I've been wondering why christians and muslims assume that ATR is demonic, wicked, anti-people and all other negative attributes. Personally,i don't care much about religion of any kind (really don't know why) but I don't think christianity or islam is any better than ATR. If anything,ATR is better being that our society was a lot better when these new religions were far from us. People were saner, family and communual bonds were stronger.people were afraid to do evil. Take our politicians for example, if they were made to take oath of office using a well prepared pot of "something" prepared by a great babalawo/dibia, very few of them would even contemplate being corrupt.
Don't even get me started on the moral decadence afflicting our present societies. In time past, our parents were married as virgins. Marriage had more meaning. Even with the polygamy, there was peace and harmony. What do we have today? Well, you tell me. Meanwhile,90% are members of one religious group or another.
I know most of you will be quick to inform me that practitioners of ATR wicked, can afflict others with terrible ailments or worse still, can kill with reckless abandon, but what do you think you are doing when you pray "let all my enemies die by fire"? Imagine if all such prayers were answered, people for don die finish. And the muslims? Ask boko haram.
All in all, we should stop attributing evil to ATR just because a white man told us that he has the true god and ours are just, well, demonic.

This is the tool of infection and brainwashing from invaders.

My tradition aint evil....christians and muslim are crusading and jihading....african tradition do not.

A Yoruba proverb says, "A kole birikoto, a ni ki Orisa gba a; bi ko ba gba a, ko lo sigbee ko lo sa eke, ko lo sodan lo ho okun, ko mo bi agara-a ti ndani."
In English, it means that, if you build a shrine for your God or Orisa. And your god does not want the shrine or appreciate your effort. You do not have to worry. You also have the right as a man to ask the Orisa to go into the forest to cut stakes, grass land for vines to build his or her shrine.

No one is forcing you or threatening you with hell. I love ATF

Soon u will know and again soon u will know. Time shall tell

Most Nollywood movies tend to potray a foreign vs traditional religion scenario where the foreign is good and the traditional is evil. As long as we accept the Gods of others, we accept an existence of servitude. When we finally remember that our own kingdom has been taken away, when we finally look to ourselves as our own Gods, then and only then will we be free of this spell of ignorance which have lead us into slavery and servitude to others and their Gods. The only way to return to where we were is to undo that which was done, There must be unity between all our people, if not physically then at least mentally. We must have a agenda for the future, an agenda that will better the lives of all our people.

the gods are wise...

the gods are wise..

Because the White man said so.

why do we look down on our traditional attires ?

Because the white man does so.

why do most of us claim not to speak our mother tongues and fake some foreign accents ?

Because the white man told us that everything we have is evil and destructive.

Horus: Most Nollywood movies tend to potray a foreign vs traditional religion scenario where the foreign is good and the traditional is evil. As long as we accept the Gods of others, we accept an existence of servitude. When we finally remember that our own kingdom has been taken away, when we finally look to ourselves as our own Gods, then and only then will we be free of this spell of ignorance which have lead us into slavery and servitude to others and their Gods. The only way to return to where we were is to undo that which was done, There must be unity between all our people, if not physically then at least mentally. We must have a agenda for the future, an agenda that will better the lives of all our people.

I couldn't agree more.we as a people have lost our identity. To please the white man, we despise our very existence, we hate ourselves to love the whiteman. Trampling on our gods to worship the white god. We as a race have lost our identity because we can only gain the white man's salvation by embracing his god.

thoth: Because the White man said so.

why do we look down on our traditional attires ?

Because the white man does so.

why do most of us claim not to speak our mother tongues and fake some foreign accents ?

Because the white man told us that everything we have is evil and destructive.

Yes, he said we can only live by hating ourselves. It's a pity where we are. A lost race with no sense of self.

adahib:

Yes, he said we can only live by hating ourselves. It's a pity where we are. A lost race with no sense of self.

So marry a traditional and help build it back up. That's what I did. It starts with us.

MamiWata:

So marry a traditional and help build it back up. That's what I did. It starts with us.

Or teach your children that the imported religions are bullshȋt and warn them to guard their minds against the indoctrination they will inevitably face from christian and muslim evangelists fanatics.

Evil Brain:

Or teach your children that the imported religions are bullshȋt and warn them to guard their minds against the indoctrination they will inevitably face from christian and muslim evangelists fanatics.

