Religion in Africa

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Religion in Africa is multifaceted. Most Africans adhere to either Christianity or Islam. Many also practice African traditional religions, which includes ancestor veneration and spirituality, often alongside Christianity and Islam. African cultural manifastations are also prominent in diasporan African religious culture. African religion is a complex social institution involving philosophical views, belief in the super-natural, and rituals. In the past, it has played both a positive and negative role in African society. It was an integral part of social life, but it was often a conservative influence on social development because it changed very slowly, if at all. According to Walter Rodney, religion slowed the development of the ability of Africans to produce food, clothing, and shelter. He stated that “Belief in prayer and in the intervention of ancestors and various Gods could easily be a substitute for innovations designed to control the impact of weather and environment”, referring to the practice of ancestor-worship. Certain African religions were based on supernatural forces over weather, life and death, health, and other reflections of nature and society.

Contents 1 Abrahamic religions 1.1 Christianity 1.2 Islam 2 Traditional religion 3 Influence on African diaspora 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Abrahamic religions

The majority of Africans today consider themselves either Christian or Muslim. Christianity and Islam have been adapted to African cultural contexts, incorporating elements of indigenous belief systems. Judaism has had a significant presence on the African continent for millennia. There have been several communities of African Jews dispersed across the continent, including the Beta Israel of Ethiopia and Abayudaya of Uganda.

[edit] Christianity

Main article: Christianity in Africa

Christianity has existed in Africa for two millennia and is today the most practiced religion on the continent. The Coptic Church, today prominent in Egypt, Ethiopia and neighbouring countries, was according to Christian tradition, established by the apostle Mark approximately AD 42. Early Christian congregations in Africa were just as influential in shaping Christianity as churches in the Middle East and Europe.

Missionary activity during the colonial period, together with modern evangelism from Pentecostal groups have firmly established Christianity as the most practiced religion on the continent.

[edit] Islam

Main article: Islam in Africa

Islam has been practiced in Africa for over a millennium, and is now the dominant religion in northern parts of the continent. During the life of Muhammad, a group of Muslims escaped Meccan persecution by fleeing to Ethiopia. The spread of Islam in Africa began in the 7th and 8th centuries with the Umayyads, who brought the religion to the Middle East and North Africa. Islam spread along the coast among the Berbers and also across the Mediterranean into Europe.

[edit] Traditional religion

Main article: African traditional religion

Traditional African religion encompasses a wide variety of traditional beliefs, including ancestor veneration, and belief in magic, witchcraft, and sorcery. Traditional religious customs are sometimes shared by many African societies, but many are unique to specific ethnic groups. Many African Christians and Muslims maintain some aspects of their traditional religions.

The essential features of African Traditional Religion are summed up in the three principal dimensions of the religion: belief, worship, and morality.

Belief

The main objects of traditional religion are God, the divinities, spirits, and the ancestors. The belief in God, which is viewed as one Supreme Personal Being, is shared by the majority of African cultures. The Supreme Being is personal, not an absolute principle. Divine attributes in the religion include: omnipotence, omniscience, goodness, and justice (though they are not expressed only in abstract concepts). The African God is sometimes thought of as masculine, in terms of a “Father”, but other times is conceived in feminine terms as a “Mother”. In most cases, it is not specified. Different local communities have different names for their God, but this god is believed to be the same God, no matter what name he or she is given. God is believed to be the creator of all that exists and is manifested in everything that exists and all events throughout life. The divinities of their belief are spiritual beings owing their origin to God. Some are personified attributes of the Supreme Being, while others are manifestations in some kind of natural phenomenon. They are not “gods”, but messengers or ministers of God. Other classes of spiritual beings are not always good, but the most respected spiritual beings are the ancestors. These “living-dead” are among the divinities and good spirits. They are believed to have the power to protect the living members of their families.

Worship

In this African religion, only God and the divinities are worshipped. This is done through sacrifices, offerings, prayers, invocation, praises, music, and dance. God is the ultimate object of worship in which the people reach through intermediaries. There are many temples, shrines, groves, and altars used for public and private worship in most parts of Africa. Some special landmarks, which are considered sacred, also serve as places of worship.

Morality

One practical aspect of belief in African Traditional Religion is human conduct. This conduct respects the order established by God and watched over by ancestors and the divinities. At the center of this morality is human life. Africans have a sacred reverence for life because it is believed to be the greatest gift from God. Living together within a community is a moral obligation ordained by God for the promotion of life. Justice is also a very important aspect of community. Without justice, there would be no harmony.

[edit] Influence on African diaspora

African spiritualism is also prominent in diasporan African culture, especially in Afro-American religion, including Vodou (and similar manifestations) and the Black churches of African Americans in the United States.

[edit] See also

• African mythology

[edit] External links

• BBC
• Afrikaworld.net
• Text of "Atoms and Ancestors", considered a classic study
• Stanford Page
• "Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa", James Fernandez, Princeton University Press, 1982
• http://www.scn.org/rdi/kw-gods.htm
• The Meaning of Peace in African Traditional Religion and Culture
• Introduction to Afro-American Studies