A Sociology of Religion Professor, John Umoh, has advised the Federal Government to regulate the indiscriminate founding of churches as a way of guarding against the activities of religious fraudsters.
The Professor, who disclosed this on Wednesday during the 43rd inaugural lecture of the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, noted that the Federal Government could introduce licences and permits as basic requirements for operation of churches in order to control their proliferation, which he posited had undermined community development.
In the words of the Professor, “The government should control the indiscriminate founding of churches through the requirements of licences and operation permits in order to control the proliferation of churches, which in turn undermines community development.
“This can checkmate religious fraudsters who engage in business transactions in the sanctuary.”
Umoh, while noting that Etim Ekpo clan of Akwa Ibom State, with a total number of 72 villages, plays host to 470 different churches of diverse denominations, warned that religious proliferation could result in unhealthy competition between and among modern emergent religious bodies.
“These culminate in religious conflict,” he said.
The Scholar further enjoined religious institutions to see their mission as a genuine call to liberate the whole person, body and soul, from earthly misery so that their efforts at evangelising might not be seen as one-sided and hypocritical.
This was as he tasked government to encourage the efforts of religious organisations in providing social services to rural communities.
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