DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION: PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES[1]
By CHIDI DENIS ISIZOH
By CHIDI DENIS ISIZOH
INTRODUCTION
Much has been said about, and written on, African Traditional Religion by both Africans and non-Africans. Such areas as nomenclature and terminology, methodology, interpretation, contents, and practical expressions of the religion, have been examined by very many scholars. There is a long list[1] of those who have made significant input in the presentation and the understanding of the religion.
It must be said from the onset that African Traditional Religion is not just one of the subjects for studies in educational institutions but it is primarily a way of life of Africans and it forms the religious background of most African Christians, Muslims and Followers of other religious traditions. Although today we use a descriptive term, African Traditional Religion[2] as agreed by African scholars, it is known that those who follow the religion do not give it such a name.
African Traditional Religion is not a religion that could be simply understood by analysing its system of beliefs. In theological jargon, it is not a religion that is “thought out in the agora of theology”, but it is “lived out in the market place of Africa.”[3]It is action-oriented religion, involving some activity: consulting diviner, pouring libation, offering prayers and sacrifices, enthroning a chief, falling into trance, etc. These activities have definite goals to be achieved: solving a problem, curing sick people, bringing favourable weather, placating angry spirits and invoking blessing of ancestors, etc.
For a number of reasons, African Traditional Religion became object of study by visitors from mainly the northern hemisphere: simple curiosity and personal interests, and administrative preparation for colonial masters in order to understand the people they were to govern. To give an example, one of the ethnographers who researched into the traditional social and political institutions of the Igbo, an ethnic group in southern Nigeria, explained why he devoted time and space to introduce the traditional religion of the people:
Among the Ibo (sic), religion and law are so closely interwoven that many of the most powerful legal sanctions are derived directly from the gods. As a preliminary therefore, to the study of the legal system of the Ibo, it will be necessary to give some description of their theology.[4]
Missionaries were also interested in African Traditional Religion. Their primary interest at the early stage of their stay in Africa was to collect as much information as possible in order to understand the worldview of the people to whom they had brought the Good News of salvation.
THE SPREAD OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
David B. Barrett, George T. Kurian and Todd M. Johnson have come up with interesting statistics of followers of different World Religions, including African Traditional Religion. Their work, in two volumes, entitled The World Christian Encyclopaedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World (published in 2001), is interesting not because it is one hundred per cent accurate, but I consider the publication a great contribution to the study of religions. It gives figures, which in many cases, as attested by people who live in particular geographical areas, come close to the estimate of the true situation on the ground.
There are reasons, which make the statistics in the case of Africa not completely reliable. As I wrote elsewhere, “It is almost impossible to have an accurate census of religious affiliations in Africa. Many countries in Africa do not have columns for religious beliefs in the census data form…. Indeed among several peoples of Africa, human beings are never to be counted. Many parents would be very reluctant to tell a visitor the number of children they have. There could be religious reasons for this hesitation. Caution is, therefore, needed when quoting population figures in Africa.”[5]
The Encyclopaedia has the following entries for Adherents of African Traditional Religion (ATR):
Much has been said about, and written on, African Traditional Religion by both Africans and non-Africans. Such areas as nomenclature and terminology, methodology, interpretation, contents, and practical expressions of the religion, have been examined by very many scholars. There is a long list[1] of those who have made significant input in the presentation and the understanding of the religion.
It must be said from the onset that African Traditional Religion is not just one of the subjects for studies in educational institutions but it is primarily a way of life of Africans and it forms the religious background of most African Christians, Muslims and Followers of other religious traditions. Although today we use a descriptive term, African Traditional Religion[2] as agreed by African scholars, it is known that those who follow the religion do not give it such a name.
African Traditional Religion is not a religion that could be simply understood by analysing its system of beliefs. In theological jargon, it is not a religion that is “thought out in the agora of theology”, but it is “lived out in the market place of Africa.”[3]It is action-oriented religion, involving some activity: consulting diviner, pouring libation, offering prayers and sacrifices, enthroning a chief, falling into trance, etc. These activities have definite goals to be achieved: solving a problem, curing sick people, bringing favourable weather, placating angry spirits and invoking blessing of ancestors, etc.
For a number of reasons, African Traditional Religion became object of study by visitors from mainly the northern hemisphere: simple curiosity and personal interests, and administrative preparation for colonial masters in order to understand the people they were to govern. To give an example, one of the ethnographers who researched into the traditional social and political institutions of the Igbo, an ethnic group in southern Nigeria, explained why he devoted time and space to introduce the traditional religion of the people:
Among the Ibo (sic), religion and law are so closely interwoven that many of the most powerful legal sanctions are derived directly from the gods. As a preliminary therefore, to the study of the legal system of the Ibo, it will be necessary to give some description of their theology.[4]
Missionaries were also interested in African Traditional Religion. Their primary interest at the early stage of their stay in Africa was to collect as much information as possible in order to understand the worldview of the people to whom they had brought the Good News of salvation.
THE SPREAD OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
David B. Barrett, George T. Kurian and Todd M. Johnson have come up with interesting statistics of followers of different World Religions, including African Traditional Religion. Their work, in two volumes, entitled The World Christian Encyclopaedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World (published in 2001), is interesting not because it is one hundred per cent accurate, but I consider the publication a great contribution to the study of religions. It gives figures, which in many cases, as attested by people who live in particular geographical areas, come close to the estimate of the true situation on the ground.
