Accra: Ghanaian actress Pascaline Edwards has sparked conversation online after declaring that she does not believe in organised religion, calling it a form of enslavement. Speaking in an interview with ZionFelix, the actress claimed that religion was simply a way of one person pushing his or her ideology on a group instead of the members of that group finding God by themselves. "I don't believe in religion. I believe religion is a form of enslavement. It's like I wake up, gather a group, push my ideology on them and call it a religion. I don't believe in that," she said.
According to Ghana Web, Pascaline, however, made it clear that her rejection of organised doctrine is not a rejection of God. "Even Jesus didn't come to start a religion. He simply came to direct people to the one true God. And that is what I am following," she explained. She said that a study of various religious texts and teachings had led her to realise that they all ultimately point to the same source.
"I have read various religious books and teachings and I have noticed that they all point to one source. So why not go to the source directly? Why would I ascribe to a specific religion which tells you what not to do and where not to go? That means I am dimming the God in me," she said.
She also took aim at what she described as a culture of spiritual dependency that has taken root among Ghanaians. "That is what many people are going through. They feel that if a pastor does not tell them what to do, they cannot live. Why let another human direct you on how to worship your God?" she said.