Religion in Ghana

Brief disclaimer: I apologize if I have stated anything inaccurate about particular people in this post. I'm trying only to describe my experiences and perceptions, and I hope I have not accidentally said anything to offend anyone on this somewhat delicate topic. It's also quite long, so kudos if you make it all the way through.

Ghana is a very religious country. To my knowledge, it’s not institutionalized in any way, and officially there is religious freedom, but most people are some variant of Christian. And if they aren’t Christian, they’re probably Muslim.

I am not Christian. In the US, this has never been a cause for alarm for anyone that I know, or at least, any alarm that has been felt has never been expressed to me. My exploration of religious beliefs started a long time ago, is quite convoluted, and is still unfinished. I have trouble articulating exactly what I believe, and no currently defined religions, to my knowledge, exactly match me. But I’ll get into that later.

When I arrived in Ghana, it was with a group of Unitarian Universalists, or UUs. We were visiting children the UU church is financially supporting, their schools, and the Queen Mothers of the Lower Manya Krobo district who oversee much of the day-to-day business of the project. Although we discussed how our work in Ghana related to our values, it had little bearing on us otherwise during that week. The children struggled to pronounce the name and probably did not understand what it meant, just that they were being financially supported. The only people who asked us about our church and our faith were local expats, and the questions were a lot like what I've heard in the US.

This is the “church” (I use quotes both because it does not fall within most peoples’ ideas of churches, but also because many groups of UUs choose not to use that term for their congregations/fellowships/societies/etc) that I grew up in. My family first started attending when I was five or six years old, having heard about it from the parents of one of my classmates. My parents, who had both been raised in Christian households, had not felt the same connection to the Christian faith and became Quakers in their early adult life, and had a Quaker wedding ceremony. When they moved to California, however, whether because of me or because they did not find a fellowship that they liked, or something else (feel free to chime in her, Mom and Dad), they were not active in the Quaker society. But when introduced to Unitarian Universalism, they found that the ideas matched their own and quickly found a spiritual home among the members of the congregation.

As a child, it mattered little to me where I went to church. I didn’t really understand that it was different. I started with a belief in heaven and hell and God the Almighty, but over the years I became skeptical. I remember being shocked when my mom told me her beliefs when I was about six or seven, and effectively described herself as agnostic, with a belief that “God is in all of us” (I remember this part exactly) but I think meaning something similar to what I have come to believe, that there is some sort of energy, or life force, that moves through all people and all things, but is not a separate, omniscient entity.

But let’s come back for a moment to the concepts of Unitarian Universalism, which did not in any way proscribe that I give up a belief in heaven, hell, and God the Almighty, and instead only offered me the opportunity to explore other ideas. The seven core principles, which I was taught repeatedly as a child and have internalized in how I view the world, are given below. These concepts have so become part of who I am that even though I took an approximately 10 year hiatus from the UU church, when I read them again during my recent re-exploration of religion, I was stunned that they matched my feelings so well. As stated on my convenient description card, which I have taken to carrying with me everywhere, they are:

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person	The living tradition we share draws from many sources:
Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations	Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations	Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning	Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large	Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all	Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part	Spiritual teaching of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.

For me personally, the first and last carry the most weight. These two principles best describe the resulting respect that is due to all things because of this life force that I believe moves through all things. These are the ones I focus on in my life, although the rest generally fall into place because of them.

This past semester, I took a class on Asian religions and ecology. In the public health school, the potential role of religious organizations for promoting healthy behavior had come up in several classes, I was feeling a need to explore religion again, and whether because I grew up in the UU tradition or because I grew up in the eco-hippie dense San Francisco bay area or a combination of both, I was also feeling a need to tie it all in to ecology and ways of preserving our environment. After spending last summer in Vietnam and seeing the complete lack of care for the environment that is pervasive in the community there, and at the time I chose my classes still planning to go back, I was particularly intrigued by the fact that the class was about Asian religions. I’d also felt most closely connected with the Asian religions that I’d learned about in my younger years, and wanted to learn more.

