It is very disturbing and embarrassing to have Africans, and our traditional religious values are tilting downwards. In his book; "How Europe makes Africa underdeveloped," Walter Rodney believes that Africa's destructive underdevelopment can be traced back to the cultural and political imperialism of colonial masters. However, we do not care about political imperialism here. Instead, we focus on the religious imperialism of foreign missionaries against Africa.
Before the emergence of these missionaries, Africa had its own system of traditional religions and beliefs. For example, in northern Nigeria, the dominant traditional religion is TheBòrríí. B女rríí's priestess is called Inna, who communicates with the spirit through an ecstatic dance ceremony. This ritual act protects society and provides healing and divination for the people. In the southeast of Nigeria, the dominant traditional religion is called ddnnàn, Chúkwú as a high god, and ggbàrà or llúsí as a lesser spirit. In the southwest, yorubas worships the traditional God, Ólódumarè, likes through fewer gods or rrsasa; Orúnmllà [high priest], ggún [the god of iron], Yemoja [mother of water], Sàngó [the god of fire and thunder], Gorgeous Yeye Osnn [Sàngó's second wife] and Oya [Sàngó's third wife]. With the introduction of foreign religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, these traditional religions gradually began to disappear.
Today, these foreign religious beliefs have penetrated the entire African continent, and most Africans, including Nigerians, no longer worship their traditional God. To make matters worse, most people think that traditional religion is uncivilized and belongs to local, poor and barbaric people. The Pew Research Center [China] reported a case study in Nigeria. As of 2012, 49.3% of Nigeria's population were Christians, 48.8% were Muslims, and 1.9% of followers of traditional religious believers. This is very embarrassing and disturbing. This report shows that we have just abandoned and neglected our own traditional religion and removed the shelters in foreign religions.
Yes, the missionaries portrayed their religion as the only true religion, but it is normal for them. Every child is a product of his time. Let us consider this scenario to illustrate better. A British man walked to the grave and commemorated his dead brother by placing beautiful flowers on the grave. After that, he turned to his right and saw a Chinese man who also commemorated his dead sister by pouring rice on the grave. Seeing this, the British man smiled and said; "Do you think your dead sister will get up and eat the rice?" The Chinese replied; "If you think that your dead brother will stand up and smell your flowers, then My dead sister should also stand up and eat my meal." In China, rice is highly valued, and in the UK, rice is more valued. My point is this, because missionaries defend their indigenous religions, and we Africans should also value and defend our traditional religions.
Unfortunately, the eradication of these religions seems to be an impossible task because of the undeniable fact that these foreign religions are deeply rooted in the African centre. However, measures can still be taken to address the negligence of our traditional religious values. Therefore, my panacea for this cultural disease is a religious adaptation. Religious adaptation is the process of integrating the basic elements of other religions into our own. Let me explain it better. Since a key feature of these foreign religions is the sacred text or the Bible, such as; the Qur'an, which contains the corners of religion, we Africans can also invent the sacred script of our traditional religion, which contains our story of earthly creation, our earthy Religious laws, as well as stories and powers that contain our traditional gods; Sàngó, ggún, etc. The latter was previously orally administered. This sacred text should also be written in different languages inside and outside Africa. In addition, since the priesthood of these foreign religions is to publicize and publicize their religion, our high-level practices and priestess should do the same.
To be honest, it will take years or even decades to start using this panacea. But with determination and perseverance, we will realize and regenerate our traditional religious values. After all, "the great city of Rome is not built in one day." Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. are not African religions. As Africans, we should be proud to raise our indigenous beliefs and return to our traditional religions instead of killing them with foreign religious beliefs. Thus, for example, when doing so in Nigeria, the percentage of traditional religious believers is 1.9%, which will increase to a more reasonable percentage.
Orignal From: Return to traditional African religion
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