The Reverend Professor Mercy Oduyoye, Founder of the Circle of Concerned African Women heologians, on Thursday described demand for dowry in matrimonial rites as a scheme to sell the right of the bride in marriage.
"Dowry has become a mechanism for making relations rich through the marriage of a daughter is hallowed by the phrase customary gifts. What do we call gifts when they are demanded by the bride's family," Prof. Oduyoye stated at the 80th Anniversary lectures of the Christian Council of Ghana, in Accra.
The Council serves as the link with the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical bodies concern primarily with the spiritual affairs of its congregation.
Speaking on the topic: "Moral and Spiritual Poverty," said such rites does not allow women to demonstrate their full humanity.
She said the women end up under performing, opting out altogether and clinging to coping devises that enable them to live in poverty without resisting the devaluation of their person.
Rev. Oduyoye, explained that most families have used the rites of dowry as instruments for siphoning money, adding: "Dowry payment is not a means for women to be respected in marriage it rather portray them as sub servants in the matrimonial home.
Focusing on poverty, Rev. Oduyeyo who is also the Director, Institute of Women in Religion said Christians had often ignored physical and material poverty in their neighbourhood because of their interpretation of "Blessed are the poor in spirit" and "the poor you have with you always".
"These are smoke screens behind which we hide to selfishly enjoy our wealth, ill-gotten, inherited or hard-earned," she said.
Rev. Oduyoye urged religious people especially Christians not to be lust for material things, saying spiritual rewards are juxtaposed with material rewards and those who seek the latter are labelled lesser believers.