I’m not a Christian, but unlike many people I’m patient with the religion. I feel the same way about Islam, Judaism and Scientology. Most of their followers mean well and don’t want to harm others. Let it be, do unto others and all that charismatic jazz. It’s the minority who are the PR disaster.
But what I’ve never understood is that greatest of ironies — how sub-Saharan Africa asserted its independence from everything colonial except a white religion.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (irony overdose) said: “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray’. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”
Patronising whites will argue that Christianity brought education and literacy to a “dark and savage” continent. Yeah, well, it also annihilated ancient cultures and was used to rationalise apartheid.
In the 19th century proselytising was all the rage and the greatest achievement for a Christian was to convert as many people as possible. It was like tweeting to get into heaven — the more followers you got, the better your ranking.
Even though missionaries taught the “natives” how to read and opposed the cruelty of slavery, they never regarded black Africans as equal to the “cultured” white man. It was always a relationship where the children of God were literally regarded as children.
Certain missionaries even managed to convert locals and help colonial governments steal their land at the same time.
A certain Reverend Helm helped Cecil John Rhodes take all of Ndebele King Lobengula’s land by deliberately mistranslating a concession document. The king trusted Helm but refused to convert, so Helm made sure Lobengula’s people wouldn’t have any choice but to. Now that’s multitasking for God.
Yet, despite it being a tool of European colonialism and special interests, most black Africans are still Christians. Of course, many East Africans are Muslim despite being traded as slaves for centuries by Muslim merchants. What if all the colonial administrators had been priests and reverends? Liberation might have taken a lot longer.
Perhaps one day this last remnant of old-school oppression will be thrown off. Until then, we can be grateful we live in a country that permits both catholic and Catholic tastes.
*Apologies and thanks to Khaya Dlanga for the headline.
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107 Responses to “91% of black Africans are Christian. Shocking*”
Thanks Amanda, somebody really needed to say that.
I’m sure it is true that some missionaries were driven by wrong motives, or exploiting or aiding in the exploitation of the people they were preaching to.
But it is also true that there were many missionaries that were not in that camp. I was reading a book the other day actually, “Christian Adventures in South Africa” (1877 - you can download it off the net) where the missionary author was lamenting the arrival or more white setters in SA, and effectively saying “we need to prepare the local people for the onslaught that will come with more settlers.” There were also missionaries who dedicated their lives to learning black South African languages, to forming written languages, to educating people. To sharing new agricultural methods…
And while some of that came with mixed motivations (on one hand to empower and facilitate communication and so on, on the other hand to impose culture and control), I really don’t think it can be denied that many missionaries were a huge blessing.
When bantu education started, it was missionary schools that either had to be closed down or effectively hand themselves over to the state, because missionary schools were the ones giving black people an education the government feared.
Such an interesting article… I must admit I have never seen or questioned my faith (or lack thereof) from a colonialist point of view. I am Indian and Anglican and my ancestry (both Indian and Christian) came from India and various parts of Europe so I’ve never seen my religion as a product of oppression - the way the generations before me saw their way of life here, in South Africa.
It’s always fascinating to see how stuck humanists are. They always trumpet their amazement at continuing belief and the terrible chaos religions have caused.They talk about “patronising believers” whilst they patronise people who believe.
If believers are programmed because of the dogma they have been exposed to,what caused the humanists’ bigotry?
Keep on searching Amanda,seek and the truth will bite you one day.Pedro
Excellent title for an article that arrested my attention! Unfortunately you don’t address it, apart from a general amazement that such a high proportions of black Africans can be Christians.
I could argue virtually every point you make from a poor understanding of both Christianity and history, but I would run out of space. Let me take just one ….
>>>Certain missionaries managed to … help colonial governments steal their land
I’m certainly not religious but some people close to me are; many of them family members, (whom obviously are black). As to your shock over this statistic I think you missed something in that quote of the Arch’s which I think is rather indicative of the attitude of this 91%.