There are reasons, which make the statistics in the case of Africa not completely reliable. As I wrote elsewhere, “It is almost impossible to have an accurate census of religious affiliations in Africa. Many countries in Africa do not have columns for religious beliefs in the census data form…. Indeed among several peoples of Africa, human beings are never to be counted. Many parents would be very reluctant to tell a visitor the number of children they have. There could be religious reasons for this hesitation. Caution is, therefore, needed when quoting population figures in Africa.”[5]
The Encyclopaedia has the following entries for Adherents of African Traditional Religion (ATR):
|
Year/Period |
Population of ATR Adherents |
Total Population of Africa |
Percentage |
|
1900 |
62.685.865 |
956.196.200 |
58.2 |
|
Mid-1970 |
67.429.897 |
2.151.029.875 |
18.9 |
|
1990 |
79.519.748 |
3.192.397.000 |
12.9 |
|
Mid-1995 |
87.804.160 |
3.449.280.600 |
12.6 |
|
2000 |
96.805.405 |
3.696.988.087 |
12.3 |
While it is true that the percentage of the followers of African Traditional Religion is going down, the influence of the religion is still strongly felt. In 1994 the reports submitted by Catholic Bishops’ Conferences from different parts of Africa were revealing. Country after country, the Bishops affirmed that African Traditional Religion “is solidly entrenched in the lives of millions”,[6] and it “still governs the life of people in some areas more than others, despite the presence of Christianity”,[7] because it “is part of the cultural heritage from which (most people) come and within which they live”.[8] Moreover, even if in some countries the actual practice of African Traditional Religion has disappeared because of the influence of other more universal religions, it still survives “in the vocabulary, the calendar, certain traditional feasts, taboos.”[9] Modern science and technology have had little impact on the influence of the religion.[10]
What the reports show is that the influence of African Traditional Religion is felt both overtly and covertly in many countries of Africa. There are still many people who practice African Traditional Religion. There are those who have converted to other religions but are living in a culture that is defined by Traditional Religion and, therefore, are still guided by some aspects of the religion. In Africa, those who leave African Traditional Religion, very often join Christianity or Islam. And the converts to the new religion take with them their worldview and their culture,[11] both of which are heavily influenced by the traditional religion. A convert to Christianity does not become exactly a Christian like an Italian, or German. She becomes an authentic South African or Ghanaian Christian with the values, and the categories of thought that are taught by African traditional religion and passed down the centuries through customs, proverbs, wise-sayings and traditional religious expressions. A convert to Islam does not become a true copy of Arabic Muslim from Saudi Arabia. His practice of Islamic religion is coloured by the culture of his people. This internalisation is possible because “Africans are translators, who by transculturating the incoming religious expressions, refit them for their own experiences and in so doing transform both expressions and experience.”[12]
NATURE OF DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
Dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion is rarely talked about in many circles and even among religious leaders. The adherents often remain in their local environment, as African Traditional Religion is not a missionary religion. In most countries, the followers are not aggressive. Indeed they are often described as very friendly to both Christians and Muslims. This has made some Christian leaders hesitate to talk about dialogue with them. Sometimes Christians wait in the hope that the adherents of African Traditional Religion will convert to Christianity. Such conversion does not always take place. Those who convert to Christianity still need what Cardinal Arinze has called “pastoral attention” to help them become integrated both externally and internally in the new religion. With both followers of and converts from African Traditional Religion, two forms of dialogue could be distinguished: dialogue ad extra,and dialogue ad intra.
Dialogue Ad Extra
Dialogue ad extra means ordinary interreligious relations which exist between adherents of African Traditional Religion and other believers. This has been defined by many scholars and religious leaders. For Knitter it is “the interaction of mutual presence…speaking and listening…witnessing the commitments, the values, the rituals of others.”[13] The Presbyterian Church of U.S.A. defines it as “witnessing to our deepest convictions and listening to those of our neighbours.”[14]
African Traditional Religion is a religion like other religions. Its adherents enjoy religious liberty. The document of the Catholic Church on human dignity, entitled Dignitatishumanae, published in 1965, states: “all men (sic) should be immune from coercion on the part of individuals, social groups and every human power so that, within due limits, nobody is forced to act against his convictions nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his convictions in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others.”[15]
Dialogue ad extra is witnessed in many villages of Africa where followers of African Traditional Religion live side-by-side with Christians and Muslims. The believers do not often talk about their religions. They live out what their religions have taught them about good neighbourliness, about honesty, dedication to duty, justice, service to one another, love, duties in the family, community development, etc. I know some men and women from my town who are followers of African Traditional Religion, whose way of life inspires me and whom I can describe as holy people.
Dialogue Ad Intra
This form of dialogue takes place within an individual who, although has inherited much from African Traditional Religion, now belongs to another religion and wants to integrate the values from the two religions. It could be called dialogue of worldviews (African Traditional Religion and another be it Christianity or Islam) within an individual. Sometimes it takes the form of inculturation of religious values.
