Africans are the most religious people in the world today, existing entirely in a religious paradigm. It maintains an unprecedented all-encompassing hold on society and individual alike in the continent. Abrahamic religions constitute the largest denominations in modern day Africa with roughly 40% subscribing to Christianity and 45% adherents of Islam. They replaced traditions and cultures along with myriad of uniquely African practices that sustained the population for thousands of years. When there was no knowledge, when science or government are not yet developed as institutions, religions dictated all events in ancient Africa – and still do so today. Although the overwhelming majority identifies with either Christianity or Islam, indigenous religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism also exist in Africa.
Religious indoctrination of impressionable youth commences very early for African children whose parents ensure memorization of verses that they may not fully comprehend. A staggering number of children only receive religious teaching and rarely obtain non-religious formal education. The population disproportionately spends entire lifetime – from cradle to grave – on religion starting from the formative years where alternatives may not be available – usually by force and compulsion and not by choice or conscience. Children are taught early on by the state, family and society not to think outside the box of religiosity. They are discouraged to question, challenge or examine religious content. Faith of the family dwarfs facts and individual worth measured by the degree of religiousness. Being irreligious in incurably religious Africa is tantamount to being enemy of the state; it is highly frowned upon and potentially dangerous.
The society, the government, the family and the individual function as a religious unit. Educational institutions serve as religious indoctrination centers where missionaries from the West and Arab financiers compete for influence and recruit new converts. The countryside is littered with churches and mosques. The intent here is not to educate the African. In this context, Africa does not appear to be considerably different from when the Europeans and Arabs initially conquered it. It is more religious than a century ago and subsequently vastly lags in social and economic progress.
In Africa, intuitive thinking substitutes critical thought through religiosity, leading the population to invest substantial emotional capital in religion. Intuitive thinking relies on intuition rather than critical reflection and accentuates belief in gods. Cognitive thinking abilities decrease belief in gods (Shenhav, A., Rand, D.G., and Greene, September 2011). Prolonged religious studying in formative years decreases cognitive reasoning abilities. Thus, Africans are more likely to reason emotionally because of this way of thinking. Discussing this taboo subject often invites confrontation. A subject that has contributed significantly to African conflicts (religion has caused more wars than anything else in history has) and gestates poverty and ignorance. Where poverty and ignorance remain prevalent, religion proliferates, and vice versa. If religions developed countries, Africa’s would have been superpower. However, Africans appear blinded by religion and consequently detached from reality.
All nations and continents were once highly religious and superstitious per Africa of today but matured from religious domination. For example, the West went from Christian nations to secular democracies. As church and state separated, it ushered an era of economic, social and political advancement leading to the current technological pinnacle. Increased educational attainment cultivated the decline of religiosity in Western civilization. Education has proven the enemy of religion, it has been studied extensively without fear, and exposed to the scrutiny of critical thinking religion in the West is rendered irrational blind faith to mythical supernatural beings. Scientific discoveries have repudiated religious myths. To a certain extent, it is viewed as immoral for its historical promotion of slavery, conflict, human sacrifice, celestial dictatorship and mandatory love/hate relationship in the concept of good vs. evil.
Children in Western nations are not susceptible to the level of religious indoctrinations African children experience, secular Western education promulgates critical thought and factual basis in place of intuitive thinking. They are encouraged to exercise independent analytical thought that African children are inoculated from by religions. In the Middle East, where Islam spread from, many oil-rich nations send hundreds of thousands of their youth to the West to obtain modern education. The top ten universities in the West now have campuses in the Gulf region. This, while simultaneously exporting dangerous Wahabi ideology to African (and other) Muslim nations. It will ensure decades of religious conflicts, malfeasance and backwardness. Equally important, the continuation of the phenomenon of curtailment of critical thought.
