ABSTRACT
Despite the assumed State supremacy, religion-based non-state actors take up many of the functions of the State. This situation confuses the exact nature of secularism that contemporary Ghana formally promises to be. Vitally, tensions arise when the different religious and legal authorities insist on the application of their respective legal norms. The nature of these tensions begs further investigation. This chapter, in other words, deals with the overlapping interactions between the different normative actors by particularly looking at instances in which these actors cooperate and also compete with each other. Given that the various normative sources and powers lead to tension, the chapter calls for the need to pay heed to the different dynamism of tension in society. The chapter’s uniqueness to the overall contribution of this study lies in the fact that it details typologies of tensions operative in contemporary Ghana, paying heed to three different but overlapping categories of tension in society.
