I must congratulate the post for the point-by-point reply they provided to the issues raised by Bishop Dag-Heward Mills. In this instance, instead of just name calling or the raining of crude insult on someone supposedly not expected to muddy himself in the dirty waters of gutter politics, a clear attempt has been made to be level-headed even though there were, in my view, a few pedestrian sentences that looked like unwarranted insults. I however disagree with the Post in a number of respects:

Many Christians wince in pain when a man of God anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the broken-hearted, preach deliverance to captives, recovering of sight to the blind and set at liberty them that are bruised strays from these core duties and rather ventures into the turbulent and murky waters of partisan politics.

The Post is telling us that ‘Men of God’ should preach the gospel to the poor, heal the broken hearted, preach deliverance to captives, recover sight to the blind and set at liberty them that are bruised but should they venture into partisan politics, then they have strayed. This is erroneous. When the political system breaks down, all other systems become dysfunctional and highly encumbered. How did the banking sector fare in the Ivorian crisis? Armed men just go to bank vaults, without checks or withdrawal slips and cart money away? In Liberia, people seeking refuge in churches were slaughtered on the alter. Recently in Libya, health workers treating insurgents were killed by pro Gaddafi forces. No orderly system of civilized society is healthy when the political system collapses. That alone is enough justification for men of God to venture into partisan politics if not non-partisan politics. Why the poor should be preached to only to help them out of poverty when a policy initiative could also assist in dealing with the issue. The national health insurance scheme has saved many poor souls in this country. Do you know the role the Catholic Church played in the initial piloting of the programme? Long before the state took up the provision of health infrastructure in Ghana, orthodox medicine remained the responsibility of the Church towards the citizenry. The role the Church played and continues to play in the area of Education cannot be over emphasized. The Church is such a huge stakeholder in the state that the Church cannot and must not keep quiet regarding the politics of the state.