Bolaji Idowu writes: “It is now becoming clear to the most optimistic of Christian evangelists that the main problem of the Church in Africa today is the divided loyalties of (some) of her members between Christianity with its western categories and practices on the one hand, and the traditional religion on the other. It is well known that in strictly personal matters relating to the passages of life and the crises of life, African Traditional Religion is regarded as the final succour by (some) Africans.”[16]
Dialogue ad intra is that form of dialogue to integrate different religious worldviews in a human person. It is basically non-verbal and its primary purpose is “to integrate the two world views so as to give the African Christian an integrated religious personality.”[17]
PROGRESS IN DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
A Philippine Priest published a book, entitled From Pagans to Partners.[18] I think that this title reflects the change, which has taken place in the last 100 years or more with reference to the attitude of Christians towards followers of African Traditional Religion. The early Christian Missionaries from the northern hemisphere to many parts of sub-Saharan Africa came with the “Good News of Jesus Christ”. But they did not come with this Good News in a neutral medium. They carried with them their worldview, and they interpreted events using their set categories of thought. Unfortunately they did not have all the opportunities we have today of benefiting from various fields of learning: anthropology, ethnology, sociology, missiology, etc. They gave various negative labels to African Traditional Religion: magic, esoteric practice, paganism, fetishism, animism, witchcraft, etc. The goal of missionary activities was to wipe out “this paganism” which was also considered barbaric by colonial masters (coming from the same stock and religio-cultural background as the missionaries).
What is witnessed today is that those followers of African Traditional Religion who were described in derogatory terms as “pagans” and “idol worshippers” have now become dialogue partners, collaborators in projects of common concern and fellow pilgrims on the way to truth. To reach this stage, it took several years of study and discernment by the Church to accept African Traditional Religion as a religion that carries with it “the echo of thousands of years of searching for God,… (and is) impregnated with innumerable ‘seeds of the word’ and can constitute a true ‘preparation for the Gospel’.”[19] Dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion and pastoral attention to converts from the religion are considered as priority in the work of evangelisation in Africa today.
Yet what is now taken up as important engagement of the Church with followers of and converts from African Traditional Religion began outside the Church. To follow the progress so far made, we must take our minds back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries after the abolition of slave trade. There was need for Africans to establish themselves as worthy members of the world’s community. Yes, the devastating impact of slavery and the humiliating conscription of Africans by the Colonial masters and being dragged into battle-fields of the so called World War, meant that there was need to affirm African identity.
It all began in Paris, France. The year was 1934 when Negritude Movement was born. The leading figure was Leopold Sédar Senghor (later elected first President of Senegal in 1960), who along with AiméCesaire of Martinique and Léon Damas of French Guyana, challenged France’s “assimilation” programme which professed theoretically the equality of all human beings but which in reality asserted the superiority of European culture and civilisation. In a sense, the assimilation policy assumed that Africa had no history or culture. The concept of Negritude affirms “that the mystic warmth of African life, gaining strength from its closeness to nature and its constant contact with ancestors, should be continually placed in proper perspective against the soullessness and materialism of Western culture; that Africans must look to the richness of their past and of their cultural heritage in order to choose which values and traditions could be most useful to the modern world; that committed writers should not only use African subject matter and poetic traditions in their writings but should also inspire their readers with a desire for political freedom; that Negritude itself encompasses the whole of African cultural, economic, social, and political values; and that, above all, the value and dignity of African traditions and peoples must be asserted.”[20]
The Movement brought about black cultural revolution in literature by black students. A journal, L’Etudiant Noir was begun. Soon the echo of the message of the Movement reached several parts of Europe. It was very well received by Africans. And it led to the birth of another important group in Paris: Société Africaine de Culture (SAC). Africans in Germany (notably Freiburg) and Italy (Rome) came together and identified themselves with SAC. This is only a simplification and an abbreviation of a long story.
SAC expanded the scope of the area of interest of Senghor and his friends from literature (poetry and novels) to politics and even to theology. It began to publish the journal, Presence Africaine. The impact of the Society was phenomenal.
Interest in black culture began to spread around the world. Two historic Congresses of Black Writers and Artists were organised in Paris (1956) and in Rome (1959). In Paris, the participants agreed that African Traditional Religion held the deposit of African values and Black identity and it was indispensable for the construction of “African theology”. During the meeting in Rome, Pope John XXIII granted audience to the participants and addressed them in the following words:
We…follow with the greatest interest your efforts in searching for the basis of a cultural fellowship of African inspiration, and we express the wish that it may repose on the right criteria of truth and action…. The Church’s worldwide attention to the human resources of all peoples places her at the service of true world peace. She helps the elite that turn to her guidance, in developing the cultural possibilities of their country and their race, and in doing so, the Church invites them to collaborate harmoniously and in a spirit of deep understanding, with other currents issuing from authentic civilisations.[21]
The members of SAC expressed their desire to bring African contribution to the Second Vatican Council, which the Pope had just then convoked. Eventually they sent suggestions for “the creation of various organs for the implementation of the Conciliar decisions and for apostolic and pastoral co-ordination and guidance in Africa, as well as closer communion with Rome”.[22] The Council’s document, Nostra Aetate,which recommended dialogue with non-Christian religions, must have encouraged SAC to work out how to bring about proper understanding of African Traditional Religion and culture.
