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. |
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