Ban on drumming and other noise making - Torgbui Ashiagbor writes
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Ban on drumming and other noise making during traditional festivities is a recipe for war between those who worship God through Saints and Ancestors.
In fact, religion stands for peace and love; however, it’s so devastating that every year, we hear of people destroy property belonging to churches because of their noncompliance with ban on drumming and other noise making.
Despite the hue and cry of the citizenry for religious leaders to compromise and respect the view and faith of one another, nothing seems to have been done about it. In fact, the current and the successive governments pay little attention to this menace.
If I may ask, is that what religion stands for? And, if not, why can’t they seize fire and smoke the peace pipe once and for all? That notwithstanding, we learnt that God is a supernatural being who exercises His supremacy over all things so fighting against flesh and blood on behalf of God appears to be abnormal and unreligious. Look, I stand to be corrected, however, I’m not exaggerating at all to say that members of both religious groups have a common belief that God created every human being in his own image.
They also believe that there’s life after death; thus, those who live a worthy course before they die will enjoy eternity and shall be referred to as saints and ancestors. What we expect from them is peace, tolerance, love and, more importantly, respect for others.
In fact, it’s about time Chiefs collaborated with Christians and Traditionalists to put an everlasting stop to such obnoxious clashes. Chiefs are agents of peace so the government should reposition them to resolve all manner of religious clashes. Chiefs are the heads of their communities, so they play various roles in resolving conflicts.
Their words are by-laws to their subjects and their suggestions are highly respected and taken hook, line and sinker. Look, the roles of Chiefs in managing their communities traced far back to the colonial era, when the British administrators employed an indirect rule system, using Chiefs as intermediaries for managing the people.