Absolutely. We have to prepare our children for an onslaught of negativity from day one!

direct this questions to African Christians and Muslims. I used to hate everything African before, I was a total brainwashed fool- couldn't speak Yoruba, didn't even have the accent to say the words I knew properly, hated Adire and all native wears, hated African music, hated African religions I thought they were devil worshipers. But all that ended when I went back to my home town for the first time in 8years, I began to speak Yoruba by force cus all those old men and women didn't understand English. My trip to Ekiti that year, made me realise that nothing could be better than being A Yoruba African. I went to Osun state after that to learn more about Yoruba history, I got invited to Osun shrine, and then my interest in Yoruba religion started, I began to ask questions, read books and met with Orisa Osun worshipers. I came to the conclusion that Christianity and Islam are enemies of Africa- these religions make u think ur people are not people of God, that only them are destined for heaven, and unless u believe what they believe u go to hell.

Evil Brain:

Or teach your children that the imported religions are bullshȋt and warn them to guard their minds against the indoctrination they will inevitably face from christian and muslim evangelists fanatics.

Very true...

macof: direct this questions to African Christians and Muslims. I used to hate everything African before, I was a total brainwashed fool- couldn't speak Yoruba, didn't even have the accent to say the words I knew properly, hated Adire and all native wears, hated African music, hated African religions I thought they were devil worshipers. But all that ended when I went back to my home town for the first time in 8years, I began to speak Yoruba by force cus all those old men and women didn't understand English. My trip to Ido-Ekiti that year, made me realise that nothing could be better than being A Yoruba African. I went to Osun state after that to learn more about Yoruba history, I got invited to Osun shrine, and then my interest in Yoruba religion started, I began to ask questions, read books and met with Orisa Osun worshipers. I came to the conclusion that Christianity and Islam are enemies of Africa- these religions make u think ur people are not people of God, that only them are destined for heaven, and unless u believe what they believe u go to hell.

Thanks for sharing your story.

The Present enemy of Africans culture and religion are the Pentecostals, whom has exploited the bad leadership in Africa and the hardship that follows to make millions out of people, they castigate anything African, they try to speak foreign accent, they force people to change their traditional names and take up names like Edwards, Moses,David etc.

They alienate people from their family, making sure that you can not get assistance for any close relatives, they tell you it is your father, mother, brother or sister that is making you not to progress. They tell you to stop going to age grade meetings, some even will go as far to tell you to stop going back to your village entirely.
Those victims of theirs are left in a perpetual state of paranoia with no source of assistance except the bloody pastor since he or she has alienated almost everybody close to them. The only new family they have are church friends who are also in the same scam as they are.

It is quite a shame really.

thoth: The Present enemy of Africans culture and religion are the Pentecostals, whom has exploited the bad leadership in Africa and the hardship that follows to make millions out of people, they castigate anything African, they try to speak foreign accent, they force people to change their traditional names and take up names like Edwards, Moses,David etc.

They alienate people from their family, making sure that you can not get assistance for any close relatives, they tell you it is your father, mother, brother or sister that is making you not to progress. They tell you to stop going to age grade meetings, some even will go as far to tell you to stop going back to your village entirely.
Those victims of there are left in a perpetual state of paranoia with no source of assistance except the bloody pastor since he or she has alienated almost everybody close to them. The only new family they have are church friends who are also in the same scam as they are.

It is quite a shame really.

Brother if you were close by,i would have have given you a handshake. You are spot-on. A few weeks ago,i traveled home to participate in a local festival, my christians friends won't let me hear the end of it till this day. They queried why I had to go to my village, why I had to sit with my elders and share a cup.i was irritated to no end. I mean, do I need to abandon my village and my people because one clown somewhere said they are evil? Oh please, cut a brother some slack.

macof: direct this questions to African Christians and Muslims. I used to hate everything African before, I was a total brainwashed fool- couldn't speak Yoruba, didn't even have the accent to say the words I knew properly, hated Adire and all native wears, hated African music, hated African religions I thought they were devil worshipers. But all that ended when I went back to my home town for the first time in 8years, I began to speak Yoruba by force cus all those old men and women didn't understand English. My trip to Ido-Ekiti that year, made me realise that nothing could be better than being A Yoruba African. I went to Osun state after that to learn more about Yoruba history, I got invited to Osun shrine, and then my interest in Yoruba religion started, I began to ask questions, read books and met with Orisa Osun worshipers. I came to the conclusion that Christianity and Islam are enemies of Africa- these religions make u think ur people are not people of God, that only them are destined for heaven, and unless u believe what they believe u go to hell.