Africans – engaged in a life long celestial battle of good vs. evil – typically point out the flaws of developed nations when faced with plausible explanations of the detrimental effects of religions, appear mummified by “holy” texts, and expect a messiah to come down from the clouds and solve all problems for them. Large numbers anticipate that the second coming/caliphate would happen in their lifetime. They proudly proclaim that (whichever religion conquerors imposed) is a blessing when evidence suggests that it has greatly hindered development and probably a “curse”. The behavior of the African mind on religion presents remarkable evidence of its hold on the continent; people become euphorically self-righteous, absolutists and highly incorrigible. It increased delusions, hallucinations and pathological disorders leading to fanaticism and in some instances murder and genocide. The pattern is similar from Somalia to Nigeria, from South Africa to Algeria.
Religiosity has not moved the human developmental indexes for Africans where children are programmed to think as though advancement is something for others to strife for. It has stunted the healthy skepticism required for a progressive society. The continent is still evolving and has not yet reached the age of enlightenment. Days are spent on seeking miracle healings through telepathic communications, praying for redemption, performing Stone Age rituals to stave off potential demons and to ward off diseases. For instance, while the world seeks medicine for the AIDS ravaging the continent, Africa religious institutions stipulate the disease is consequence of sinning and god(s) are punishing the sinners. People pray for rain rather than learn to purify water, only to have the sun scorch crops. When prayers and gods do not deliver, it is insinuated that people are not praying enough. It is an intellectual dishonesty, one similar to the common African phrase that “if the conquerors not come we would still be worshipping fictitious gods”, and the thinking that all knowledge comes from “holy” books.
It is common occurrence to witness two Africans who, one believing the Bible from the accident of birth and the other believing the Quran by the same accident, each label the other an infidel. African diasporas are often flabbergasted when they encounter Europeans or Arabs whose lives religion has little relevance or influence. Africans are so religious that they send missionaries to Europe to revitalize religion in developed countries.
In Africa religion is a closed book, not an open book of discoveries of the wonders of life. Leaders utilize it to gain and maintain power, it is a proven weapon on the vulnerable, and people often fall prey to it. The continent consists of societies where people attempt to live like the Arabs of the 7th century, in which people aim for high priesthood in Europe, and children conditioned to think that they were born with religious dogma when it is clearly a learned behavior. This is similar to suggesting that child is born a communist, a capitalist, a socialist or a patriot. However, these are all dogmas, like religion, that a person is not born with but indoctrinated with as a child. A person would die for a country in the same way they would for a religion, or any other dogma, for that matter. It is essentially the thinking that a particular dogma purveys that becomes either an asset or a liability. Ultimately, though, any dogma that inhibits healthy skepticism is harmful
There are many problems plaguing the most religious continent in the world and they deserve a long overdue penetrating expose. Religion has taken its toll on the African mind; it has crippled its ability to reason, to think clearly, to understand itself, to progress and to contribute to the world in proportion to its potential. Africa must initiate an honest debate regarding the subject matter. The mind-killing fear that sustains religious domination lifted and the youth given the opportunity to think logically and forwardly. It must come out of the box of religiosity, not necessarily become irreligious, to experience and enjoy secular values such as human rights and freedom of expression that religions stifle. Moreover, the continent must establish a coherent cultural and political discourse devoid of religiosity and comprehensively analyze its way to advancement. It must encourage free thought, enlightenment, and African free thinkers not suppressed. Religion does contain positive elements just as it contains negatives. Both warrant equal analysis without prejudice.
Mahad M. Kooshin
mahadkooshin@hotmail.com
DissidentNation.com
02/03/2013, 09:17 pm
Interesting perspective.
02/15/2013, 02:27 pm
well said.. I been holding on this perspective for long time and it is hard to see if it will ever change..
03/03/2013, 06:51 am
The religious conflict in Africa today has nothing to do with religion itself. The problem is the lack of understanding religious text do to the high illiteracy rate of the continent as result of centuries old slavery and colonization of the continent by Europeans. The European colonialists divided Africa into boundaries that led to conflicts which continue till today whether it is waged in Gods name or in the name of a certain tribe or a nation. There is a difference between what a believer practices and what texts call for. Religious text if used in a righteous manner will lead to peaceful co-existence of people. Discarding our religious heritage will not lead to enlightenment as you and few African atheists call for. The enlightenment and education you speak of led to conquest of Black Africa. Charles Darwin’s theory of survival to the fittest led European imperialists to halt African renaissance for centuries. This same scientific theory is currently being used by African people who are fighting one another offer a piece of land or natural resources. It is the Islamic civilization that led to the European renaissance not the separation of Church and State. There is no evidence whatsoever that separation of the Church and State led to anything good but social disorder in Western Nations such as Addiction, Homosexuality, Adultery, Fornication, Child Molestation…etc. During the Middle Ages when Europe was struck with the plague Islam was paving the way for modern world civilization. It was during the Islamic Golden Age in which scientific inventions by Muslim scholars gave birth to the modern world and got Europe out of the Dark Ages.
