Religion and Politics in Ghana: The Role of Charismatic Christianity in Building Democratic Political Dispensation from 1979-2012

Abstract

The thesis sought to examine the role of Charismatic Christianity in building democratic political dispensation. This work acknowledged the role of other ecclesial bodies such as the Christian Council of Ghana and the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference. I set the tone of the thesis by indicating that adequate research works have not been done on the role of Charismatic Christianity and their engagement in politics especially in promoting democratic culture in Ghana. The basic objective here is to identify the roles played by Charismatic Christianity in the promotion of democratic culture in Ghana from the era of their emergence, that is late 1979 to 2012. A qualitative method of data collection and analysis are used. Since the thesis seeks to understand the behaviour of Charismatic Christianity within political context, I adopted secularisation and world system theories in explaining the nature of relationship between sacred and the secular. It was discovered that, Charismatic Christianity has contributed much in the fight for the restoration and promotion of democratic political culture. The leadership was operating as individuals but not through any ecclesial body. They preached against human rights abuses and with boldness called for the restoration of democracy. It is also found out that after democracy was restored, these churches were involved in political education, provision of social facilities and economic opportunities which lead to the promotion of democratic culture. The work is limited to the year 2012. I recommend that further studies should be done to cover the years beyond 2012.