our traditional religions can be fascinating... but I believe in the only one and true God that created the heavens and the earth. God has sent Jesus to die for my sins and i have been reedeemed by the power in his blood. the veil that splitted into two at the temple when Jesus said it is finished confirms the essence of christianity which is God reaching for man. so that's why i will keep his commandments including you shall serve no other God before me.

tevinsolt: our traditional religions can be fascinating... but I believe in the only one and true God that created the heavens and the earth. God has sent Jesus to die for my sins and i have been reedeemed by the power in his blood. the veil that splitted into two at the temple when Jesus said it is finished confirms the essence of christianity which is God reaching for man. so that's why i will keep his commandments including you shall serve no other God before me.

Ok this is good and all, but it is not really related to the matter at hand.

That said, this is a very interesting thread, I will be keeping a close eye on it.

Fulaman198:

Ok this is good and all, but it is not really related to the matter at hand.

That said, this is a very interesting thread, I will be keeping a close eye on it.

maybe if you reread op's post then you'll know it is well related.....someone mentioned people not knowing much about their traditional religions and my post is response to that...so pls

tevinsolt:

maybe if you reread op's post then you'll know it is well related.....someone mentioned people not knowing much about their traditional religions and my post is response to that...so pls

What does this have to do with African religions being substituted?

Keep your Jesus to yourself!!!.

musKeeto:
What does this have to do with African religions being substituted?

Keep your Jesus to yourself!!!.

whatever wipes the tears you don't have to get all sensitive about it

The bloodthirsty oneS? Yes. BeliEf in traditional relIGion has caused many nations To remain stagnant africa needs no religion but a veru long cane To trash our asses in ordeR. What Good has any religon given us? Priests will be greedy thEy will accEpT bribe and give false divination aNd predictions askinG for cow when A dove was aSkeD for, blooDshed in the name of appeasing a God. Rules that will limit ones movements eg oRo festival. Maybe some kinds of kids will not bE allowed to live eg TwiNs, baby cutting upper teeth first, sickle cell will be termed ogbanje. Aids will bE termed curse from ones step mother and rape of a virgin will be its cure. AbeG religion is not for us.

With African Religions, Africa would have been better evolved because corrupt politicians would have been wiped out by the gods' spell.
That being said, Islam and Christianity, founded by two Arabs, Jesus Christ and Mohammed, are rival religions that has caused greatest wars and murders in the planet. One wonders why followers cant decode, that we are worshiping one God, from one race. Arab!

The missionaries (Christian/Islamic) had a big influence obviously. However, I don't agree that they substituted our traditional practices. Over time we humans seem to become open to accepting changes and its all about choices in the end.

Right from the early colonial days, there were western educated Africans who still practiced as their forefathers did. Actually there was a popular teacher in my school who was(or is. can't tell now)a big time 'hardcore' Ifa worshipper.

It's like a natural cycle. Take the ancient Greeks for example, over many centuries, their God's have become more fictional. Same as our Sango, Amadioha etc. It is part of our nature to evolve in beliefs, question our practices and distance from barbarism (in religions where its a norm)

Billyonaire: With African Religions, Africa would have been better evolved because corrupt politicians would have been wiped out by the gods' spell.
That being said, Islam and Christianity, founded by two Arabs, Jesus Christ and Mohammed, are rival religions that has caused greatest wars and murders in the planet. One wonders why followers cant decode, that we are worshiping one God, from one race. Arab!

The rivalry have always been politically/socially infused. These religions have always been used as a cover up for unfortunate mis-doings. I believe they encourage the opposite of distruction, fighting, cheating and killing...

Billyonaire: With African Religions, Africa would have been better evolved because corrupt politicians would have been wiped out by the gods' spell.
That being said, Islam and Christianity, founded by two Arabs, Jesus Christ and Mohammed, are rival religions that has caused greatest wars and murders in the planet. One wonders why followers cant decode, that we are worshiping one God, from one race. Arab!

point of correction there's a difference between an Arabian and a Jewish man

Fiveseventy:

The rivalry have always been politically/socially infused. These religions have always been used as a cover up for unfortunate mis-doings. I believe they encourage the opposite of distruction, fighting, cheating and killing...

