Cape Coast, April 17, GNA - Reverend John Forney of the Anglican Church in Chino in the United States has appealed to churches to refrain from backing unjust governments and that it is their responsibility to correct mistakes in society.

He told religious leaders to speak "to the people at the top to refrain from using their offices to push the people around." Rev Forney said this at the opening of a four-day seminar on 'Church and Society' organized by the Saint Nicholas Anglican Seminary at Cape Coast.

It is being attended by about 500 participants drawn from all the parishes of the Cape Coast Anglican Diocese and include church leaders, church workers, lecturers and students from the Department of Religion of the University of Cape Coast.

He said rules and laws were sometimes instituted to favour those in authority and urged churches to help stop the practise. Opening it the guest speaker and resource person, Right Reverend Dr Frederick Borsch, a retired Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Los Angeles, said in order for the "gospel to be most fruitful" it needed to be rooted in the culture of the people. Rt Rev Dr Borsch said challenges facing countries and individuals in this era of globalisation were how to find a healthy balance between preserving a sense of identity, home and community and doing what it takes to survive within the globalisation system.

The Very Reverend Dr Victor Atta-Baffoe, the Dean of the Seminary, said it is believed that in a fast-growing world with its social, economic, political and religious diversities, it was necessary for the church to re-equip and re-position itself for effective ecclesiastical dispensation.

He stated that even though the world today has developed into a global village, people were affected by pluralism and diversity.