Initiation Rites and Sex Education: A Ghanaian Pentecostal Perspective

Abstract

One of the challenging issues facing many African societies in modern times is the continuous disintegration of family values and social ethics. A number of reasons may account for this. In the past, rites of passage were understood as a necessary process which established the identity and the roles people played in society. However, the significance of these traditional rites and customs is often overlooked by the church which tends to simply dismiss many African cultural values and customs as primitive and ungodly. A typical response by most Pentecostals is to “make a complete break with the past”. This study argues that aspects of puberty rites may provide a foundation for social values and cohesion and also serve as pointers for exploring deeper truths about what it means to be fully human in the context of Christian expression and as a framework for understanding our sexuality and the role it could play in society.