Until a few weeks back, I thought that at the highest echelon of our society is where the politician resides. In the sense that, I could not fathom a situation where a politician could be held responsible for a crime. I know we all often say, ‘nobody is above the law’ , but I was just thinking that maybe politicians can be exempted from the many people crammed up beneath the umbrella of the laws of Ghana. Never have I seen politicians look vulnerable in my life and it makes it easy to comment on without being prejudiced as a member of any political party, since politicians from the two leading parties in this country were involved. That episode at the supreme court quickly instills in Ghanaians the recognition of a higher power that we all are accountable to, even the seemingly ‘high and mighty’ – the politician.

The whole scenario just highlights one of the most important traits that a society needs to grow and thrive through hard times – accountability. The thought that we are all accountable to a higher power for every action we make or don’t make and for the things we say, in a very unassuming way ensures a high sense of morality. Knowing very well that you are responsible for every action of yours and that there is a higher power set in place to ensure that you do the right thing, makes the individual want to live a morally upright life. Whatever happens in our society is totally an extension or an outflow of what goes on within the individuals of the society collectively. In the sense that if there is chaos in the society, it only implies that a great number of the individuals in the society are not at peace in themselves. Hence, if the point has already been established about the need for accountability in the society, then it means this will only be possible when individuals have a sense of accountability to a higher power. Accountability and submissiveness walk hand-in-hand. Therefore, a sense of accountability to a higher power, produces submissiveness to any other authority one finds himself  under. That is why religion is very important to the development of a people. Nevertheless there is a growing number of atheists who choose to debunk this fact. Hence totally eliminating the sense of accountability in humanity. I would like to use Dr. Ravi Zacharias’ analysis of this phenomenon. What most atheist are trying to do is to eliminate the concept of ‘God’. Since this is totally absurd and impossible, they have turned to a more easier task of not associating God with the things that must really be associated to Him. First they change the creation story and feed us with a theory that says man  and  monkeys have the same origin. That is not my focus today. My focus however is on one of the deepest and most deadly statements made by atheists – ‘morality is relative’. This statement is deep and so pregnant with falsehood yet people don’t seem to pay much attention to it. This statement to a large extent eliminates God. According Dr. Zacharias, there is an absolute moral law embedded in every human being and clearly we can attribute the origin of this absolute moral law to God. You will see that, without being a member of a church, everybody will agree on the fact that murder is evil. Why? Currently, a man by the name of Ariel Castro is being tried for allegedly kidnapping 3 women for 10 years and subjecting them to both sexual and physical abuse. Every sane human being that hears this story, without necessarily being a religious person will definitely call this very act evil. Why?  It is this innate absolute moral law that gives us that impression. It is on these grounds that we may be able to come out with various laws to rule the affairs of the men in our society.

Therefore by saying morality is relative, one is implying that everybody is his own god and is entitled to making laws to govern his own life. What a disaster that would be! The absence of an absolute moral law is like the absence of the ruler (or the straight edge) in geometry. The question is, what will be the reference point? Since geometry involves the drawing of shapes and figures with straight lines, the absence of a ruler will spell chaos, since there will be no point of reference or an object of absolute straightness to refer to. Hence, this is what has necessitated the need for the existence of an absolute moral law. If there is an absolute moral law, then it implies that there is an absolute moral law giver (God). And it is to Him we are accountable. So atheist have reversed this order, in the sense that, since an absolute moral law points to the existence of God who created it, they try to eliminate it and as a result eliminate God too. It is sad how people would like to eliminate accountability from humanity, with no regard for its positive effect. This is what atheism seeks to achieve. In Christianity, we are told of a day of judgment where everybody will be judged according to his deeds on earth. This thought of knowing you are accountable to a higher power helps straighten your life and helps you uphold morality.

This is even evident in the decency that has been restored to our airwaves after the  trial of those politicians at the supreme court. Whether you believe it or not, there is a higher power  we are all accountable to, the question is, will you be found wanting on that day?