03/06/2013, 12:20 pm
“The religious conflict in Africa today has nothing to do with religion itself. ” – That statement contradicts itself. That is like saying that torrential rains have nothing to do with the flood that followed.
“The problem is the lack of understanding religious text do to the high illiteracy rate of the continent as result of centuries old slavery and colonization of the continent by Europeans.” – Did you read the article? If so, not objectively. Africans are the most religious and have been for centuries, if they don’t understand religion no one else would. But that is beside the point. There’s high illiteracy rate in Africa because there is little alternative education available to remedy the high illiteracy rate, and only religious indoctrination and brainwashing for African kids. Colonization and slavery whether by Arabs or Europeans has produced lingering religious domination on the African psyche. Here you conveniently ignored the disease while trying to diagnose the symptom. You’re afraid of comprehensively analyzing the subjective.
“Religious text if used in a righteous manner will lead to peaceful co-existence of people.” Where’s the evidence for this? The opposite has been happening forever it seems but the religious repeat that ad nauseum and it won’t make it factual.
“Discarding our religious heritage will not lead to enlightenment..” It’s an imposition of a foreign dogma. It’s the heritage of the foreigner, not of the Africans’. But it has been made to look that way and it clearly blinds us from thinking outside the box of religiosity.
“Charles Darwin’s theory of survival to the fittest led European imperialists to halt African renaissance for centuries. ” – The concept of the survival of the fittest has always been around, way before Darwin. And Africans were receptive to that more than other groups and linger in it more than other groups. Just watch a nature show and you’ll fully understand. And religion hinders this most basic innate human nature.
“It is the Islamic civilization that led to the European renaissance not the separation of Church and State. ” – Utter disregard for facts here. The separation of state and religion has always produced progressive societies. There is no evidence of religion, whether Islam or any other, advancing societies, although the religious falsely claim all advancements to religions. Where religion conquered, it took credit for the achievements of those whose lands it conquered. Certainly Egypt and Persia, and even Somalia during the Waaq worshiping years, were much more advanced than the tribal Arabs of the desert
whose lands Islam spread from. Note that Somalia was the land of the gods for Egyptians for thousands of years.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that separation of the Church and State led to anything good but social disorder in Western Nations such as Addiction, Homosexuality, Adultery, Fornication, Child Molestation…etc. ” These are addressed by the article, but let me try to explain; social ills exist in all societies whether religious or not. These take place in the most religious societies as well. It’s an intellectual dishonesty on your part, it’s like saying the religious don’t kill, because they are religious.
“During the Middle Ages when Europe was struck with the plague Islam was paving the way for modern world civilization. It was during the Islamic Golden Age in which scientific inventions by Muslim scholars gave birth to the modern world and got Europe out of the Dark Ages.” – Europe advanced when religion was removed from state and societal affairs and that trend has been similar elsewhere throughout history. Suggesting Islam advanced Europe – or elsewhere, for that matter – is a blatant lie. A lie propagated by religion with no factual substantiation. If Islam – which is or was a fairly new religion by Europeans historical precedents – conquered Europe it would have set Europe back centuries as it does for Africa and other places today. Religion in Europe is synonymous with the Dark Ages. It’s appalling you would make such ludicrous suggestion.
You should defend religion with facts and not wild assertions that counteract to facts and history. This is common amongst the religious and religious societies in general in which facts are substituted for intuition – something the above article clearly states. It’s as though you haven’t read the article or simply ignored its content since it opposes preconceived notions. You’ve only introduced evidence for the points mentioned in the article.