Another document of the Second Vatican Council, Ecclesiae sanctae, which provided guidelines for the implementation of the Council’s decree, Ad gentes, on the Missionary Activity of the Church, recommended setting up study groups and centres for research. In response to this recommendation, Vincent Mulago of the then Zaire in 1967 spearheaded the establishment of a Research Centre on African Traditional Religion attached to the Catholic Faculties of Theology, Kinshasa. This Centre (Centre d’Etudes des ReligionsAfricaines) has undertaken original research projects on African Traditional Religion. It has also organised symposia and published several books on African Traditional Religion and related subjects. It is still the best example in Africa of initiative to promote the study of African Traditional Religion and culture.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI published his historic document, Africae terrarum, in which he praised the value of African Traditional Religion and culture and encouraged Africans to hold tight to their rich spiritual heritage.[23] This was followed in 1968, by the publication of a booklet, entitled Meeting the African Religions, by the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Christians (renamed Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in 1988), as a contribution to the effort to deepen the knowledge of African Traditional Religion.
If Church leaders were encouraging the study of African Traditional Religion and values derived therefrom, it did not come from the blues. It was because many African scholars, and also non-Africans, were writing and there was abundant information on the traditional religion and related issues. These writings brought to light many aspects of the religion, African worldview, African religious and cultural values, African spirituality/religiosity, African person, etc.
In 1998 the World Council of Churches (WCC) during their Assembly in Harare rededicated itself to the “African dream and agenda for the 21st century”. This was an important step towards realising the hope of “greater understanding between Christians and people of other faiths and open new avenues for interaction and cooperation between peoples of faith”, especially in Africa. Sometimes the seeming hostile approach by some WCC member-Churches to African Traditional Religion makes it difficult for a common stand to be taken on the issue of dialogue with adherents of the traditional religion in Africa.
Meanwhile in the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II urged all Christians to treat followers of African Traditional Religion with respect. In his own words: “The adherents of African traditional Religion should…be treated with great respect and esteem, and all inaccurate and disrespectful language should be avoided.”[24]
Pope John Paul II has always demonstrated the Catholic Church’s high regard for Followers of African Traditional Religion as true dialogue partners. In 1986 he invited among several religious leaders, three representatives of followers of African Traditional Religion to the day of prayer in Assisi. The three were: Togbui Assenou of Togoville (Togo), Amegawi AttiwotoKlousse of Bé-Lomé (Togo) and Okomfo Kodwo Akom of Cape Coast (Ghana). During a prayer session, OkomfoAkom addressed God in the following words that came from profound faith:
Almighty God,
The Great Thumb we cannot evade to tie any knot;
The Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees;
The All-seeing Lord up on high
who sees even the footprints of an antelope
on a rock-mass here on earth;
You are the one who does not hesitate
to respond to our call;
You are the cornerstone of peace.
Sixteen years later, precisely 24 January 2002, the same Pope John Paul II invited leaders of various religious for yet another Day of Prayer for peace in the world. Among those he invited were a Priest of Vodun from Benin Republic and a Priestess of African Traditional Religion from Ghana.
It is not only in the Church circles that followers of African Traditional Religion have gained recognition. The Republic of Benin in West Africa is the home of practitioners of Vodun religion (one of the best organised/structured African Traditional Religion in Africa). From 1972 to 1989 the country was under Marxist-Leninist government with anti-religious campaign associated with it. When in 1990 democracy was introduced, the practitioners of Vodun religion were among the first beneficiaries. In 1993 there was an international Vodun festival. The same year Pope John Paul II visited the country and addressed the Vodun people. Both the international festival and the recognition by Pope John Paul II gave the religion an unprecedented visibility. The national day for the celebration of Vodun festival in Benin Republic is 10th January. It is a public holiday in the country.
CHALLENGES OF DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
Dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion has some challenges for those who are engaged in it. Let me highlight some of them.
Identifying Interlocutors
Dialogue means that there are two or more sides that interact. In dialogue with those that practice Islamic or Buddhist or Hindu religions, many Christians affirm that they have dialogue partners. There are people who say that there are no authentic partners on the other side of dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion. Some distinction must have to be made.
In dialogue ad extra, partners can be identified. But it is not always easy. There are some who are adherents of African Traditional Religion, but who would not want to present themselves in the public. This is the case in countries where Christian missionaries, for example, have denigrated African Traditional Religion so much that being identified with the religion is considered a sign of backwardness. Those who belong to the religion are looked upon as pagans, dangerous witches, etc. Those from countries without this negative image of African Traditional Religion do identify themselves and they are true dialogue partners. There are indeed in some countries priests, shrine-keepers, spirit-mediums, divines, doctors, disciples of great religious personalities of the past whose memory is well documented in oral tradition (for example Kintu and Mukasa of the Ganda people of Uganda), members of neo-traditional movements, who are often moved by the zeal to defend African heritage or to react against perceived disdain for everything African by people especially from the northern hemisphere.
In the case of dialogue ad intra, the individual is in dialogue within himself or herself. The quality of this dialogue depends on the level of preparation of the individual to appreciate the two worldviews provided, on the one hand, by African Traditional Religion, and, on the other, by Christianity or Islam.
Dealing with the Past Negative Image Created about the Religion
Already I have mentioned the difficulty of identifying oneself as a follower of African Traditional Religion because of the past negative presentation of the religion especially by Christian missionaries. In Nigeria the catechism book we used condemned unequivocally African Traditional Religion. The followers of the religion were derogatively referred to as uncivilised people and pagans. One hundred years after, the Church is talking about dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion, and some of the values of the religion are being praised! It is difficult to sell this new message among those who first heard the preaching of the early missionaries about the evils of African Traditional Religion
Working with Extremists
There are extremists in Africa, Christians and Muslims alike, who attack followers of African Traditional Religion. They use harsh words on them, telling them that unless they convert they will perish in hell fire. They occasionally attack worshippers and torch shrines of African Traditional Religion.
