Mahama warns religious leaders: ‘Religious conviction must never become religious provocation’

President John Dramani Mahama has warned Ghana's religious leaders against provocative statements and violence, saying recent incidents involving a pastor and an imam must not threaten the country's long-standing tradition of peaceful religious coexistence.

“Religious conviction must never become religious provocation,” President Mahama said warning that disagreements over faith must not descend into hatred, intimidation or physical attacks.

The President was speaking at the opening of the 32nd Biennial General Council Meeting of the Assemblies of God, Ghana, at Gomoa Fetteh on Thursday August 20.

He said Ghana's Christians, Muslims and followers of other faiths had for generations lived and worked together, describing that coexistence as one of the country's greatest national assets.

“No one honours God by assaulting another person. No one defends the Almighty God by threatening or attacking another human being. God does not need violence committed in His name,” he said.

President Mahama was speaking at the opening of the 32nd Biennial General Council Meeting of the Assemblies of God, Ghana, at Gomoa Fetteh on 20 August.

Pastor and imam incidents

His comments follow the arrest earlier this month of Islamic preacher Imam Masud Abdullah and Christian cleric Apostle Daniel Junior Yaw Adjei after separate videos circulated online.

The material supplied for this report says one video showed the pastor making derogatory comments about Prophet Mohammed, while another allegedly showed the imam advocating violence against people who insult the Prophet.

A further video emerged showing the pastor being assaulted while in police custody, leading to the arrest of a third man.

The incidents have raised concerns about how inflammatory religious rhetoric, particularly when amplified on social media, could escalate tensions between religious communities.

President Mahama urged pastors, imams and other religious leaders to exercise particular care in their public statements and online activities.

He said freedom of religion, guaranteed under Ghana's Constitution, did not give anyone the right to insult another person's beliefs, incite violence or take the law into their own hands.

He also warned that comments made from pulpits, mosques or online could spread rapidly and inflame passions beyond what the speaker intended.

‘Let the law take its course’

President Mahama said religious leaders, including the National Chief Imam, would help promote reconciliation and a peaceful resolution of the matter.

At the same time, he said the law should be allowed to take its course fairly and impartially.

The President did not suggest that religious disagreements themselves were the problem. Instead, his warning centred on the point at which religious expression becomes provocation, threats or violence.

He urged religious communities to ensure that younger generations understood religious diversity as a strength rather than a source of division.

For Ghana, where Christians and Muslims regularly interact in families, schools, workplaces and public institutions, he said preserving that tradition required responsibility from religious leaders and their followers.

A wider warning on social media

The President's intervention also underscores the growing role of social media in religious disputes.

Statements made online can reach large audiences quickly, potentially transforming what might once have remained a local disagreement into a national controversy.

President Mahama therefore urged religious leaders to consider the consequences of their words, particularly when addressing sensitive matters involving another faith.

Addressing the Assemblies of God specifically, he called on the denomination to remain committed to prayer, evangelism and goodwill while turning its faith into practical action that promotes peace, supports vulnerable people and contributes to national development.

The immediate cases involving the pastor and imam remain subject to the law.

President Mahama's message was that whatever the disagreement, religious belief must not become a justification

for intimidation or violence.