By Hafsa Obeng, GNA
Accra, Aug. 25, GNA – The Interfaith Tourism World Club (ITW Club) has urged Ghanaians to embrace faith-based tolerance to promote peace, social cohesion and national development.
The Club said Ghana’s religious diversity, encompassing Christianity, Islam, African Traditional Religion and other faiths, should be regarded as a strength rather than a source of division.
In a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency on Friday in Accra, Mr Ernest K. Boateng, Chief Executive Officer and President of the ITW Club, said Ghanaians did not need to share the same beliefs or worship in the same manner to live and work together peacefully.
“Faith-based tolerance means this: We do not have to believe the same thing to live together in peace. We do not have to pray the same way to work together, trade together, and build Ghana together,” he said.
Mr Boateng said the various faith traditions in Ghana shared common values, including love for neighbours, compassion and respect for the dignity of every human being.
He said tourism could create opportunities for people of different faiths to learn about one another, understand their traditions and build mutual respect.
Mr Boateng noted that visits to mosques, cathedrals, shrines, sacred groves and other religious and cultural sites could deepen understanding without compromising an individual’s faith.
“When a Christian visits a Muslim festival, when a Muslim tours a Christian heritage site, when
we all respect our traditional customs, we see that at the heart of every faith is peace,” he said.
The ITW Club said tolerance should be actively demonstrated through dialogue, mutual respect and the protection of places of worship.
It urged Ghanaians to choose dialogue over insults and teach children that people of different faiths were not threats but valuable contributors to national development.
The Club also called on the youth to use tourism as a “classroom for peace” by travelling, interacting with people of different faiths and becoming ambassadors of harmony.
It urged religious leaders to continue preaching unity from churches, mosques and traditional religious platforms, while condemning hate and promoting peaceful coexistence.
Communities were also encouraged to jointly protect sacred sites and use festivals as opportunities to build bridges rather than create barriers.
The Club said its mission extended beyond tourism to uniting people of diverse faiths across Africa and the diaspora through travel and cultural exchange.
It said promoting interfaith dialogue and mutual understanding would contribute to peace, social cohesion and sustainable tourism.
“Ghana’s greatest tourism product is not our beaches or our castles alone. It is our peace,” the statement said.
The Club said Ghana’s ability to accommodate differences in faith while maintaining a shared sense of nationhood was a valuable asset that must be protected.
“Let us live in harmony. Let us travel in unity. Let us build one Ghana,” it added.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Hafsa Obeng