Yet, African religion has not massively been hijacked for such killings like the days of Knight Templars, to present day terror wars et al

Fiveseventy:

The rivalry have always been politically/socially infused. These religions have always been used as a cover up for unfortunate mis-doings. I believe they encourage the opposite of distruction, fighting, cheating and killing...

Not necessarily, if people actually follow their religions, there would not be any fighting, killing, cheating and destruction, etc. Sadly people do not, Many Muslims do not, Many Christians do not. Why? Human beings are very imperfect, and will continue to be until they have truly and willingly chose to live their lives dedicated to God.

Fulaman198:

Not necessarily, if people actually follow their religions, there would not be any fighting, killing, cheating and destruction, etc. Sadly people do not, Many Muslims do not, Many Christians do not. Why? Human beings are very imperfect, and will continue to be until they have truly and willingly chose to live their lives dedicated to God.

Thanks for the insight, a derail: Last I checked, God isnt religious. Religion is human creation and peril. God is for all....religious or not. Back to thread: Am I grateful that African religion was substituted ? I am confused, cos I know, i wouldnt have known to read and type. Am confused.

Billyonaire: Thanks for the insight, a derail: Last I checked, God isnt religious. Religion is human creation and peril. God is for all....religious or not. Back to thread: Am I grateful that African religion was substituted ? I am confused, cos I know, i wouldnt have known to read and type. Am confused.

Maybe you don't understand the point I'm making

If people followed their religions, they would be for all. It is said in every book that we are all equal, no human being is better than another. However, Human beings treat one another quite harshly.

Fulaman198:

Maybe you don't understand the point I'm making

If people followed their religions, they would be for all. It is said in every book that we are all equal, no human being is better than another. However, Human beings treat one another quite harshly.

Am a fan of yours, I understand you. But its the thread that I echo confusion in regards to. But then again, "Substitution" wasnt necessary. Russians and Japanese welcome other religion as a case study and not way of life, in essence they didnt have to get rid of Taoism and the rest of their religion. Africans needed not to totally substitute their religion with Arabic theories. We needed to be Japanese about it.

I didn't know African religions had been substituted.
There are no laws preventing people from practicing their ancestral religions, are there?

PhysicsQED: Well different areas had different belief systems - some were actually a bit tame as far as sacrifices and other ugly practices.

I think you'd first need to list the different belief systems among different groups, their main components and characteristics, their pros and cons, their adaptability and possible relevance to the modern day, what wisdom there was in them, what very faulty ideas they contained, and what ideas would be hard to accept as even a little plausible in modern times. Since there are a lot of different African religions and many seem quite involved, you might want to focus on a small number (at first anyway).

Also foreign religions are different. If someone had colonized us and spread some form of Buddhism among us instead of the two main religions prevalent in Africa today, it would probably be hard to argue that - for many groups of Africans - some sort of improvement wouldn't have occurred in some way.

As for the Abrahamic religions, apart from some of the decent wisdom and moral advice contained in them, they're basically myth mixed with history and philosophy to me and they impose a distorted worldview on both those who are at the core of those religions and those who are on the periphery (such as converts and descendants of recent converts). Also, why blindly follow Semitic/Middle Eastern philosophy/myth instead of developing one's own or continuing where one's ancestors left off?

But of course if people are told that they're condemned to hell if they don't follow those religions, then there's not much one can do to prevent the spread of these religions and their replacement of the old belief systems. I'm not sure whether there were any African religions that threatened hellfire if certain deities weren't followed and obeyed. Nobody wants their friends, family and (good) neighbors to go to hell so once one person is a believer of an Abrahamic religion (although I think there is no hell in Judaism, but there is paradise which only the 'righteous' can experience), many others will soon be believers. I don't think people will revert back to the old belief systems - even if they were updated to fit modern times - in significant numbers unless a drastic break with the outside world somehow occurs.