What advancement has Islam brought to Somalia? Other than Arabization and mentally handicapped population incapable of critical thinking or independent analytical thought?
Religion is flawless and above discussion for only the indoctrinated African.
Waxaan bogaadinayaa maamulka degelkaan Dissident Nation oo runtii muujiyay geesinnimo iyo waayo’aragnimo maaddadaan saansaaban sababta oo ah degellada Soomaalidu ma soo gudbiyeen faallooyin caynkaan ah oo dood laga dhiiban karo.
03/07/2013, 09:40 am
Does Dissident Nation allow comments? I think comments should be allowed, especially one concerning such an important subject as religion hindering Africans.
03/10/2013, 03:08 am
what I ment by “The religious conflict in Africa today has nothing to do with religion itself” is that there really are no religious conflicts within African societies, most wars carried out in the name of God in Africa are a foreign projects or have a hidden tribalism agenda such as is evident in Somalia or Nigeria. For example Alshabab is a project headed by Alqaida foreigners as well as Somaliland leaders whose mission are to derail the peace process in Southern Somalia so their tribal state of Somaliland will get international recognition. Alshabab sympathize with certain politically disaffected tribes in Southern Somalia in order to recruit soldiers and for economical support aside from primary support from their Somaliland brethren. Africans don’t have higher theological institutions that would create the atmosphere for civilized co-existence. Most Africans are ignorant from religious texts as I said before do to high illiteracy rate from generations of slavery and colonization of Europeans who halted the advancement of the African education system be it religion or secular. Most Africans practice religion in a form of dancing and chanting rituals aside from daily prayers by Muslims.
“It’s an imposition of a foreign dogma” If African religions are imposition of a foreign dogma as u believe, Is secularism not foreign to Africa? Is democracy not foreign to Africa? All knowledge be it religion or scientific has elements of various cultures and individuals contribution. What African secularists don’t like to hear is that Africa’s ills are do to boundary disputes created by the colonialists not religion and that the solution lies within our culture not discarding our cultural heritage. The theory of survival to the fittest is manifested in western traditions of enslaving more than 150 million colored people during the colonial era and their current occupation of wars and genocides in the name of advancing secular values such as the pursuit of happiness by surviving to the fittest.
Here are the facts of what Europe was like during the Middle Ages and how Islamic societies were. I’m not arguing for all religions even thou I believe all religions will lead to peaceful co-existence for humanity if correctly practiced according to their sources, but my argument is that the Islamic religion is an adaptive progressive religion that can co-exist with other societies including secular Atheists .
First let’s examine your argument that is if Islam “conquered Europe it would have set Europe back centuries as it does for Africa and other places today”. Let me correct you, Islam did conquer many parts of Europe as far as Spain for nearly 8 centuries. Europe in the Middle Ages was ruled by unjust feudal system and was struck with the Black Death, the plague wiped out nearly one-third of western Europe’s population between 1348 and 1350. Medieval Europe was superstitious and irrational. On the other hand in Islamic Spain there was full justice among all people irrelevant to their faiths and/or origins the Islamic civilization transferred to Spain and hence people from all Europe traveled to Spain for education and research. The sciences of mathematics, biology, medicine and philosophy flourished in Spain there was no compulsion in religion and all worship houses were respected and preserved. The Christian re-conquest of Spain left a wake of death and destruction in their path but unlike the Mongolians they spared the books that led to modern day western renaissance. Directly from the Muslims came the numerals we use today.
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe were numerous; Mathematics, Architecture, Art, Technology, Medicine, and Science. From the 11th to 13th centuries, Europe absorbed knowledge from the Islamic Civilization. The Islamic world made important advances in science, such as in algebra, algorithm, chemistry, geology, spherical trigonometry, etc. which were later also transmitted to the West. The Islamic Scholar Ibn al-Haytham compiled treatises on optical sciences, which were used as references by Newton and Descartes. If you have any argument about the above mentioned advancement of European societies by the Islamic societies, I will write down in detail all the historical evidence. Islamic religion leads to civilization of Humanity and is not affront to but necessary for the modern advancement of African Renaissance.