The reason I say that is because whilst they embrace Christianity, there is also recognition and acknowledgement of the role Christianity played in colonialism. However that recognition doesn’t affect them in their religion, which is where I think you get confused.
So why is it okay for them? (Now you’ll see I’m an Atheist) Simply because of the same excuse that Christianity’s been able to use to wash itself ‘clean’ of its many crimes, “The Bible was misinterpreted and used for evil, that’s not what it actually says” Now this for lack of a better term to me seems stupid but, to each his own.
In my opinion, you’ve misframed the question, because it’s not just African’s relationship with Christianity that is perplexing. It’s in fact just about any group that is not male, straight and white, so in essence, is the fact that 91% of Africans are Christian that shocking?
“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray’. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”
The word is “salesmanship”. The trick? Promise something that is nothing but perceived value and get paid in something that is of real value.
In such deals there are two ash holes: the one that offers the deal and the one that buys the deal. Guess who were the ash holes here?
hahah, I guess the christians and muslims missed my house…which is a blessing. I’m also black, but nver understood what’s the deal with Africans (blacks) with these foreign religions, look at the Nigerians now. This has been the cause for almost all the suffering and humiliation that blacks have experiences and still are.
That the majority of white settlers were Christians does not make Christianity a white religion. Christianity’s particular origins lie in western Asia under European, colonial domination. Its Jewish peasant founder was executed by the empire of the time. But wherever it has spread, it has also taken on local forms and appropriated (and reinterpreted) local symbols. The Christmas tree (a pagan totem in old Europe) is a good example of that. In fact, one of the remarkable things about Christianity in Africa is the way it was appropriated by the colonized as a weapon of struggle, arguably recovering a faithfulness to its founder. The role of the aforementioned Tutu and other clerics in the Anti-Apartheid movement should be counterposed to the obvious role played by missionaries in colonizing South Africa. But another example of appropriation are African INDEPENDENT churches (which constitute about 40 of your 91 percent). These are churches which defined themselves AGAINST European Christianity, claiming that the Christianity brought by modern Europeans was actually a corrupted Christianity, and needed to be transformed, Africanized even. The quote from Tutu expresses all this. But there’s a corollary: “through the struggle, we’re getting the land back.” It’s beyond contention that the Bible which the Europeans left has played an important role in that.
I am always surprised when people refer to Christianity as a white man’s religeon. What exactly makes it white?
The people of the Middle East, and Jesus Christ for that matter were not white. He was a Jew, which can hardly be translated as thus. Unlike the Jews of today, who are not exactly Jewish, but were converted Jews from Eastern Europe, and thus there white palour.
Keep also in mind that the message of Christ, and Christianity trancends race or culture. Because of the truthfulness of the message, it has appealed to people across borders and cultures.A case in point is the South American people, who are almost exclusively Christian and Catholic, despite the religeon being introduced by their oppressors. So singling out Africans as being stupid for practising the religeon of their oppressors is simplistic.
In any event Christianity only reached Europe hundreds of years after Christ, and therefore is not a white religeon.
On top of that Christianity is dynamic, and serves those who accept it, unlike Europeans who have mostly turned their back on Christianity and religeon.
One major flaw in this story: its culturally incorrect. Christianity was never a “White” faith. Its a middle-eastern faith! It is closer to Africa and the East than it to the white man.
It is beginning, according to the records of fait itself (Bible) around the death/burial/resurrection/ascention of Jesus in c.a. 30AD, there where no whites/Europeans there. But there WERE Africans!
So ja, I understand the article, but based on a historically INCORRECT premise.
…but yes, many many missionaries abused and mis-used the Bible, not just in Africa but in many other continents.
But Christianity is far from a whiet religion/faith.
@Amanda I have long wondered the same thing and witnessed what–to me–has been the amazing phenomenon of colonised people worldwide embracing christianity in some form.
“Charismatic” christianity seems to have the greatest appeal to black populations everywhere in the world and one cannot but be impressed with the joy and spirit of celebration that characterises most ‘black’ churches.
