African religion and Western religion, what is the difference
5 min readOur prophets were referred to as witchdoctors by Western powers, Our colour (black Africans) was liken to the image of a devil, Our saints (ancestors) were referred to as small gods, our traditions were referred to as barbaric, Oh!!! Why the Africans, go back to your roots and harvest those good values our ancestors adhere in search for peace and solutions while problems came.
We practice western traditions without fear against our traditions. It is worthy to note that our traditions are the same like those of the West, have you ever ask yourself why a church or churches in Africa will always practice but Western traditions in their churches? Whether Christianity or Islam are all good religion of course, but the question is why not take our good Africsn tradition to another level.
As days passes by, Africans keep on asking this rhetorical questions on where is my tradition but at the same time failed to give credible answers to it. when in a dilemma of fictional answers they will feel cheated by the European colonial masters and their (tradition) religion.
case study Nso tribe and their Tradition
We the Africans, the Nso people in particular have their gods to worship before the coming of the Europeans to Africa with western religion, Christianity in particular. Long ago the Nso people with the aid of their chief priest use to gathered in many occasions and in worship days by virtue of the traditional demands and spiritual assistance to give thanks to their gods for providing food, water, life and shelter to the people of Nso, though it is still happening today but decaying in a fast rate.
The worship of God the Almighty through Ancestors in both religion
The Nso people worship the Almighty God through their ancestors but for the Europeans to discredit the African way of worship, they referred to our ancestors as gods and told us that our way of worship was barbaric and ungodly and said that their own way of worship was the best. The way the Christians do pray by evoking the believers who have already died referred to as saint for example saint Anthony, saint Peter, saint Joseph, saint Paul,etc is the same way the Africans in their traditional incantation do evoke their ancestors when they are praying and worshiping God the Almighty, they always pass their massage through the names of the already death believers as the Nso people will always evoke their great ancestors like saint yeh biy , saint wirnkar, saint tah biy, saint yeh suum, saint wirkom, etc
The dedicated days of worship in both religion
the Nso people are even more believing in God than the Western world since they have two official days of worship that is kilovey and ngolum till today though not effective to the required standard, and the European and their own religion have only one that is Sunday is the sign that the Africans had a better way of worship than the Europeans. And when nature some refuses to function like the rain not falling, too much soon strong win, low harvest, the people of Nso will always gathered and pray to God give solutions to these happenings and there is always an immediate answers to these problems
The evolution of both religion
It worthy to note that the Africans needed only to developed their own religion to a modern way like the Europeans did developed their own from the old testament to the new testament, and their own will be more credential than the western religion. thus if the Africans could have developed their own tradition the European could have been following but ours. this means that our tradition is not a bad religion as perceive by the Europeans. This is the same way the Africans have eliminate some practices which in which are immoral and against the godly way like burying of living a person together with death fons or chiefs
There was still time for the Africans to developed their own religion
The Europeans being so brutal and determine to destroy the African tradition forcefully introduce their own religion in Africa while there was still time fore the Africans to developed their own religion, was a big slap own the faces of the African practice.
prophet and soothsayers/chief priest( ngaah shiiv in Nso language)
though many will be confuse of these category of persons, they main one and the same thing, the chief priest in African tradition is the same like a prophet in the western world. in Africa , and Nso in particular, the chief priest(ngaah shiiv) do foresee into the future, give prophesies, heal and perform miracles. while in the western world and their religion, do have prophet who also do what the African chief priest does, that is the prophet heal spiritually, foresee into the future, and give prophesies. thus these two religion glorify God the Almighty but only differ in their ways of worship
False Prophet and False Chief Priest( ngaah shiiv)
it is a human nature and the nature of creation that every thing is made up of both the good and the bad part of it, like in the case of the false prophets and the false soothsayers in Western and African religion respectively is a sign of both religion having ups and downs in the process of it application. Now in the western and African religion they are many false prophet and many false soothsayers who are out to destroy the good things of God the Almighty and replaces them with evil. Hence both the African and the western religion condemn the emergence of evil their religion.
Christianity in Africa is the development of the African tradition
One must by true presentation of facts be convince that there is morality in Africa than in the Western world. Morality being the back bone of African traditions and Christianity is fast decaying in the Western world and reversely rising in Africa. This is a clear fact that the African tradition glorified God than the western religion. There are so many things in which the Bible forbid and the western world is fast gaining grounds on it, a good example is homosexual practice which is normal in western world. Thus, our traditions only need to be developed to suit the moral standard
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
