Blame the media for upsurge of charlatans

Blame the media for upsurge of charlatans
December 07, 2009
Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - Bishop Gabriel Mante, Catholic Bishop of Jasikan on Monday, blamed the media for giving prominence to what he described as unethical conducts of self-style ministers of God whose activities are more of occultism.

Reacting to editorial comments of some local newspapers calling on the Christian community to condemn activities of such ministers of God, Bishop Mante said: "why should the Catholic Secretariat, the Christian Council of Ghana and other recognized religious bodies, be called upon to act on the misconduct of these so-called pastors."

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, the Bishop said "the media must take responsibility for the sorcery and occultism going on our radios and televisions.

"For about ten years now, the media especially the national media only feature charismatic Churches with their self-style prophets and prophetesses on occasions such as Christmas, New Year and Easter," he said.

Bishop Mante said, he wondered, who conferred titles such as bishop, prophets, and archbishops on them.

"Today you see a pastor, who is semi literate or illiterate, struggling to read a text in the Bible, the next day such a pastor is raised to the status of a bishop or archbishop," he said and added: "what is happening."

Bishop Mantey said some of these pastors travelled to Benin and some other places to acquire spiritual powers only to come and received media attention.

"Even though I don't control the editorial policy of these media houses, there must be a balance in their choice of charismatic and orthodox churches," he said.

Reacting to Bishop Mantey's comments, Mr Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) said it was wrong to blame the media because "the only way the media can expose the criminality of the charlatans of the gospel is to expose them for the public to be careful about them."

According to him, the method the media has adopted in reporting issues on Churches and ministers of God was the best and therefore accusing journalists for doing their professional duties was unfortunate.

The November 28, 2009 edition of the Ghanaian Times in its editorial comment asked what the Catholic Secretariat, the Christian Council of Ghana and other recognised religious bodies were doing to halt the activities of charlatans.

GNA