It’s not biblical that woman must bear husband’s surname - Ghanaian pastor

The man of God made the controversial statement while speaking on Accra-based Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Friday, May 20.

According to myjoyonline.com, he told Winston Amoah and Kojo Yankson that he had read through the Bible from cover to cover and there was nowhere in it that God asked women to bear their husbands’ surnames.

"I believe that from the days of Adam, and I have read through the whole Bible, there is nowhere that you will come across that Adam’s wife was Mrs. Adam neither Jacob’s wife was Mrs. Jacob neither Isaac, Joshua or Daniel.

"So, if we the Christians are practicing the same thing, then I believe that we have to apply everything from the beginning to the end. And you come to New Testament, I haven’t come across that Mathew’s wife was Mrs. Mathew or John’s wife was Mrs. John," bishop Owusu-Ansah said, as quoted by the news website.

The renowned clergyman added that God, who created everyone, has a reason for placing them in the family they were born into, so they should not be forced to abandon their family’s name simply because they got married.

"So, it is my view that if I marry you as my wife, I don’t need to impose my name on you because you come from a family and I believe that coming from a family, there is a reason why God put you and brought you out of that family.

"So, keeping that name doesn’t change anything if you are my wife. God told Abraham, I’ll make your name great. So, God making my wife’s name great, my daughter’s name great and my sister’s name great, if you come and marry her, let her keep her name, and you also keep that name that you have and let us build a life together. Building lives together doesn’t change anything that because you didn’t put my name on you, you can’t be my wife."

The bishop, therefore, is urging men to place more premium on making their marriages work for mutual benefit than what, in his view, is a peripheral insistence on having their wives adopt their surnames.