CONCLUSION
The influence of African Traditional Religion on African cultures and worldviews cannot be ignored. To understand an African Christian, it is important to take into consideration the role of this religion (ATR) in the construction of the categories of thought, which are used in interpreting events in life. The success of some African Independent Churches, which integrate Christian doctrine and practice with some aspects of African Traditional Religion, is an indication that Christianity will be the richer if it takes into account and inculturates many good and noble values found in the traditional religion of Africa.
There is still much work to be done. And a Kikuyu proverb says: “He whose seeds have not all germinated does not put down the seed container”.
______________________________________
[1] See Bibliography atwww.afrikaworld.net/afrel/atr_bibliography.htm
[2] I do not intend to enter into the argument of those who advocate that we should use the term in plural because there are as many Traditional Religions as there are ethnic groups in Africa or in singular because there are many common elements in religious expressions of different peoples of Africa that warrants considering the religion as one. It is true that the concept of Africa “is a fairly recent geopolitical construct and therefore is unlikely to correspond to any ontological reality informing, and mediated through, spiritual expressions some of which (like royal cults, cults of the land) can be demonstrated to have existed for centuries if not millennia on the soil of the African continent.” (cf. www.shikanda.net/African_religion/spirit.htm, p.2). It is also true that there are people who use the singular because they look down on Africa and consider Africans as incapable of having any significant spiritual depth. It is enough to select common elements found in the so-called primal religions.
[3] Thomas D. Blakely, et al. (ed.), Religion in Africa (London, 1994), p.17.
[4] Arthur G. Leonard, The Lower Niger and Its Tribes, (London, 1906), p.30
[5] Chidi Denis Isizoh, “Dialogue with African Traditional Religion in sub-Saharan Africa: The changing attitude of the Catholic Church,” in Christianity in Dialogue with African Traditional Religion, Seminar papers vol.1 (2001), p.19, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Vatican City.
[6] Bishops’ Conference of Uganda: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[7] Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[8] Bishops’ Conference of Ghana: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[9] Cf. Administrator of Somalia : Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[10] Bishops’ Conference of Zambia: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[11] Culture is described as comprising the “sum total of ideas, behaviour patterns, linguistic tradition, legacy of institutions and concepts of life, of the human person and of the world around that have been learned and passed on from generation to generation in a given society.” Peter Sarpong “Can Christianity Dialogue with African Traditional Religion,” Online.
[12]Religion in Africa , op.cit., p.18.
[13] Paul F. Knitter, Jesus and the Other Names (NY, 1996), p.14.
[14] Guidelines for Interfaith Dialogue [Online].
[15]Dignitatishumanae, 2.
[16]African Traditional Religion: A Definition, (NY, 1973), p.205.
[17] “A Critical Review of the Lineamenta,” in Maura Browne (ed.), The African Synod Documents, Reflections and Perspectives (NY, 1996), p.37.
[18] Leonardo N. Mercado, From Pagans to Partners: The Change in Catholic Attitudes towards Traditional Religion, Manila., 2000.
[19]Evangeliinuntiandi,53.
[20]The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 8, Micropaedia 15th edition, p.583.
[21] cf. Africa Pontificia, edited by S. Palermo, (Rome, 1993), p.584.
[22] Report to Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar by the Theological Committee, 1984.
[23]Africae terrarum, 7-11.
[24]L’Osservatore Romano, English Edition, 11 May, 1994, 7.
What the reports show is that the influence of African Traditional Religion is felt both overtly and covertly in many countries of Africa. There are still many people who practice African Traditional Religion. There are those who have converted to other religions but are living in a culture that is defined by Traditional Religion and, therefore, are still guided by some aspects of the religion. In Africa, those who leave African Traditional Religion, very often join Christianity or Islam. And the converts to the new religion take with them their worldview and their culture,[11] both of which are heavily influenced by the traditional religion. A convert to Christianity does not become exactly a Christian like an Italian, or German. She becomes an authentic South African or Ghanaian Christian with the values, and the categories of thought that are taught by African traditional religion and passed down the centuries through customs, proverbs, wise-sayings and traditional religious expressions. A convert to Islam does not become a true copy of Arabic Muslim from Saudi Arabia. His practice of Islamic religion is coloured by the culture of his people. This internalisation is possible because “Africans are translators, who by transculturating the incoming religious expressions, refit them for their own experiences and in so doing transform both expressions and experience.”[12]
NATURE OF DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
Dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion is rarely talked about in many circles and even among religious leaders. The adherents often remain in their local environment, as African Traditional Religion is not a missionary religion. In most countries, the followers are not aggressive. Indeed they are often described as very friendly to both Christians and Muslims. This has made some Christian leaders hesitate to talk about dialogue with them. Sometimes Christians wait in the hope that the adherents of African Traditional Religion will convert to Christianity. Such conversion does not always take place. Those who convert to Christianity still need what Cardinal Arinze has called “pastoral attention” to help them become integrated both externally and internally in the new religion. With both followers of and converts from African Traditional Religion, two forms of dialogue could be distinguished: dialogue ad extra,and dialogue ad intra.
