What the world could learn about Religious respect from the Black Stars

Here is a cool report from the Ghanaian Chronicle about the post USA match celebrations:

'From Ho, the Volta regional capital, Samuel Agbewode reports that residents defied a heavy downpour and filled the streets with jubilant youth singing ‘borborbor’ and ‘jama’ songs from the Civic Centre, through the K.K. House traffic light junction to the central market near the main lorry park...'Read the rest here: http://www.ghanaian-chronicle.com/thestory.asp?id=10433.

There is also an interesting piece in the Daily Telegraph, from the UK. Its interesting, but not surprising, I guess, given the current political climate, how the 'Muslim's living side by side with Christians' angle is of interest in this piece published in the British newspaper. Once you get over the stupid talk about Ghanaian coach, Ratomir Dujkovic's CV, which, according by Simon Hart, 'reads more like that of an Amnesty International outreach worker than a football coach', the stupid comment about the penalty (how many times do we have to say it, it would have made no difference...) and the fact that it is a piece published in The Daily Telegraph, a right-leaning broadsheet newspaper from the UK, there are actually some interesting obsercations made about the role of religion and diversity in Ghanaian society...

"In this group of Ghana Black Stars we have Christians and Muslims and both groups pray together. One player leads the prayers and the rest follow him. If it's a Muslim who is leading the prayer, all the group will pray with him. If it's a Christian, they do the same."

The religious tolerance within the squad perhaps explains why, in the aftermath of Ghana's 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic, defender John Pantsil saw no problem with pulling an Israeli flag from his sock and dangling it in front of the cameras for the benefit of supporters of club side, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

But the gesture brought widespread condemnation throughout the Arab world and even sparked a debate about who was the bigger enemy - Ghana or the United States. The controversy was eventually defused by an apology from the Ghanaian football federation, who blamed the incident on the player's "naivety".

After the United States match, there was a similar innocence as the Ghanaian players explained why they had become the only African nation to make it through to the knockout phase. Sulley Muntari, the talented Udinese midfielder who missed the United States game through suspension but will return on Tuesday, stressed the importance of the pre-match prayer. "We talk together and then we pray to God that He should give us strength and the powers to play well," he said.

You can read the rest here:
http://wc2006.telegraph.co.uk/Document.aspx?id=677A924F-8E91-488A-9D8F-33C1401DF05A