Gbam! U just hit d nail on d head. i just realised, recently, i've been decieved, i've bin told a lie. I've bin brain washed, just like so many of us africans, to hate my culture, religion, history and anything african.
But i just discovered it was a grand plan to conquer and put d africans under perpetual slavery. Like some1 said, let all our public office holders swear by our local gods; sango, esu etc i bet non will and if any does, he'll never steal, cos deep down dey know d african gods are real and deliver swift justice without favour. So they are comfortable with d imported religions; xtianity & islam.
I'll @ dis jncture entreat all africans to discover ourselves, read, reason, think, use ur heads, stop been afraid of whatever dey (xtianity & islam) tells u just to scare u from thinking deeply, cos dey know when u do, u'll discover d truth. Personally, right now in my life, am in a state of discovery, still studying and seeking d truth. I still pray in d name of jesus and read d bible just 4 d sake of my family and pple around me, cos dey cant deal with d truth. But within me i know d truth

Every society fashions its Gods in its own image. Early Israelites, essentially a fighting nomadic wandering people seeking a homeland required a God who would fight for them, was wrathful and would seek vengeance on successive generations and they found it in Yahweh. Societies in the far east, more sophisticated, developed and affluent fashioned Gods to reflect their mien, unlike their counterparts in the Levant, they did not seek a God of retribution e.t.c, more content, they sought Gods to perpetuate their well-being, a perusal of the Vedhas, bhagavad gita tantra, or the great books of the Tibetan dead reveal a belief system far more sophisticated than anything early Canaanites could comprehend.

African traditional religions reflect more accurately the descriptions of our society and societal norms, they should be better understood, enhanced if possible and documented for posterity.

simple reason, IGNORANCE!!!!!

CHARLOE:
Gbam! U just hit d nail on d head. i just realised, recently, i've been decieved, i've bin told a lie. I've bin brain washed, just like so many of us africans, to hate my culture, religion, history and anything african.
But i just discovered it was a grand plan to conquer and put d africans under perpetual slavery. Like some1 said, let all our public office holders swear by our local gods; sango, esu etc i bet non will and if any does, he'll never steal, cos deep down dey know d african gods are real and deliver swift justice without favour. So they are comfortable with d imported religions; xtianity & islam.
I'll @ dis jncture entreat all africans to discover ourselves, read, reason, think, use ur heads, stop been afraid of whatever dey (xtianity & islam) tells u just to scare u from thinking deeply, cos dey know when u do, u'll discover d truth. Personally, right now in my life, am in a state of discovery, still studying and seeking d truth. I still pray in d name of jesus and read d bible just 4 d sake of my family and pple around me, cos dey cant deal with d truth. But within me i know d truth

You are not the only one who has been deceived. The entire black race. The important thing is how we claw our way out of this self-hate we've been submerged in. we need to tell ourselves that there is good in our culture, our religion, our way of life. We can't continue to please the whiteman by denying ourselves. African traditional religion is not demonic like we've been made to believe, it's our very essence.

I shared my opinion with a friend today.guess what she did? She left my house in anger promising to never return until I ask "god" for forgiveness. All I did was smile and wave her goodbye. How deep down the hole of self-loath have we gone? Damn! We are lost.

adahib: I shared my opinion with a friend today.guess what she did? She left my house in anger promising to never return until I ask "god" for forgiveness. All I did was smile and wave her goodbye. How deep down the hole of self-loath have we gone? Damn! We are lost.

Very sad.


It is rather unfortunate that some Nigerians do not even stop and think about their heritage before accepting foreign ones to their detriment...

I couldn't agree more. If you hear some of the pastors preach, you will weep for africans. It's so bad that now there is this advocacy to condemn and eventually replace our cultural and ancestral names,claiming they belong to deities. Very sad indeed.

Africans have been programmed to think like that. Self-hate!
I always wonder how come our people are blind to this journey of seemingly eternal servitude and 'de-humanness'.
I say this because you have to be an 'animal' to hate yourself the way the blackman does!

Solution: Start seeing these foreign religions for what they are, DEMONIC!
No need for any form of modesty or sugar-coating.
All the resultant effect of these religions on our people have been demonic. Their modus operandi too, demonic!
Sometimes, I wonder whether the so called christians bother to ever read their bible!

kwangi: Africans have been programmed to think like that. Self-hate!
I always wonder how come our people are blind to this journey of seemingly eternal servitude and 'de-humanness'.
I say this because you have to be an 'animal' to hate yourself the way the blackman does!

Solution: Start seeing these foreign religions for what they are, DEMONIC!
No need for any form of modesty or sugar-coating.
All the resultant effect of these religions on our people have been demonic. Their modus operandi too, demonic!
Sometimes, I wonder whether the so called christians bother to ever read their bible!

You've said it all bro... Take our home movies for instance, it's always a pastor battling against a chief priest. Guess who usually wins? Silly I say..

Mod FP please. Let's enlighten ourselves and rid us of this identity consuming cancer...