I sincerely respect ur opinion without ambiguity!
Standing to be corrected, does it mean that don't believe in a system that punishes....hell fire!

Martian: Yes. After slavery and violence, the most effective way to subjugate people is through psychological means and religion proved to be the most effective method. Since the white people had proven to be more economically powerful and much less ignorant of nature, they had already proven to the indigenous cultures that they were culturally superior so selling them the white version of god was easy. "if their god helped them conquer us, he must be the true god".....chinua Achebe expressed this sentiment in things fall apart when the white priest went into the shrine of a feared local god and destroyed it.

Even though we are in the "information age", black people still follow these mythologies blindly so imagine the ancestors who were a lot more ignorant. I guess it was like taking candy from a baby.
Now, some positives did come out of imperialism, but those positives could have come about in a more equitable way intead of all the benefits going to the whites.

The most damage is done by the religions they brought, because they aim for the "supernatural" while condemning the natural under threats of hell. When views like that are what forms these people's philosophies on life, how do you expect them to deviate from it? In an ironic way, these religions are what salves the people whose societies have been damaged by the imperialism and colonialism that introduced the religions in the first place. Gift and a curse.

Also, they really didn't do away with the old beliefs entirely, they just cast some of the characters as antagonists to their god. eg Eshu is now synonymous with the christian devil in yoruba christianity.

They did the same thing on the plantations. Take their religion and culture, give them white names and jesus. Also, tell them that Jesus says that slaves should obey their masters..........and you'll go to "heaven" when you're dead.

They didnt shove it down our throats.
It was a proposal and we bought it!

all4naija: A resounding NO! But, one thing is that there is need for adjustment in some of the fetishism in most of the practices.

Nyc!

every shuld understand d fact that we Aficans are vicTims of circumstance. We were bein colonised, tought n brainwashed by d western

Hmmm interesting topic....

new topic

Mehn.....
Woulda lovd to say something....
D thread is too intellectual..
Very intelligent brains indeed,

Christianity has come to stay..deal with it!what good did the ATR do us.Before the new religions came,wickedness like killing of twins,slavery,killing of albinos even before dey are 1 day old,amongst so many evils prevailed.What do you have now...Such things have become extinct and most importantly,we have received salvation and the promise of eternal life thru Christ Jesus

I'll also like to know what you think about Ifa... I've been trying to study, and doing some research about it (because that's probably the only African belie[img]http://www.kucei.info/iPad.gif[/img]f system I can relate to, and practice easily by myself IMO

People still don't believe and accept that they are currently christains because they were invaded and enslaved. This is the reality. African Religions are an important part of the African culture. There is no other reason in this world for any large scale conversion to a foreign religion. You are christain, because your great grandfathers were invaded and enslaved. Religion is the construct of man.

Are african religions substituted?? NO. There was merely a change in form. The substance of the traditional beliefs was simply imported into the foreign religions, modified to suit our taste.

We still partake in sacrifices in whatever form, we beseech our gods and concerned in maintaining a harmonious relationship, our priests/pastors still play the role of the spiritual leadership and conscience.

And we don't have so much of an abstracted being.

FXKing2012: Why shld a religion that promotes human sacrifice and the killing of twins not be replaced with one that teaches love? Thank God for Christianity.

Ewu! As if christianity doesnt encorage human sacrifice. What was abraham going to do with isaec? And why was jesus sacrificed on the cross by his socalled illusive father,god?

Africans lost their intuitions,instincts and common sense and became zombie like as soon as they lost their culture,religion and language. They lost their ways of life and inturn,lost their bearings till this day.

FXKing2012: Why shld a religion that promotes human sacrifice and the killing of twins not be replaced with one that teaches love? Thank God for Christianity.

You do realise that Christianity's is based on the sacrifice of a human and belief in his blood?

Bad ones should be substituted, and good ones encourage and maintain.