Woman quits Assemblies of God church after being queried for performing mother’s traditional burial rites

A 46-year-old woman has quit her church after she was queried for submitting herself to traditional rituals at her late mother’s funeral.

According to the woman, Mad. Belinda Azimeh, a resident of the Volta Regional capital Ho, her church, Good News Assemblies of God Church at Fiave, did not take kindly to her involvement in the ritual which was held at Atsive, a community within the Ketu North Municipality in April 2018.

Being a biological daughter of the deceased, she, together with her siblings partook in some mandatory traditional activities during the burial ceremony of her mother.

She explained that because her late mother was a traditionalist, it was mandatory that close relations go topless to undergo some rituals amidst dancing at the funeral ceremony.

Belinda Azimeh, a petty trader who invited some church members to the funeral said church members who saw her go topless as part of the rituals and subjected herself to the traditional prayers reported back to the Church elders about what they saw which triggered investigations.

She said the elders of the church later invited her as part of the process and surprisingly announced during a recent church service that her membership had been withdrawn because she breached the church’s doctrines by performing rituals at her late mum’s burial ceremony.

She said when she later met the pastor and the elders about her sacking, she was told that she could only be reconsidered as a member of she the Church if she goes through what was termed “covenant” lessons and got baptised again.

According to her, the demand will be disgraceful so she declined.

She said following her decision, word has gone throughout the town that she is a fake Christian with many ridiculing her.

“I have to leave them, because everyone in the church now sees me as a traditionalist, and they even started having doubts about me. He (the pastor) really discriminated against me, I feel shy at that Fiave church, so I can’t associate myself with them, but now I’ve moved to another church” she added.

She further said, there was no way she could have excused herself from the ritual especially as she benefited closely from her late mother’s support.

“My mother was with me, even when she was sick she was with me here in Ho, she helped me when I’m not at home, so I must also show my love when she died, but pastor said I should have refused to partake in the traditional activities, which I cannot because the woman is my mother”.

She said the pastor, Amoaku Albert, and the entire congregation discriminated against her, and there is the need for religious leaders to intervene and hold the pastor to account.

Meanwhile, Pastor Akuamoa Albert denied the development saying “if I asked her to be baptised again, does it mean I sacked her?” he angrily said.

In Ghana, clause (2) of Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution under the Fundamental Human Rights, says, no one is entitled to discrimination, and also clause (1) of Article 26 says everyone is entitled to enjoy, profess, promote or maintain, culture, language and religion.

Source: Citinewsroom