Our major goal is to help you achieve your academic goals. We are commited to helping you get top grades in your academic papers.We desire to help you come up with great essays that meet your lecturer's expectations.Contact us now at http://www.premiumessays.net/

1. Myths of African Traditional
Religions
Introduction
Religion creates a significant part of African life. Many traditional
African religions are based on guiding principles that are unfathomable
to foreigners, more specifically those with interests such as historians
and scholars. This lack of knowledge as well as understanding of
essentials has led to burgeoning of myths on African Traditional
Religions (ATR).
Many Western historians and scholars have a result perpetuated many
of the ARRs myths. Sometimes misrepresentation lack understanding of
traditional African religious practices a fact that made the historians
and scholars to record misleading details on ATR thus, leading to
growth of religious inaccuracies.
Similarly, few Africans had published accurate ATR representation
books while the published have not been circulating according to
reports by historians and scholars. Therefore under such circumstances,
true ATR representation has been a daunting task leading to
widespread ATR mythology. However, what are some of the myths and
real practices that have overshadowed the myths?
Commercialized by E.B Taylor, an English anthropologist and
propagated by other scholars, the first myth considers ATR as animism.
The animal that Africans worshipped according to Taylor had the ability
of leaving one body and taking over other bodies such as men and
things. This anima also according to Taylor had the ability to live after
death.

2. The theory of Taylor further regarded the African religion as quite
primitive because ATR faithful believe in presence of spirits in every
object. As a result, it leads to increase in plethora of spirits (Johnson,
2004). Therefore, the theory bundled all ATRs as one primitive
appearance and nature thus, inferior to other religions including
Christianity and Islam.
Even so, while it can be true that some ATRs make reverence and
reference to things, such as belief in sanctity of rivers and trees, it
would be right to bundle all ATRs as animistic. Besides all religions have
astonishment and orientation to the spirit world. Christianity denotes
the existence of God in the trinity of God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit.
Additionally, in relevance to Christianity, God is spirit and should as a
result be worshipped in truth and spirit. Animism is therefore part of
religious following to define summarily ATRs as animistic would as a
result be very wrong (Awolalu, 1976, p. 8). In line with the thoughts of
Taylor, ATR as animism is the fact that Africans are polytheistic. Their
belief in many spirits as revealed by their belief in spirits existence in
every object in every object as a result hurls Africans to an abyss of holy
aboriginality.
However, this is a wrong ATR connotation because believers have a
Supreme Being to whom is given all reverence. Polytheism also offers
the same rank to all worshipped gods in such a setting. ATR on the
other hand also has divinities that do not match Supreme Being in file
and rank.
The divinities are consequently represented by items and have
traceable origins. ATR faithful are also aware of divinities limitations, a
fact that is not true of the Supreme God who is not represented by
anything and owes his existence to nobody (Awolalu, 1976, p.9). There
have also been constant debates on the existence of religion in Africa
before missionaries work in the continent. Many of mythical contention

3. have also been in the effect that European missionaries brought about
the knowledge of God to Africa as well as religion.
This kind of contention strikes off the fact that Africans did not have
religious belief and knowledge in God before arrival of European
missionaries (Johnson, 2004). This construct is false entirely since Mbiti
contends that many people in Africa were already aware of existence of
God and referred to him as Ngai, Mungu and Unkulunkulu among
others (Johnson, 2004). In this case therefore, the argument is that
missionaries did not bring God to Africa, instead God brought them to
Africans.
Further ATR myths have also referred to the religions as heathen,
paganism and magical. In essence, these were mainly western scholar’s
constructs as a derogatory reference to ATR as a representation of the
people’s cultural backwardness. The terms were also largely used in the
colonial period.
However, the words used in ATR reference were not true because
Africans were already aware of religion and believed in the Supreme
Being. The fact that heathen and paganism refer to people with no
religion, and nobody worshipped false gods, strikes off heathen and
pagan titles because they believed in Supreme Being and divinities
(Awolalu, 1976, p. 7). Western scholars had in many cases referred ATR
to as a form of idolatry worshipping only objects including rocks, sun,
wood and trees.
While idolatry means worshipping false gods or unnatural beings, ATRs
worship the objects mainly as symbols and emblems and not as means
to themselves. The worshipped objects as a result, have meanings
beyond themselves. In this regard therefore, Africans worshipping
piece of wood will not in any case despair if the wood gets lost based
on the fact that wood is just a being’s representation and is served as a
solid personification of goddess that is represented in its presence
(Awolalu, 1976, p. 8).

4. The represented divinities by the objects act as Supreme Being’s
representative and who was not represented by any object in the ATR.
Therefore, the ATRs are not certainly idolatrous.
With such uniformed details, therefore, there was wide assumption
that all ATRs are primitive and same in their nature. Even so, the
construct is false because all ATR belong to a specific group of
individuals where all ATRs evolved. While there are similarities in the
manner and place of worship in reference to Supreme Being and
divinities, each ATR within its center had a signature of practice and
belief ascribed only by a group of people.
A person therefore had to be born within a people to undertake and
comprehend the people’s religious practices. Each group of individuals
as well as tribe had their religious form over time in response to various
life experiences and situations. This falsifies the myth that ATRs were
founded by one person and ascribed to a single Holy text. The ATR
ascription as primitive in regards to Western racial pride set their
civilized culture while that of Africans was rudimentary and simple
because (Africans) had not gotten used to the Western way of life
(Awolalu, 1976, p. 6).
In bringing modernization and Christianity to Africa, many westerners
had the notion that conversion from ATR would follow similar process
as that in western religion. This conception followed the same path that
claimed that all ATRs are the same. Even so, ATRs have a lot more
deeper roots in a personal’s tribal setting thus making it hard to ease in
implementation of other cultural and religious beliefs that are far
eliminated from personal traditional beliefs (Johnson, 2004).
The cultural ATRs embodiment further discusses the difficulty in
adoption of ATR by people in Europe and America because of the most
significant beliefs and ideas inATR are alien in regards to their
geographical and alien environs. Since ATRs are culturally dependent,
the society played a very crucial role in propagating them. Even though

5. Westerners revealed the idea that ATRs operated at a personal level,
the society created focal ATRs beliefs and practices.
Therefore, the society played a crucial unifying factor to the dreams
and beliefs of a person (Johnson, 2004). This explains further why
Africans in slavery maintained their traditional religious practices. The
myth that Africans in diaspora experienced slavery erased their ATR ties
and holds no water to Africans because they continued with their
practices through the 19th
and 20th
century. The same ATR effect
remains solid even in their modern Christian worship (Johnson, 2004).
Additionally, ATRs carried African people embodiment. Lack of proper
understanding of the embodiment led to creation of myths plethora in
regards to ATRs. Many of the myths were however driven by
superiority complex of the westerners in relevance to what they
considered the ‘’burden of the white man’’ to modernize Africans.
Even so, theologians of African descent including Mbithi shed more
light on ATR thus, changing the Western ATR dialogue into a more
objective one with relevance to practices, beliefs and purpose in the
lives of Africans.
References
Awolalu, J. O. (1976). What is African Traditional Religion? Studies in
Comparative Religion, 10(2)
Johnson, K. (2004). Understanding African Traditional Religion. Thinking
About Religion, 4. Retrieved from
http://organizations.uncfsu.edu/ncrsa/journal/v04/johnson_understan
ding.htm
- See more at: http://www.premiumessays.net/articles/myths-of-
african-traditional-religions/#sthash.PJQMx2DL.dpuf