Dialogue Ad Extra
Dialogue ad extra means ordinary interreligious relations which exist between adherents of African Traditional Religion and other believers. This has been defined by many scholars and religious leaders. For Knitter it is “the interaction of mutual presence…speaking and listening…witnessing the commitments, the values, the rituals of others.”[13] The Presbyterian Church of U.S.A. defines it as “witnessing to our deepest convictions and listening to those of our neighbours.”[14]
African Traditional Religion is a religion like other religions. Its adherents enjoy religious liberty. The document of the Catholic Church on human dignity, entitled Dignitatishumanae, published in 1965, states: “all men (sic) should be immune from coercion on the part of individuals, social groups and every human power so that, within due limits, nobody is forced to act against his convictions nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his convictions in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others.”[15]
Dialogue ad extra is witnessed in many villages of Africa where followers of African Traditional Religion live side-by-side with Christians and Muslims. The believers do not often talk about their religions. They live out what their religions have taught them about good neighbourliness, about honesty, dedication to duty, justice, service to one another, love, duties in the family, community development, etc. I know some men and women from my town who are followers of African Traditional Religion, whose way of life inspires me and whom I can describe as holy people.
Dialogue Ad Intra
This form of dialogue takes place within an individual who, although has inherited much from African Traditional Religion, now belongs to another religion and wants to integrate the values from the two religions. It could be called dialogue of worldviews (African Traditional Religion and another be it Christianity or Islam) within an individual. Sometimes it takes the form of inculturation of religious values.
Bolaji Idowu writes: “It is now becoming clear to the most optimistic of Christian evangelists that the main problem of the Church in Africa today is the divided loyalties of (some) of her members between Christianity with its western categories and practices on the one hand, and the traditional religion on the other. It is well known that in strictly personal matters relating to the passages of life and the crises of life, African Traditional Religion is regarded as the final succour by (some) Africans.”[16]
Dialogue ad intra is that form of dialogue to integrate different religious worldviews in a human person. It is basically non-verbal and its primary purpose is “to integrate the two world views so as to give the African Christian an integrated religious personality.”[17]
PROGRESS IN DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
A Philippine Priest published a book, entitled From Pagans to Partners.[18] I think that this title reflects the change, which has taken place in the last 100 years or more with reference to the attitude of Christians towards followers of African Traditional Religion. The early Christian Missionaries from the northern hemisphere to many parts of sub-Saharan Africa came with the “Good News of Jesus Christ”. But they did not come with this Good News in a neutral medium. They carried with them their worldview, and they interpreted events using their set categories of thought. Unfortunately they did not have all the opportunities we have today of benefiting from various fields of learning: anthropology, ethnology, sociology, missiology, etc. They gave various negative labels to African Traditional Religion: magic, esoteric practice, paganism, fetishism, animism, witchcraft, etc. The goal of missionary activities was to wipe out “this paganism” which was also considered barbaric by colonial masters (coming from the same stock and religio-cultural background as the missionaries).
What is witnessed today is that those followers of African Traditional Religion who were described in derogatory terms as “pagans” and “idol worshippers” have now become dialogue partners, collaborators in projects of common concern and fellow pilgrims on the way to truth. To reach this stage, it took several years of study and discernment by the Church to accept African Traditional Religion as a religion that carries with it “the echo of thousands of years of searching for God,… (and is) impregnated with innumerable ‘seeds of the word’ and can constitute a true ‘preparation for the Gospel’.”[19] Dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion and pastoral attention to converts from the religion are considered as priority in the work of evangelisation in Africa today.
Yet what is now taken up as important engagement of the Church with followers of and converts from African Traditional Religion began outside the Church. To follow the progress so far made, we must take our minds back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries after the abolition of slave trade. There was need for Africans to establish themselves as worthy members of the world’s community. Yes, the devastating impact of slavery and the humiliating conscription of Africans by the Colonial masters and being dragged into battle-fields of the so called World War, meant that there was need to affirm African identity.
It all began in Paris, France. The year was 1934 when Negritude Movement was born. The leading figure was Leopold Sédar Senghor (later elected first President of Senegal in 1960), who along with AiméCesaire of Martinique and Léon Damas of French Guyana, challenged France’s “assimilation” programme which professed theoretically the equality of all human beings but which in reality asserted the superiority of European culture and civilisation. In a sense, the assimilation policy assumed that Africa had no history or culture. The concept of Negritude affirms “that the mystic warmth of African life, gaining strength from its closeness to nature and its constant contact with ancestors, should be continually placed in proper perspective against the soullessness and materialism of Western culture; that Africans must look to the richness of their past and of their cultural heritage in order to choose which values and traditions could be most useful to the modern world; that committed writers should not only use African subject matter and poetic traditions in their writings but should also inspire their readers with a desire for political freedom; that Negritude itself encompasses the whole of African cultural, economic, social, and political values; and that, above all, the value and dignity of African traditions and peoples must be asserted.”[20]
The Movement brought about black cultural revolution in literature by black students. A journal, L’Etudiant Noir was begun. Soon the echo of the message of the Movement reached several parts of Europe. It was very well received by Africans. And it led to the birth of another important group in Paris: Société Africaine de Culture (SAC). Africans in Germany (notably Freiburg) and Italy (Rome) came together and identified themselves with SAC. This is only a simplification and an abbreviation of a long story.
SAC expanded the scope of the area of interest of Senghor and his friends from literature (poetry and novels) to politics and even to theology. It began to publish the journal, Presence Africaine. The impact of the Society was phenomenal.