Perhaps there is no mystery to it at all and the simple answer is that basic christianity as expressed in the “Beatitudes” offered both a recognisable ethic (ubuntu in practice) and hope that the suffering of life would ultimately be rewarded–in “heaven”, or at least in political and economic liberation.
Christianity as it is practised in black communities seems to me more ’social’ than ‘theological’, more escape from banal routine and drudgery than an absorption in personal ‘mystical communion’ that emphasises long periods in private prayer, contemplation, theoretical speculation, philological study of texts, etc. that appeals to ascetic and monastic traditions.
Of course, there have been occasional ‘black consciousness’ assertions about ‘Christ’ being a ‘black Jew’ (Egyptian, Nubian or Ethiopian based on the ‘flight into Egypt’ story) and therefore more African than ‘Oriental’ (meaning ‘eastern’ geographically) and renderings of ‘Christ’ as a black man, etc.
What seems to be true is that the IDEA of ‘Christ’ has been transmogrified by successive cultures to fit their needs for a transcendent being, a god-man whose significance lies in the promise of ultimate liberation for all.
Hi Amanda, Christianity is not a “white” religion. It’s roots are in the Middle East where the majority of people are not white & Jesus was most certainly not “white.”
As a Christian myself, what I find most exciting about the growth of the Christian church today, is it’s massive move to countries like India & China (which will most probably become the largest Christian country in the world).
Religion has been the cancer of humanity since selected ‘intelligent’ individuals exploited our strongest emotion, fear for their own gain. Whether you pray in church, build totem poles or throw bones it’s all the same fairytale.
Perhaps your mystification will be resolved if you consider the possibility that Christianity resonates with something that is deeply human, irrespective of race and culture.
Maybe Christianity is not so much a White colonialist religion, as a universal religion. Its roots are certainly not European—they are Judaic/Arabic/Middle-Eastern. (I guess the same could be said for Islam.)
Maybe Black people are the same as any other group of people: they are genuinely drawn to the idea of a God of Love who becomes incarnate, suffers, and rises from the dead.
Maybe they actually experience some sort of connection with such a God in their personal prayer lives.
Maybe Black people are smarter than you think. Maybe they are indeed rejecting colonial religion; the new colonial religion blowing over from Europe—the religion of secularism which preaches the good news that “God probably does not exist, so you might as well relax and enjoy yourself.” Perhaps they find that strange European message crass, unappealing, and in conflict with their deepest human aspirations.
Is that what you find shocking? And if so, is it not shockingly patronising that you expect Black people to accept your philosophy as self-evidently superior.
Christianity a white religion? I thought it began with a bearded semitic dude in a little middle east village. Islam must be an arab religion then. What about Judaism? is it white or sort of off-white?
An excellent question sir! Amanda’s categorisation of African Christianity as the ‘last remnant of old-school oppression’ immediately begs the question: Why is black Africa so overwhelmingly Christian? It’s there in the title but she doesn’t even begin to answer her own question. Unfortunately this article is only a series of strung-together inaccurate assumptions about Christianity.
A couple of points:
Christianity has never been a ‘white’ religion. Birthed in the decidedly dusky Middle East, it spread to North Africa and Ethiopia in the years immediately after the resurrection of Christ (Acts 8:26-40). Black leaders were prominant in the Church from its foundation (Acts 13:1). In fact over the next few centuries North Africa became almost entirely Christian and many of the Church Fathers, including St Augustine and St Eusebius, were either black or non-white.
And it may be of interest to you, Amanda, that Christianity is now primarily a non-white religion. The proportion of Christians in Europe and North America (E&NA) (a rough proxy for white) fell from 83% in 1960 to a projected 37% for 2010. The proportion of evangelical Christians (the fastest growing religion in the world at 4,7% p.a.) in E&NA fell from 67% in 1960 to a projected 28% for 2010.
So Sipho’s question is relevant not just for himself but for the overwhelming majority of the two-thirds world.
