When God Is Dragged Into Our Fears

Recently, madam Victoria Duncan-Williams, made headlines when she publicly declared that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, even though he won his party’s primaries, will never become President of Ghana. She explained that her reason was his religion, suggesting that because he is Muslim, the majority Christian population would not accept him. Her comments spread fast on social media, causing a lot of debate. Some condemned her words as unfair and discriminatory, while others quietly agreed. What her statement shows goes beyond politics. It reveals a mindset that values religion and tribe over ability, a mindset that judges people not for what they can do, but for who they are.

When did we start thinking that God needs our bias to defend Him? When did faith stop being about looking inside ourselves and become a way to put others down? Who gave any of us the right to decide in God’s place who is fit to lead and who is not because of their religion or their tribe?

Some people today claim that Dr. Bawumia cannot be president and will never be president. Not because he cannot lead, not because his ideas are weak, not because he does not have experience. The reasons are simple and clear. He is Muslim. He comes from a different tribe. That is it. Strip away the words, and this is what it comes down to: identity over competence. Religion over ability. Fear over fairness.

Think about this. If he prayed the way you pray, would your resistance soften? If he worshipped in your church, would your opposition weaken? If he shared your lineage, your surname, or your regional identity, would you still claim he must never lead? These questions are uncomfortable because they make us look honestly at ourselves and our own fears.

It is perfectly okay to judge a person by their actions. It is right to look at their record, their ideas, their character, and their ability to do the job. That is responsibility. That is accountability. That is how a country grows strong. But it is wrong to judge someone by their religion or their tribe. It is wrong to decide someone is not fit for leadership just because of where they come from or what they believe. Those things do not show whether a person can lead with fairness, integrity, and wisdom.

When we focus on who a person is instead of what they do, judgment becomes prejudice. When we hide that prejudice behind religion, it turns into a force that divides people, destroys trust, and hurts the whole nation.

Stop acting like God. Stop thinking you have the right to decide who is worthy because of faith or tribe. God has never asked us to do that. Leadership should be judged by character, competence, ideas, and service. Nothing else.

In the lead-up to the 2024 general elections and even today, we still hear people spreading this way of thinking. Some on the pulpit. Some on social media or WhatsApp platforms. They claim to know God and speak from positions of influence, yet they continue to tell people who is acceptable and who is not based on identity. Why the hate? Why the fear? Why the belief that difference means disqualification?

No one, no matter how highly you think of yourself or how devout you consider yourself, is more human or superior than another in the eyes of God. We are all equals and leadership should depend on competence, character, and action, not religion, tribe, or background.

Say no to hate speech. Say no to divisive language. Dissociate yourself from such thinking. We are one people with one destiny. That destiny is to make Ghana great and strong, one peaceful and thriving country.

I am a Christian. I may not pray like you pray. I may not go to church as often as you do. I may not know the Bible by heart. I may not show my faith loudly in public. But I know this: the Christian God is a God of love. A God who looks at the heart, not the label. A God who values justice, mercy, and humility over pride and exclusion.

Anything that promotes exclusion is not from God. Anything that spreads fear of another person because of religion or tribe is not from God. Anything that lifts one person above another because of who they are, not what they do, is not from God.

If being Christian now means thinking otherwise, then we have lost our way. We have replaced humility with pride, compassion with judgment, and fairness with fear.

Ask yourself honestly: What makes you more human than him? What makes your faith purer than his? What gives you the confidence to believe that God agrees with your fear? These questions are uncomfortable because they ask us to look at ourselves before we judge others.

The danger is not just the words but the confidence with which they are said. Exclusion is presented as truth. Pride is called conviction. Fear is called faith. History has shown that every great injustice begins when people think they are right while dragging God into disputes He never created.

Leadership should always be judged by ability, character, ideas, and service. Not by tribe. Not by religion. Not by where someone prays or how they worship. If we ignore this, our nation will keep breaking into pieces while wondering why unity feels impossible.

What we need is not louder voices or sharper arguments, but humility. A return to God. A willingness to say sorry for the harm done in His name. A willingness to let go of fear and choose love.

Faith was meant to heal, not divide. Faith was meant to bring people together, not push them apart. Faith was meant to humble us, not make us feel superior. When faith does the opposite, it stops being faith and becomes fear dressed up as religion. Until we see this clearly, discrimination will keep wearing a mask of godliness, and God will keep being blamed for divisions He never created.

By Victor Raul Puobabangna Plance from Eggu in the Upper West Region of Ghana 🇬🇭
#Puobabangna