Understanding the African Traditional Religion

The African Traditional Religion is a religion practiced on the African continent. It is the indigenous religion of Africans with its own distinct features and character of the people who practice it just as Islam has the character of the Arabs, Judaism of the Jews, and Hindus of the Indians. Like other religions, it is difficult to tell when this religion originated but we know it is as old as the Africans.

The African Traditional Religion is not totally different from other religions even though it came under sever the criticisms of the early Europeans who came to Africa to propagate Christianity. This religion was handed down to Africans in oral form exactly the same way other religions emanated and is a way of life of the Africans. This may become reflective in the day to day attitude of the African. Thus the tenets and ideas of this religion exist largely in oral forms and are still very much understood by the Africans themselves who practice the religion.

Another interesting feature of this religion is that it has no sacred book which has caused some critics to readily misleadingly conclude that it is not a revealed religion or religion of the book. Some have also labeled the religion, a religion of backward people. The African traditional religion has no imposing and magnificent buildings such as those of the churches, mosques, temple, pagodas where worshippers could troop in and out to worship. This development has portrayed the religion in bad light in the eyes of the early Europeans that came to the continent.

African Traditional Religion can best be understood through oral and non-oral devices. These oral devices are still living with Africans today and are expressed mostly in proverbs, names, songs and others. The non-oral devices consist of artifacts mostly recovered from archeological excavations and some present day art works. Contrary to the beliefs of the early European visitors to the continent, Africans hold the idea that an Almighty God exists, creator of Heaven and Earth.

“Chukwudi” (There is God) is a popular name in Ibo land, South-East of Nigeria best justifies this idea. It is therefore incontrovertible that even before the coming of the Europeans Africans had clear the knowledge of the existence of God. God therefore did not come to the African continent with the Europeans. The Europeans only came with their own version of God. And the African Traditional Religion supports this fact even indisputably.

In fact what these early visitors to Africa did was to attempt to destroy the continued existence of the religion together with its values by labeling it an evil religion from the dark continent, full of savages, a religion which highly glorifies the Devil implicitly suggesting that nothing good can come out of an evil place such as Africa the land of all sorts evils and vices. Interestingly, some Africans bought this idea hook, line and sinker. Africans had always known that a true Supreme God existed.

The Europeans and other visitors to the continent did this in order to achieve their full aim of propagating religions hitherto strange to the people of the continent.

Incidentally, to a very large extent, they succeeded because of the geographical condition of the continent which rendered the understanding of the continent almost impossible, multiplicity of cultures and ethnic –nationalities in the continent also contributed to this development. It was this diverseness in the cultures of Africans that led to generalization.

However, we know today that all religions are exactly the same in terms of beliefs and ideas. All religions hold the existence of a being(s) supreme to man and the African Traditional Religion cannot be an exception