I have actually been thinking of this issue for quite some time now. Let me start by saying the foreign religions came and said oh, don't believe in stones and woods but believe in nothing! Because the only reason we believe the foreign God exist is because we believe it in our hearts, at times I wonder why people do not see the similarities in both African and foreign religions and also miss the ultimate fact that if the westerners had not succeeded in conquering and colonizing our forefathers we won't be practicing these religions, but that again is a story for another day.

To the issue of African traditional religion being demonic,I think Nollywood only reigned in on the act, the problem actually started with bad rulers in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. It is normal for people to find or seek for a way to overcome poverty especially in our setting where not being affluent is seen as a curse or bondage. The rise of the modern day religion and bastardization of the African religion started when things started to go bad for the economy, poverty was on the rise, jobs became scarce, belief in the system waned, then came the new religion leaders, if you believe in the true white God, you will prosper, he will make you wealthy also the grandma in your village is the cause of the problem because she practices African religion. For someone who is already poor and hungry any solution is a solution, it probably worked for some either legally or illegally they became rich and testimonies started arriving, with it came the spread of the news, OH the man of God can perform miracles and others started thronging to the religious houses to see and experience for themselves what they have heard, what will actually have happened if they remained where they were and worked harder. To keep its followers and bring in more followers they needed to kill the opposition. How best to kill the opposition if not to label it as being demonic and call everything it stands for demonic! What I find amusing is that an African Muslim will never call an African Christian a demon rather they play the ignorance card.

Nollywood is just a projection of the society, a sector dominated by teeming followers of this new found belief in the religious system also had to catch in on the new trend of bashing the African religion saying things they have never experienced and basing their assumptions on what they have heard not what they have seen but what they have been told. It was a match made in heaven, a set of people who can't believe they are poor with all their work and someone coming to tell them it is the work of the demon they are not rich rather than face the real evil demons that come to pray with them. I will try as much as possible not to make this a political debate. Add all the following together,

The seemingly bad economic situation

A large number of people who are poor but want a solution to their poverty level and are afraid of taking on the government

A religion that its followers are already diminishing

A new religion that profers solution to the poverty solution and needs to grow

The new religion realises for it to gain dominance it has to kill off opposition

Followers of the new religion who are ignorant of what the African religion stands for, are too lazy to find out and ultimately want to become rich.

A section of these new followers who are into the story telling industry see the reigning thing, the new religion presents them with a large followers who are looking for excuses to justify the lies they have been told about the African religion and it becomes a fire meeting petrol, it leads to a widespread adoption of the lies ( a real case of if a lie is told continually people will take it as truth), the younger generations who do not know anything and like our gullible fathers (not grandfathers now) we also imbibe the new culture and its marketing scheme of bastardizing its competitor!

If religion we practice truly alters our political situation is another discussion for another day.

To cut the long story short, foreign religion was what contributed largely to the present situation of our people seeing african traditional religion as being demonic!

Christianity is not the problem(I speak as a christian), rather it is our low self esteem and racism on the part of the world leaders/elites that has reduced us to this level of self hate. If you are deprived a lot in terms of good education, economic empowerment, cultural identity, ownership and pride, then it's only natural that you end up hating yourself and trying to identify more with the white man than with your own attributes. This inferiority complex is what led to the misuse of christianity, besides the misunderstanding of it. The same misunderstanding and misuse of religion you guys are doing here by attacking the shadow(christianity) instead of the substance.

One very typical example: Put a picture of a black girl besides a picture of a white girl, at least 95 percent of black men will say the white girl is more beautiful. Even on occasions where we might agree that a black girls is beautiful, then all here features must be white and only her color is black. What has this got to do with christianty? Nothing. Rather it is our low self esteem has made us hate anything resembling us. Our music artists now feature white girls in their videos and majority of us praise them for making beautiful, "world class" videos, we tell ourselves the lie that it is because we want a global appeal and that is why we feature white girls. Only i.di.ots who don't think(which happens to be about 80 percent of people) believe this line.

lockedOut: I have actually been thinking of this issue for quite some time now. Let me start by saying the foreign religions came and said oh, don't believe in stones and woods but believe in nothing! Because the only reason we believe the foreign God exist is because we believe it in our hearts, at times I wonder why people do not see the similarities in both African and foreign religions and also miss the ultimate fact that if the westerners had not succeeded in conquering and colonizing our forefathers we won't be practicing these religions, but that again is a story for another day.

