I have received several emails from some readers asking that, GhanaCelebrities.Com should not write on religion as they find some of the views offensive.
First of all, I think the essence of free speech is having the right to be offensive—and as such, being merely offended by an article because of your individual sentiment is not enough strong reason for us to discontinue writing such articles. What about those who enjoy reading and discussing these articles?
Secondly, GhanaCelebrities.Com publishes a total of about 70-100 articles each week and out of these many articles; we usually have a maximum of 3 religious articles. Therefore, those who find these religious articles outside their taste can easily skip them—and enjoy the other many articles. We file all the religious articles under RELIGIOU so you can easily spot them.
As the Editor of GhanaCelebrities.Com,I see no reason why a person with about 80 articles to choose from, would still opt for that single article he or she finds offensive. And proceed to suggest such an article should not be published without taking into consideration the others who may actually enjoy reading the article.
Again, religion (especially Christianity) has become the biggest topic of discussion in recent years, and where I live, countless high profile debates are organised regularly for various intellectuals and religious people to discuss religion. It is therefore reasonable that we offer a platform for such discussions too—so that those interested can enjoy the debate, learn new things and help in displacing some of the misconceptions.
Lastly, if any of you think the religious articles we publish are somewhat biased, nothing stops any of you from sending us your non-biased views on religion as a readers’ mail and we will gladly publish that. All the same, we have writers on both sides of the river, writing for and against religion. And we take steps to ensure there is a balance. We also welcome your views for publications if you really have a case…
Whatever it is; religion is one of the most interesting topics out there today—and we do not want to be left out of the ontological discourse.
For those who cannot have their faith questioned or scrutinized, I would plead that you do not read the religious articles—just concentrate on those other articles you find interesting.
We have not stopped writing on the various other topics. We just added some few more which has not affected our work in relation to the other topics.
I think an open minded person can hardly be offended by legitimate arguments and questions! We have diverse readers who should all be catered for…
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