Interest in black culture began to spread around the world. Two historic Congresses of Black Writers and Artists were organised in Paris (1956) and in Rome (1959). In Paris, the participants agreed that African Traditional Religion held the deposit of African values and Black identity and it was indispensable for the construction of “African theology”. During the meeting in Rome, Pope John XXIII granted audience to the participants and addressed them in the following words:
We…follow with the greatest interest your efforts in searching for the basis of a cultural fellowship of African inspiration, and we express the wish that it may repose on the right criteria of truth and action…. The Church’s worldwide attention to the human resources of all peoples places her at the service of true world peace. She helps the elite that turn to her guidance, in developing the cultural possibilities of their country and their race, and in doing so, the Church invites them to collaborate harmoniously and in a spirit of deep understanding, with other currents issuing from authentic civilisations.[21]
The members of SAC expressed their desire to bring African contribution to the Second Vatican Council, which the Pope had just then convoked. Eventually they sent suggestions for “the creation of various organs for the implementation of the Conciliar decisions and for apostolic and pastoral co-ordination and guidance in Africa, as well as closer communion with Rome”.[22] The Council’s document, Nostra Aetate,which recommended dialogue with non-Christian religions, must have encouraged SAC to work out how to bring about proper understanding of African Traditional Religion and culture.
Another document of the Second Vatican Council, Ecclesiae sanctae, which provided guidelines for the implementation of the Council’s decree, Ad gentes, on the Missionary Activity of the Church, recommended setting up study groups and centres for research. In response to this recommendation, Vincent Mulago of the then Zaire in 1967 spearheaded the establishment of a Research Centre on African Traditional Religion attached to the Catholic Faculties of Theology, Kinshasa. This Centre (Centre d’Etudes des ReligionsAfricaines) has undertaken original research projects on African Traditional Religion. It has also organised symposia and published several books on African Traditional Religion and related subjects. It is still the best example in Africa of initiative to promote the study of African Traditional Religion and culture.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI published his historic document, Africae terrarum, in which he praised the value of African Traditional Religion and culture and encouraged Africans to hold tight to their rich spiritual heritage.[23] This was followed in 1968, by the publication of a booklet, entitled Meeting the African Religions, by the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Christians (renamed Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in 1988), as a contribution to the effort to deepen the knowledge of African Traditional Religion.
If Church leaders were encouraging the study of African Traditional Religion and values derived therefrom, it did not come from the blues. It was because many African scholars, and also non-Africans, were writing and there was abundant information on the traditional religion and related issues. These writings brought to light many aspects of the religion, African worldview, African religious and cultural values, African spirituality/religiosity, African person, etc.
In 1998 the World Council of Churches (WCC) during their Assembly in Harare rededicated itself to the “African dream and agenda for the 21st century”. This was an important step towards realising the hope of “greater understanding between Christians and people of other faiths and open new avenues for interaction and cooperation between peoples of faith”, especially in Africa. Sometimes the seeming hostile approach by some WCC member-Churches to African Traditional Religion makes it difficult for a common stand to be taken on the issue of dialogue with adherents of the traditional religion in Africa.
Meanwhile in the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II urged all Christians to treat followers of African Traditional Religion with respect. In his own words: “The adherents of African traditional Religion should…be treated with great respect and esteem, and all inaccurate and disrespectful language should be avoided.”[24]
Pope John Paul II has always demonstrated the Catholic Church’s high regard for Followers of African Traditional Religion as true dialogue partners. In 1986 he invited among several religious leaders, three representatives of followers of African Traditional Religion to the day of prayer in Assisi. The three were: Togbui Assenou of Togoville (Togo), Amegawi AttiwotoKlousse of Bé-Lomé (Togo) and Okomfo Kodwo Akom of Cape Coast (Ghana). During a prayer session, OkomfoAkom addressed God in the following words that came from profound faith:
Almighty God,
The Great Thumb we cannot evade to tie any knot;
The Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees;
The All-seeing Lord up on high
who sees even the footprints of an antelope
on a rock-mass here on earth;
You are the one who does not hesitate
to respond to our call;
You are the cornerstone of peace.
Sixteen years later, precisely 24 January 2002, the same Pope John Paul II invited leaders of various religious for yet another Day of Prayer for peace in the world. Among those he invited were a Priest of Vodun from Benin Republic and a Priestess of African Traditional Religion from Ghana.
It is not only in the Church circles that followers of African Traditional Religion have gained recognition. The Republic of Benin in West Africa is the home of practitioners of Vodun religion (one of the best organised/structured African Traditional Religion in Africa). From 1972 to 1989 the country was under Marxist-Leninist government with anti-religious campaign associated with it. When in 1990 democracy was introduced, the practitioners of Vodun religion were among the first beneficiaries. In 1993 there was an international Vodun festival. The same year Pope John Paul II visited the country and addressed the Vodun people. Both the international festival and the recognition by Pope John Paul II gave the religion an unprecedented visibility. The national day for the celebration of Vodun festival in Benin Republic is 10th January. It is a public holiday in the country.
CHALLENGES OF DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
Dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion has some challenges for those who are engaged in it. Let me highlight some of them.
Identifying Interlocutors
Dialogue means that there are two or more sides that interact. In dialogue with those that practice Islamic or Buddhist or Hindu religions, many Christians affirm that they have dialogue partners. There are people who say that there are no authentic partners on the other side of dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion. Some distinction must have to be made.
