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Some enraged Fetish Priests in the Ashanti Region, have warned pastors who are in the habit of condemning them publicly on radio and Television stations to stop or face their wrath. The priests, numbering over 200, gave the warning at a traditional council meeting in Kumasi Thursday. The meeting was part of preparations towards the 15th Anniversary of the Ascension of the Asantehene Otumfour Nana Osei Tutu the 2nd. According to the priests, some pastors in the country are in the habit of casting aspersions and disparaging comments on their religion tagging the traditional religion as obnoxious and devilish. They feel unfairly treated as they claim that the same pastors who are vociferously criticizing them approach them for superficial powers to assist them conduct miracles in their churches. Otumfour�s Nsumankwahene, Baffour Asabre Kogyawoasu, the 3rd, who represented Otumfour at the meeting charged the fetish priests to rise up against such pastors who take it out on them on their pulpits, and on radio and television stations. �We have always remained silent and watched them refer to our religion as nonsensical or foolish. But from today, if they stay awake, we will also stay awake, if they build, we will break. Any man who says idolatry is foolish is an affront to the ancestors of Asanteman. He has insulted the gods and all fetish priests� he charged. The Nsumankwahene also expressed grave discontent about the trend in the local movie industry that seeks to portray idol worshipers as the villains who always loose out to the barrage of prayers of movie pastors. �Since the inception of the local movie industry, idol worshippers have never been victorious. We won�t allow this humiliation to continue. I think we are lagging behind and we need to rise to the occasion,� he inspired. Further defending his religion, the traditional custodian inquired whether the gods were not also sent from God as the Christians and Muslims claim their religions have divine origins. The chief priest, charged his men to utilize their powers effectively against any one who dared made negative statements about their religion saying �no one should be allowed to go scot free�? Some of the chief priests who spoke to Ultimate Radio expressed similar sentiments and indicated their readiness to follow through on the charge of the chief priest to restore dignity to their religion and their profession as chief priests. An invigorated chief priestess from the Seniagya, okomfour Tiwaah, stated strongly that�the pastors say they have the big platforms but they cannot collapse traditional spirits which was proven under the reigns of Okomfo Anokye. �It is an age-long practice which was handed down to us right from ages past. So those who sit on radio and TV stations to condemn us should better stop or we will deal with them.� Speaking to Ultimate Radio�s Nana Oye Diabene, an embittered fetish priest lamented that �these same pastors are the ones who come for powers from us for the booming of their churches and later go back to condemn us before their members telling them we are bad and evil�. He was worried people treat them as social outcasts and accord them no respect. He threatened that they will not only use their spiritual powers but also soon seek justice from the law court on the way the clergy treats them. Another priestess, okomfuor Dwodwo, who claimed she began her incantation at the age of fourteen, vented out her discontentment with the insults fetish priests suffered at the hands of the church. �Christians are now insulting us. They say we are dirty and nasty. We don�t lie or cheat people but the insults are too much and they should put a stop to that,� he lamented. Meanwhile the Ashanti Regional Director of the Center for National Culture, Dr. Samuel Adjei, empathizing with the priests, blamed the situation on a misconception of both the public and the Christian community of nuances of the traditional religion. �It is a result of the sort of mis-education that we have. The white man�s education could be knowledge but we need to learn the wisdom in our tradition. If people endeavor to delve deep into the wisdom of what the traditionalists do, we will not be choosy as to what is fetish and what is ordinary. Rather we will notice that there is wisdom, there is value, there is dignity in everything heritage that our tradition has handed down to us.� Giving credence to the call for all Ghanaians to study the details of the indigenous tradition, he indicated that traditional marriages were thriving as compared with those held in flamboyant church services. Dr. Samuel Adjei made a strong case for some prominence to be given to the study of tradition in the studying process of every Ghanaian explaining that �the knowledge of the white man and wisdom of culture and tradition worked together for the totality of development of each individual.