Simplistic in the extreme, this article does little to explain the issue it raises. The answer? Christianity is not “white” religion. Never has been. It is, in fact, an infinitely malleable faith taking indigenous forms in nearly every culture on earth. Do a little more reading before you launch your next attack on something you know little about.
Christianity came to Africa long, long before sub-saharan Western Colonisation. I don’t think Jesus ever said “Go forth and conquer” or “subjugate others”. If Western Christians aided, abetted colonialism, injustice or displayed ulterior motives, they should seek forgiveness for it. I think many of them have.
The lack of understanding of the missionary endeavor is mind-boggling. Which is fine if you’re a regular citizen, but not so much if you’re going to write about it.
As Phillip Cole said, it’s literally too much to go into. But just to problematize your characterization: many missionaries were in opposition to their governments; many fought fiercely to defend the rights of Africans against the onslaught of colonization; many were regarded by white governments as thorns in their flesh. A good case study: the Methodist mission to the Tswana in the 19th century.
Don’t journalists do research anymore or are sweeping generalizations about things they haven’t bothered to study the order of the day?
Also worth noting that Europe is now post-Christian while the explosion in Christianity over the last quarter-century has been in Africa, Asia and Latin America. So in encouraging Africans to shake off religion, aren’t you really encouraging them once again to be more like those enlightened whites?
This must be similar to how many white people remain Christians yet can be anti-semites seemingly forgetting that Jesus was Jewish and that Christianity has Jewish roots and its founders were Jewish. Also, other than that Christianity arrived in South Africa from European missionaries few black people I know consider it a religion from Europe as it features Jewish people as the chosen people and former slaves, not Europeans.Black people identify strongly with this slave to freedom narrative.
Religion may or may not have a link to human rights abuses however to link Atheism to human rights abuses is a bit of a stretch. Would you like me to list all the so called Religious (or Christian) countries that have a history of human rights abuses?
Regarding your list, religion may have been officially restricted in some communist countries but I don’t believe any of them ever had a majority population of atheists. (FYI Freedom of Religion is guaranteed by the consitution of Vietnam, Cambodia and China - Buddhism is actually the state religion of Cambodia).
“…the belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree…”
i thought the headline was familia, if indeed you stats is true, i am worried, deeply worried even the ANC does not have that kind of support. Geez life for a young atheist black woman is hard in this country if its not religion its the ANC.
I am black and a Christian and will not change my belief based on bad things that people did/do. Is it sad what some missionaries did? Yes. Is it possible that some people could have pretended to be missionaries? This has happened in other regions as well. I happen to read a lot of missionary biographies and some do tell of impostors.
Bottom line, ‘evil’ will always find a loophole, good things will always, unawares, piggy back evil, what’s more important is the overall impact. I am thankful for missionaries as it is because of them that my life has changed completetly.
Thank you for stating upfront where you stand with religion/faith. Thank you for this glimpse of history and some of the questions you raise. I do feel that they are valid and deserve some thought and to be properly addressed.
Reality is that Bible is an African Document tempered with by those who recognised its power. Black Africans were always religious and Christianity was just another religion that made sense to them. Since nothing in the Bible happened in Europe, what if Jesus Christ was Black?
Christianity makes sense to those who require religion to regulate their lives. I see nothing wrong with Blacks who’re Christians.
I am not Christian I am Zulu. I kill bulls and slaughter goats and chicken…again you’d have a problem with me on that…So whats a ‘black’ Christian to do but worship the very same religion that put him at the bottom of the pyramid.
However you are right its shocking and now that every Pastor from Nigeria is a Doctor and has healing power and people have to buy him cars???