In dialogue ad extra, partners can be identified. But it is not always easy. There are some who are adherents of African Traditional Religion, but who would not want to present themselves in the public. This is the case in countries where Christian missionaries, for example, have denigrated African Traditional Religion so much that being identified with the religion is considered a sign of backwardness. Those who belong to the religion are looked upon as pagans, dangerous witches, etc. Those from countries without this negative image of African Traditional Religion do identify themselves and they are true dialogue partners. There are indeed in some countries priests, shrine-keepers, spirit-mediums, divines, doctors, disciples of great religious personalities of the past whose memory is well documented in oral tradition (for example Kintu and Mukasa of the Ganda people of Uganda), members of neo-traditional movements, who are often moved by the zeal to defend African heritage or to react against perceived disdain for everything African by people especially from the northern hemisphere.
In the case of dialogue ad intra, the individual is in dialogue within himself or herself. The quality of this dialogue depends on the level of preparation of the individual to appreciate the two worldviews provided, on the one hand, by African Traditional Religion, and, on the other, by Christianity or Islam.
Dealing with the Past Negative Image Created about the Religion
Already I have mentioned the difficulty of identifying oneself as a follower of African Traditional Religion because of the past negative presentation of the religion especially by Christian missionaries. In Nigeria the catechism book we used condemned unequivocally African Traditional Religion. The followers of the religion were derogatively referred to as uncivilised people and pagans. One hundred years after, the Church is talking about dialogue with followers of African Traditional Religion, and some of the values of the religion are being praised! It is difficult to sell this new message among those who first heard the preaching of the early missionaries about the evils of African Traditional Religion
Working with Extremists
There are extremists in Africa, Christians and Muslims alike, who attack followers of African Traditional Religion. They use harsh words on them, telling them that unless they convert they will perish in hell fire. They occasionally attack worshippers and torch shrines of African Traditional Religion.
CONCLUSION
The influence of African Traditional Religion on African cultures and worldviews cannot be ignored. To understand an African Christian, it is important to take into consideration the role of this religion (ATR) in the construction of the categories of thought, which are used in interpreting events in life. The success of some African Independent Churches, which integrate Christian doctrine and practice with some aspects of African Traditional Religion, is an indication that Christianity will be the richer if it takes into account and inculturates many good and noble values found in the traditional religion of Africa.
There is still much work to be done. And a Kikuyu proverb says: “He whose seeds have not all germinated does not put down the seed container”.
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[1] See Bibliography atwww.afrikaworld.net/afrel/atr_bibliography.htm
[2] I do not intend to enter into the argument of those who advocate that we should use the term in plural because there are as many Traditional Religions as there are ethnic groups in Africa or in singular because there are many common elements in religious expressions of different peoples of Africa that warrants considering the religion as one. It is true that the concept of Africa “is a fairly recent geopolitical construct and therefore is unlikely to correspond to any ontological reality informing, and mediated through, spiritual expressions some of which (like royal cults, cults of the land) can be demonstrated to have existed for centuries if not millennia on the soil of the African continent.” (cf. www.shikanda.net/African_religion/spirit.htm, p.2). It is also true that there are people who use the singular because they look down on Africa and consider Africans as incapable of having any significant spiritual depth. It is enough to select common elements found in the so-called primal religions.
[3] Thomas D. Blakely, et al. (ed.), Religion in Africa (London, 1994), p.17.
[4] Arthur G. Leonard, The Lower Niger and Its Tribes, (London, 1906), p.30
[5] Chidi Denis Isizoh, “Dialogue with African Traditional Religion in sub-Saharan Africa: The changing attitude of the Catholic Church,” in Christianity in Dialogue with African Traditional Religion, Seminar papers vol.1 (2001), p.19, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Vatican City.
[6] Bishops’ Conference of Uganda: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[7] Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[8] Bishops’ Conference of Ghana: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[9] Cf. Administrator of Somalia : Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[10] Bishops’ Conference of Zambia: Replies to the Lineamentain preparation for the 1994 African Synod.
[11] Culture is described as comprising the “sum total of ideas, behaviour patterns, linguistic tradition, legacy of institutions and concepts of life, of the human person and of the world around that have been learned and passed on from generation to generation in a given society.” Peter Sarpong “Can Christianity Dialogue with African Traditional Religion,” Online.
[12]Religion in Africa , op.cit., p.18.
[13] Paul F. Knitter, Jesus and the Other Names (NY, 1996), p.14.
[14] Guidelines for Interfaith Dialogue [Online].
[15]Dignitatishumanae, 2.
[16]African Traditional Religion: A Definition, (NY, 1973), p.205.
[17] “A Critical Review of the Lineamenta,” in Maura Browne (ed.), The African Synod Documents, Reflections and Perspectives (NY, 1996), p.37.
[18] Leonardo N. Mercado, From Pagans to Partners: The Change in Catholic Attitudes towards Traditional Religion, Manila., 2000.
[19]Evangeliinuntiandi,53.
[20]The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 8, Micropaedia 15th edition, p.583.
[21] cf. Africa Pontificia, edited by S. Palermo, (Rome, 1993), p.584.
[22] Report to Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar by the Theological Committee, 1984.
[23]Africae terrarum, 7-11.
[24]L’Osservatore Romano, English Edition, 11 May, 1994, 7.
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