Before I start with my article, don’t let the title get you confused. It’s just a play on the title of Kwaw Ansah’s latest movie, “Praising the Lord plus one”. I chose this title because this article, just like Kwaw Ansah’s movie revolves around one theme; hypocrisy in the Christian society.
A few weeks ago, I came across a friend’s status update on Facebook. What really caught my attention about the status update was the number of comments it had. The person had posed a question on whether or not Ghana’s first global dance, “Azonto” should be allowed in churches. And you should have seen the comments.
While some were of the view that there was absolutely nothing wrong with Azonto featuring in church, of course, Jesus’ personal assistants were there to inform us of how evil the dance was. Backing their claim with scripture and on the conclusion that Azonto in all its varieties (Amanda and Akaida), were actually a confirmation that the end and the second coming of Christ was at hand.
After scrolling down from comment to comment, all I could do was to shake my head in total disappointment. I think that there are better and rather more serious issues that need to checked and dealt with within the church, and not some silly and harmless dance called Azonto.
Look, I grew up in a church that made me a bitter person throughout my childhood until I became an adult and had the courage to leave my parents with two options: either I was permitted to change to a church where I was more accepted or I totally quit church to become an atheist!
Why? Because I couldn’t stand how the lessons I received in Sunday school class contradicted with the way I was treated. The Bible spoke about loving one another yet, here I was in a church where I was constantly been mocked and teased because I wasn’t among the lot whose parents drove in big cars, because I didn’t go to a well known school or an international school like the majority of the kids in the church.
I was looked down upon because I didn’t spend my holidays abroad and because I couldn’t afford a simple meat pie after church service and even though I was very good at dancing, acting and poetry recitals, my place at the front row was always given to the children of church leaders.
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