In reply to your argument that African religions are an “imposition of a foreign dogma”, I rest my argument with a quote from a lecture by Nelson Mandela at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies: “Africa’s history has been profoundly shaped also by the interplay between three great religious traditions- Islam, Christianity and African traditional religions.” Today, Islam and Christianity represent major religions in Africa. These are not alien presences but African religions. They are part of Africa’s identity because they were not merely acquired in interaction with the world, but we also transformed what was external in origin and made it part of Africa.”
African secularists or Atheist are African by color but European by content, sadly to see you guys promoting another culture while at the same time trying to destroy your own culture and heritage out of ignorance from the beauty within African culture. To believe that Islam did not contribute to Western Renaissance you must be deceiving yourself or ignorant from history. I can bring a long list of European historians and what they wrote about Islamic contributions to world civilization since African secularists are akin to listen to western folks.
03/15/2013, 04:45 am
I don´t know much about Jewish religion and Buddhism, but in Islam and Christianity,the crusading nature of those religions makes practically impossible to concentrate on earthly development and peacefully coexistence between nations. Muslims believe it is a duty for every Muslim to wage a holy war against any nation that does not follow their religion. Jihad is one of the pillars of Islam. In fact, if were not for Jihad Islam would not have been the religion it is today.So how would it be possible for example a country like Somalia to live peacefully with its neighbors while majority of the people are following the puristic Islamic doctrine which calls for strict adherence of Sharia law. Groups like Al Shabab and Boko Haraam who are today blamed by many a Muslim as being fanatics and radicals(khawaarijis) are just practicing pure Islam as practiced by the prophet and the Sahabas. If they are radicals so is Islam in general. If you follow Islam closely you will see that our religion does not allow peacefully coexistence of different religions. Nations were forced to accept Islam or pay Jizya ( a special tax levied on non muslims). They were not allowed to become part of the new Islamic state though they lived in that land for many generations and in most part it was the Muslims who invaded their land. While Christianity is constantly evolving and has today abandoned its crusading doctrine, most of the Islamic Ulamas are calling to the return to original Islam and the adherence of strict Sharia law which is morally impractical in todays world. You cannot live in 21 st century and still chop peoples hands for stealing or stone women to death for adultery . Islam needs to change in both temperament and thinking in order to adapt to modern world. we simply need to evolve and change the way we think. Our leaders should concentrate more on improving the quality of live of their people. while its imperative that we have at least some spiritual scholars in our mist it is utterly stupid to try to convert the masses to religion scholars. Our children are forced to memorize the Quran at early age which in most part they forget when they grow up. I am not saying we should do away with the Quraan teaching ,but we should try to modernize how we teach the children. Instead of these dreadful Dudsi Quraans we should teach quraan as part of our school system. While i am not blaming the Arabs for all our woes like the author of this article, all i want is that Africans , specially Somalis should practice Islam which is consistent with their culture and the modern world. We must practice Islam which are tailored to our needs rather than blindly following the Saudis. In fact, there are provisions in Islamic law which allows different rules in different circumstances and places. We should make our own rules which of course is consistent with the Sharia while taking advantages in the loopholes provided by the Islamic law. We must refuse to be mired in the war like mentality of our ancestors and the fourteen century Islamic crusaders.We should strive to remove our people from poverty and diseases. There is no beauty in poverty.There is no dignity in poverty, whatever some would like as to believe !.The matter here is not about Christian and muslims. it is about us and how we must develop. Religion must not hinder us from our efforts to be a modern and self sustaining nation. period.
for what its worth my father is a strict Islamist .itihaad they call it bach home.
