Religious extremisim and its effects on African unity

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Religious extremism is on the rise and Africa has not been spared either. According to Pew Research Center, the number of people who say they are religiously affiliated has declined in recent years, while the number of people who say they are religiously unaffiliated has increased. At the same time, the percentage of people who say that they are very religious has increased.


A group of Islamic extremists in West Africa.

A week ago the media reported on a case where a Christian student in Nigeria was burnt alive by her fellow students over the accusation of blasphemy. This shows that extreme religious beliefs can lead to violence and conflict, as well as social and political instability. The student, Deborah Samuel was attacked after she condemned the sharing of religious messages on an academic WhatsApp group. Her fellow Muslim students interpreted it as blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad.


The act that occurred in Shehu Shagari College of Education was inhuman. The college was closed immediately and later on, several human rights organizations and international governments condemned the killing. Religions are good and most of them preach peace and tolerance but some followers have been practising things that are not godly.


The holy Quran states clearly that freedom of religion is a God-given right. (Ref. Quran 2:256)


In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus explained that loving your neighbour as yourself is the second most important commandment after loving your creator.


Effects of religious extremism on Africa

We must accept that religions are purposed to unite humankind and guide them in their daily living. Let it also be known that religious discrimination is ungodly. The responsibility to punish anyone who goes against any religion should exclusively be left to the creator. We should also put in mind that Christian terrorism, as well as Muslim terrorism, has been reported in some parts of Africa.


As Africans we have been divided across different religions, the effects are numberless but some include;


1.      Disunity among Africans

In the words of Prof. Chinua Achebe;

“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”


Different religions make it hard for Africans to reason together on matters affecting their societies. Sadly, Africans who lived together for ages now fight each other because of religious misunderstandings. Some cannot interact freely or marry, the reason being person X is not of my religion.


2.      Indoctrination

Africans before religions were a spiritual people. Different religious people think contrarily. As Africans, some religious beliefs conflict with our African values. The first is the personality of the creator, Western religions teach us that God is white and that satan is black, this has greatly affected black people, it has majorly contributed to them feeling inferior. The African God had no colour.


There is this famous quote from Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's independence hero, that says when the Whiteman came to Africa, he had the Bible and Africans had the land. He taught us to pray and when we opened our eyes, the Whiteman had the land and we had the Bible. This shows that religions were used to colonize Africa. They were used to break the African fighting spirit against colonialism and slavery.


3.      Creating a sense of fear and timidity

As stated above, religions were used to colonize Africans and this was achieved through the spread of fear of hellfire. This is the same doctrine that has been used by predominant religious leaders to take advantage of the poor. Most sermons today are about paying tithes or you will miss out on God’s blessings. This has made Africans gather huge sums of money to enrich fewer greedy religious leaders. This is done contrary to them organizing harambees to build schools, hospitals, factories, etc.


4.      Discrimination against women

Most religions regard women as subjects of men. In most religious houses women are not allowed to lead or make important decisions. Unsurprisingly, the holy books have verses supporting the handling of women as less superior to men. It is also believed that the books were written by men. Most men like in the case of Samson messed up and the blame was shifted to women like Delilah.

On the other hand, in traditional African spirituality women were regarded as gods, life came from a woman and they were the closest link to the spiritual world.


5.      Religions have inhibited Africa’s development

Most of the religious practices are conservative. Religious people believe that God decides the fate of everything in a person's life including bad days. Critical thinking has not been encouraged in Africa. 


Spirituality seemed to work well for Africans, their urge to understand and move closer to the creator made them advance in science, architecture, philosophy, medicine, education, etc.


Christian Terrorism in CAR.

We all agree that religions were intended to impact human lives positively but they have been used otherwise. It is true that how they were used in the beginning, is how they are used today, to the disadvantage of Africans. What we should do as Africans is to apply critical thinking when practising those religions. We should also understand that humanity comes before anything else including religious beliefs.

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