The class, and the concepts I learned from each religion, forced me to think a lot about my own beliefs. I reconsidered the Christian idea of God. I contemplated Hindu deities, the Buddha, and the Dao. Each time we came to a new religion I thought “Aha! Now this is what I’ve believed all along!” until I got to the next and that more closely matched. That was true until the very last – Daoism – which came right after Confucianism. I think I’m some mesh of the two, so maybe China is where I would find the most people like me. The idea of the Dao is that which cannot be named but moves through all things and provides the impetus for the development of consciousness in humans. It is something akin to God, although it is not ascribed any awareness. It simply is. “He who names the Dao does not know the Dao.” I agree with many of the teachings in the classical and infamous text, the Dao de jing (Tao te ching, etc.), which speak of caution, simplicity, and kindness.

From Confucianism I draw the beliefs in the importance of education and careful thought, that striving for learning leads to better understanding and powerful, stable elevation within society. To be sure, there are other ways to get to the top, but the ways of Confucian benevolence will get you to a stable point of power, one that will not suddenly crumble. Develop loyalty and all will want to follow; use force and when the opportunity arises, all will turn against you. But my favorite Confucian text is called the Western Inscription. It was hung on the western wall of the scholar Zhang Zai as a reminder of the things to follow in life. I have abridged it to focus on the parts that have the most impact on me, and I have been meaning to paint it onto a canvas and hang it on the western wall of my own room in New Haven. This is my edited version:

Heaven is my Father

and Earth is my Mother,

and even such small creatures as we

find intimate shelter in their embrace.

Therefore that which fills the universe

I regard as my own body,

and that which directs the universe

I consider as my own nature.

All people are my brothers and sisters,

and all things are my companions.

Honoring those who are advanced in years

is to treat the elderly as elderly should be treated.

To be kind to the orphaned and weak

is to treat the young as the young should be treated.

All persons in the world who are tired, crippled, sick,

or who are brotherless, childless, widows or widowers

are my own siblings who have become helpless

and have none to whom they can appeal.

To care for them at such times

is the practice of a good child.

Wealth, honor, blessings and benefits

are meant for the enrichment of my life;

while poverty, humble status, worries and sorrows

are meant to help me find fulfillment.

In life I follow and serve Heaven and Earth;

In death I will be at peace.

I’ve sort of glossed over it up to this point, but growing up UU meant that I was introduced to all of the major world religions. On Sunday mornings, while other little children were taught bible stories exclusively and our parents listened to sermons about doing good in the world, my peers and I were taught the basics of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. We visited other places of worship as a part of this exploration – the fourth UU principle given above – and were left to determine for ourselves what we thought the truth of life was. I’ve never felt shortchanged, but I never really firmly established beliefs. I think I just looked at it as unknowable. This past semester, during my re-exploration, I found certain texts that I agreed with, but came to similar conclusions.

But that’s not a sufficient for Ghana. Once I was on my own, people started asking me questions about my religion.

In a country where just about everyone believes in God, if you say you don’t, you need to be able to explain yourself. I’m not very good at it. People express a concern for my soul, and try to convince me that God exists by asking who created me, where I came from. I’ve taken to politely turning the question around and asking where God came from and stating simply that the idea of an omniscient creator does not make sense to me.

I’ve been asked what I think when I see people praying, singing hymns, reading the bible. My honest answer, which I have said, is that I think if it is important to the person doing it, then it is important to do. And I don’t rule out the possibility of an omniscient deity, it just doesn’t quite fit with my own perception of the world. I could be wrong. The other thing I tell people is that for me it doesn’t matter – I live my life under the same principles, practicing generosity when I can and kindness toward others; I am practically incapable of lying (which is somewhat problematic when people ask me about my relationship status, but that’s a story for another post) and I see theft of any sort as wrong. I think I live very morally, regardless of whose definition is used, and I cannot believe in the existence of a judgmental deity so strict that living as a good person but failing to have faith would prevent me from whatever eternal salvation may exist. I believe compassion and the way we treat others is of paramount importance, and not just for the potential eventual judgment day. Cultivating that attitude within oneself leads to honest and true relationships with other people that are based on trust and integrity and not easily broken, and our lives are completely dependent on how we interact with others. Judgment does not only come from the almighty but from all around us.