03/15/2013, 04:59 am
I don´t know much about Jewish religion and Buddhism, but in Islam and Christianity,the crusading nature of those religions makes practically impossible to concentrate on earthly development and peacefully coexistence between nations. Muslims believe it is a duty for every Muslim to wage a holy war against any nation that does not follow their religion. Jihad is one of the pillars of Islam. In fact, if were not for Jihad Islam would not have been the religion it is today.So how would it be possible for example a country like Somalia to live peacefully with its neighbors while majority of the people are following the puristic Islamic doctrine which calls for strict adherence of Sharia law. Groups like Al Shabab and Boko Haraam who are today blamed by many a Muslim as being fanatics and radicals(khawaarijis) are just practicing pure Islam as practiced by the prophet and the Sahabas. If they are radicals so is Islam in general. If you follow Islam closely you will see that our religion does not allow peacefully coexistence of different religions. Nations were forced to accept Islam or pay Jizya ( a special tax levied on non muslims). They were not allowed to become part of the new Islamic state though they lived in that land for many generations and in most part it was the Muslims who invaded their land. While Christianity is constantly evolving and has today abandoned its crusading doctrine, most of the Islamic Ulamas are calling to the return to original Islam and the adherence of strict Sharia law which is morally impractical in todays world. You cannot live in 21 st century and still chop peoples hands for stealing or stone women to death for adultery . Islam needs to change in both temperament and thinking in order to adapt to modern world. we simply need to evolve and change the way we think. Our leaders should concentrate more on improving the quality of live of their people. while its imperative that we have at least some spiritual scholars in our mist it is utterly stupid to try to convert the masses to religion scholars. Our children are forced to memorize the Quran at early age which in most part they forget when they grow up. I am not saying we should do away with the Quraan teaching ,but we should try to modernize how we teach the children. Instead of these dreadful Dugsi Quraans we should teach quraan as part of our school system. While i am not blaming the Arabs for all our woes like the author of this article, all i want is that Africans , specially Somalis should practice Islam which is consistent with their culture and the modern world. We must practice Islam which are tailored to our needs rather than blindly following the Saudis. In fact, there are provisions in Islamic law which allows different rules in different circumstances and places. We should make our own rules which of course is consistent with the Sharia while taking advantages in the loopholes provided by the Islamic law. We must refuse to be mired in the war like mentality of our ancestors and the fourteen century Islamic crusaders.We should strive to remove our people from poverty and diseases. There is no beauty in poverty.There is no dignity in poverty, whatever some would like as to believe !.The matter here is not about Christian and muslims. it is about us and how we must develop. Religion must not hinder us from our efforts to be a modern and self sustaining nation. period.
for what its worth my father is a strict Islamist .itihaad they call it back home.
03/18/2013, 11:55 am
Mr Ismail; you have gone all over the place with your assessment, it’s clear that your thinking has been compromised by religiosity. A few comments illustrate this;
“Most Africans practice religion in a form of dancing and chanting rituals aside from daily prayers by Muslims.” – So you actually think that Islamic prayer differs (because that is the one religion you have been indoctrinated with as a child) than any other religious ritual? The chanting, the dancing, the prayers and the plethora of other rules and rituals are basically the same.
“African secularists or Atheist are African by color but European by content, sadly to see you guys promoting another culture while at the same time trying to destroy your own culture and heritage out of ignorance from the beauty within African culture.”
Islam is not an African culture. It’s not our own.
I’m not sure there is much else to discuss if you think this way. There is an old Somali saying “hadal badan haan ma buuxsho” and it would apply here.
03/30/2013, 02:52 am
Mr. Yabaal since Secularism, Democracy, Communism, Socialism, Christianity and Islam are all foreign to Africa, let us come to common terms and agree to apply all of them in a way that will lead to peaceful co-existence of our people and end the prejudice and favoring one over the other. I do not believe in superiority of one religion over the other. I will end this discussion with these verses of the Holy Qur’an:
“Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth has been made clear from error. Whoever rejects false worship and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things.” (Quran 2:256)
“So if they dispute with you, say ‘I have submitted my whole self to God, and so have those who follow me.’ And say to the People of the Scripture and to the unlearned: ‘Do you also submit yourselves?’ If they do, then they are on right guidance. But if they turn away, your duty is only to convey the Message. And in God’s sight are all of His servants.” (Quran 3:20)
how would atheists explain the miracle of this verse in the Holy Quran that was revealed to the holy Prophet(saw)?:
“We created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed substance)” (Quran, 23:12-14)
Illaahay haku soo hanuunsho