Controversial Ghanaian counsellor, Mr George Lutterodt, has described churches which punish or sanction their congregants for getting pregnant out of wedlock as “unqualified churches”.

Mr Lutterodt, who was speaking to Pastor Azigiza Jr. on the Gospel Breakfast Show on Number One 105.3FM on Monday, 14 January 2019, said bearing children out of wedlock is a family rather than a church issue.

“If you impregnate anybody”, he said, “The laws of Ghana don’t force you to marry the person but to take care of the child”. “But traditionally, it is taken as having cheated the woman, since you are not married to the person”, he said.

“That’s why I don’t agree with churches who sanction anyone. Any church that disciplines people because they got pregnant before marriage is not a qualified church. Pregnancy is not a church product, it’s a family product.

“If my daughter is pregnant before marriage in the church, what right do you have to put a sanction on my child?” Mr Lutterodt questioned.

He also said: “Having sexual intercourse with anybody before you marry is a personal choice; it has never been a crime anywhere. If you have self-control, go ahead and test. If you don’t have self-control, don’t test it at all, because the challenge is that self-control, it’s the management of your thoughts, your feelings and your actions, so, the bible says you need self-control so that you don’t fall victim to any of these things. People who are having sexual intercourse and not made babies have never been caught and it means they’re practising self-control”.