Report on a re­search conducted by Solidaridad, an inter­national NGO, in the Atiwa East District of the Eastern Region with inputs from other mining areas in the country has blamed churches and other religious bodies for promoting early marriage and child labour in mining communities.

It states that even teenag­ers under the age of 18 make money from galamsey and so go to the extent of organising flashy marriages and naming ceremonies, which are moder­ated by these religious bodies.

The four-month research conducted from October 2022 to January this year emphasizes the fact that such social events make illegal mining attractive to teens and other children in the mining communities and also engender social compe­tition among them. (See our lead story yesterday).

The research estimates that over 5,600 children are en­gaged in mining activities.

An analysis of the informa­tion provided above makes it clear that churches are indi­rectly encouraging illegal­ities – galamsey by chil­dren and child labour.

If so, then we can say the church and other reli­gious bodies are encour­aging illegalities, which is an unfortunate example supporting the assertion in certain quarters that the Church is gradually losing its focus.

The Church is not only supposed to meet the spiritual needs of the people but also guide the people on their physical lives.

Any religious body which focuses on only the spiritual to the neglect of the physical or the tem­poral does not know its mission.

It must be noted that guidance on the physical must be given in line with the word of God.

However, it seems religious leaders of today, particularly the Christians among them, are so much caught up in the unbri­dled desire for money and wealth that instead of influencing the people for good deeds, they allow themselves to rather be in­fluenced by the people be­cause of the money they would get from them.

From the look of things, it can be said that most churches have failed in teaching their members to live strictly by the word of God, behaving as if they do not know that the Bible does speak about everything under the sun and condemns those that are unacceptable.

In reality, the Church is supposed to “whip” the society into order but it is clear it is gradually failing that duty in the so-called modern world where even certain acts which are typical examples of thrash are permissible in the name of human rights.

We acknowledge church leaders doing their best, but the rest are a harm to the country’s progress and future.

The State must step in to safeguard the future of the country because if what is happening in the mining communities is anything to go by, then the future of the country is in jeopardy.

Teens marrying at their tender ages means they have opted to be child parents with all the implications – the avoidance of acquisition of knowledge and skills for self-improvement and nation­al development, suffering of some health conditions and loss of the opportunity to have good social standing in future.

There is therefore the need for the State to check the churches and other religious bodies which are not prov­ing their mettle and also find ways to stop child labour and child marriage everywhere in the country, whether it is be­tween peers or children and older persons.