To the issue of African traditional religion being demonic,I think Nollywood only reigned in on the act, the problem actually started with bad rulers in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. It is normal for people to find or seek for a way to overcome poverty especially in our setting where not being affluent is seen as a curse or bondage. The rise of the modern day religion and bastardization of the African religion started when things started to go bad for the economy, poverty was on the rise, jobs became scarce, belief in the system waned, then came the new religion leaders, if you believe in the true white God, you will prosper, he will make you wealthy also the grandma in your village is the cause of the problem because she practices African religion. For someone who is already poor and hungry any solution is a solution, it probably worked for some either legally or illegally they became rich and testimonies started arriving, with it came the spread of the news, OH the man of God can perform miracles and others started thronging to the religious houses to see and experience for themselves what they have heard, what will actually have happened if they remained where they were and worked harder. To keep its followers and bring in more followers they needed to kill the opposition. How best to kill the opposition if not to label it as being demonic and call everything it stands for demonic! What I find amusing is that an African Muslim will never call an African Christian a demon rather they play the ignorance card.

Nollywood is just a projection of the society, a sector dominated by teeming followers of this new found belief in the religious system also had to catch in on the new trend of bashing the African religion saying things they have never experienced and basing their assumptions on what they have heard not what they have seen but what they have been told. It was a match made in heaven, a set of people who can't believe they are poor with all their work and someone coming to tell them it is the work of the demon they are not rich rather than face the real evil demons that come to pray with them. I will try as much as possible not to make this a political debate. Add all the following together,

The seemingly bad economic situation

A large number of people who are poor but want a solution to their poverty level and are afraid of taking on the government

A religion that its followers are already diminishing

A new religion that profers solution to the poverty solution and needs to grow

The new religion realises for it to gain dominance it has to kill off opposition

Followers of the new religion who are ignorant of what the African religion stands for, are too lazy to find out and ultimately want to become rich.

A section of these new followers who are into the story telling industry see the reigning thing, the new religion presents them with a large followers who are looking for excuses to justify the lies they have been told about the African religion and it becomes a fire meeting petrol, it leads to a widespread adoption of the lies ( a real case of if a lie is told continually people will take it as truth), the younger generations who do not know anything and like our gullible fathers (not grandfathers now) we also imbibe the new culture and its marketing scheme of bastardizing its competitor!

If religion we practice truly alters our political situation is another discussion for another day.

To cut the long story short, foreign religion was what contributed largely to the present situation of our people seeing african traditional religion as being demonic!

Well written....

okeyxyz: Christianity is not the problem(I speak as a christian), rather it is our low self esteem and racism on the part of the world leaders/elites that has reduced us to this level of self hate. If you are deprived a lot in terms of good education, economic empowerment, cultural identity, ownership and pride, then it's only natural that you end up hating yourself and trying to identify more with the white man than with your own attributes. This inferiority complex is what led to the misuse of christianity, besides the misunderstanding of it. The same misunderstanding and misuse of religion you guys are doing here by attacking the shadow(christianity) instead of the substance.

One very typical example: Put a picture of a black girl besides a picture of a white girl, at least 95 percent of black men will say the white girl is more beautiful. Even on occasions where we might agree that a black girls is beautiful, then all here features must be white and only her color is black. What has this got to do with christianty? Nothing. Rather it is our low self esteem has made us hate anything resembling us. Our music artists now feature white girls in their videos and majority of us praise them for making beautiful, "world class" videos, we tell ourselves the lie that it is because we want a global appeal and that is why we feature white girls. Only i.di.ots who don't think(which happens to be about 80 percent of people) believe this line.

Very interesting I must say....

okeyxyz: Christianity is not the problem(I speak as a christian), rather it is our low self esteem and racism on the part of the world leaders/elites that has reduced us to this level of self hate. If you are deprived a lot in terms of good education, economic empowerment, cultural identity, ownership and pride, then it's only natural that you end up hating yourself and trying to identify more with the white man than with your own attributes. This inferiority complex is what led to the misuse of christianity, besides the misunderstanding of it. The same misunderstanding and misuse of religion you guys are doing here by attacking the shadow(christianity) instead of the substance.

One very typical example: Put a picture of a black girl besides a picture of a white girl, at least 95 percent of black men will say the white girl is more beautiful. Even on occasions where we might agree that a black girls is beautiful, then all here features must be white and only her color is black. What has this got to do with christianty? Nothing. Rather it is our low self esteem has made us hate anything resembling us. Our music artists now feature white girls in their videos and majority of us praise them for making beautiful, "world class" videos, we tell ourselves the lie that it is because we want a global appeal and that is why we feature white girls. Only i.di.ots who don't think(which happens to be about 80 percent of people) believe this line.

^^^ While inferiority complex is another plaque afflicting the black race, I doubt if it is what is at play here when we relate it to African religion being demonic. Maybe you can explain further.