioning of the cathedral so I will address a more significant cause.

The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11:6, NIV)

It is not in doubt that the proposal to build a national cathedral is being pushed with tenacious resolve. The opening text above offers a Biblical credence that with such a high resolve, nothing can hinder the construction of the House of God. So the cathedral will certainly be built. Hurray!!!

However, in the end, the magnificent cathedral will stare in the faces of the so-called Christian majority in this nation as a monument of mockery and dishonour to the God in whose name and for whose honour this cause is passionately being pursued.

If the claim that Ghana is a Christian majority nation is a conclusion drawn merely from a national census, it is very unfortunate and laughable.

More than anything else under the sun, the state of the nation which is the best indicator of the character of a majority of the people in this country pours scorn on the Christian majority claim.

Christians are known by their fruit (Matthew 7:20). And we the Christians in this country are the biggest disappointment to mother Ghana. We have not shown by our example that Ghana is a Christian majority nation. The corruption, the thievery and the waste of divinely bestowed resources give us away as failed stewards.

We seem to be highly spiritual in theory and woefully carnal in practice. So, our Christian spirituality is decreasing in quality at the same rate at which it is increasing in quantity.

Look at the filth in our country! And the most filthy place in Ghana may be Accra. Is that where I hear the cathedral is going to be built? What happened to worshipping God in the beauty of holiness?

I dare say that unless we put in equal effort to cultivate good character and right attitude to justify the so-called Christian majority claim, just the filth that will surround the Cathedral to be built will bring something other than blessing upon this nation.

For several decades now we have been chanting, “God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.”

What has been the outcome? Things have gotten worse by the day because most of those who have the mandate to extenuate the corruption in the nation are culprits…and Christians are in the majority!

I am for building a national cathedral; but much more important than the cathedral, I stand for inculcating Christian discipline into the Ghanaian religious and political systems.

This is not to say that every Christian in the country should be perfect before Ghana constructs a national cathedral. The attempt is long overdue but as we build the cathedral, we must improve our Christian image alongside.

Let us mix our faith with appropriate proportion of common sense; otherwise, unfounded religious extremism will further decline the meager gains we have chalked.