Failing to understand Life, and that it is progressive in nature and is entirely driven by purpose, leads to writing articles like this. It’s so unfortunate that one cannot use religious thought to support his religious argument, same as one cannot use complex numbers to prove that complex numbers exist. At least I can use something that is totally not bias, I recently watched a documentary titled “Unlocking the Mystery of Life” - by Stephen C. Meyer and to my surprise a group of scientists, including Meyer, we agreeing that the Evolution Theory, originating from the English Scientist Charles Darwin’s Natural Selection Theory, was totally mistaken and inadequate to explain even the basic single celled forms of Life. In the doc the scientists are forced to assume an Intelligent Design and a Designer behind all creation. Now if scientists are moving toward God, because they do mention that this discovery has religious implications, where does that leave the non-religious-evolution-believers? I guess we will have more Christians in all races. And there is one True religion and soon everyone will know, whether to follow it - now that is a choice of each individual.
Now Just to be relevant to this article - what I want to say is that people are very quick to write articles or very slow to investigate matters. For example some missionaries did remain true to what they came to do here.
I have to agree with both Philip and Sipho. You need to jack up your understanding of Christianity and history. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll find.
We need articles like this, otherwise the unfolding crusades that is even choosing for us adults what TV channels are harmful, is growing problematic tentacles.
What is really shocking is the capacity for people who are not Christians to comment patronisingly and dismissively on Christianity without first checking their facts. Just kidding; we’re used to it, it happens all the time.
Christianity is not a “white” religion, it originated in the Near East. The first African Christian we know of was converted by a Jew during a visit to Israel in the first century AD. Western Christians are in the minority and the growth rate is higher outside the West, so white Christians are in the minority worldwide and becoming more so with the passage of time.
I understand that the incorrect perception arose because white missionaries brought Christianity to South Africa, by which token it would now be perceived as an oriental religion had, say, Chinese or Korean missionaries been the first to arrive.
Your fundamentals of your opinion in this article are wrong. The concept of Christianity or god did not only come with missionaries in South Africa. People knew and worshiped “Umvelingqangi” long before christianity came.
Also, Christianity has emerged among Africans via many routes that have nothing to do with missionaries. Churches like ZCC for example have history of their emergence totally divorced from your catholicism. These are truly African churches with routes only traceable locally. There are many of these.
Africa’s indigenous institutions failed it’s people more - that’s perhaps why they stick to a religion which has hope and choice as it’s fundamental message.
Suburban Terrorist on March 12th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Well said, Amanda! Of course, most of the Christian missionaries were NOT colonialists and they did a lot of good but, nevertheless, when ‘black’ culture is used as a pretext for out of date behaviour, most of the proponents profess a religion that is NOT part of black culture. It is the colonialisation of the mind by a Christianity which bears little resemblance to something that started in the Middle East 2000 years ago picking up aspects of Roman theism and Northern European (pagan) customs on its way round. And now the Catholics are adapting the liturgy to African custom and Africa is sending missionaries to Europe to return the atheists to the true religion. Geee. When are we going to wake up. An all knowing, all powerful busy-body of a Creator does not exist in the minds of thinking man. Don’t call atheists ‘humanists’ as if ‘humanism’ were an alternative or organised religion. Atheists do not need to belong to any ‘-ism’ because they do not seek to convert - only to resist the terrorism of the ‘born-again’ happy clappers whose ’sinful’ behaviour gives the lie to their professed faith.
Look im an African not Black African, to let you know Black African is an insult to my Africaness and i cannot let you call me that, i am an African proud and my roots are in African never anywhere else if you fail to call an African call me umSwati
Queen Victoria was totally aware of Lobengula’s side of the story - he sent two ambassadors to her (and killed them both and their whole families when they were not successful).
The Matabele were not given a Homeland, like the missionaries negotiated for Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Zululand and the Transkei; because Lobengula was committing genocide on the Shona. This was on the advice of Fred Selous who was very protective of the Shona, and said they would be better off under the protection of the whites.
In the true story “House of Stone” the Zanu-PF activist says she originally approved Mugabe’s slaughter of the Matabele “because they killed our men, and took our women and our land”. Which rather confirms the obvious - there would have been no Shona land had the Matabele genocide been allowed to continue.
And Christian missionaries, unlike the Islam missionaries of North Africa, did not forceably convert. I think your figure of 91% rather too high.
One of my hobbies is “religion-basher” watching. It brings me great amusement because they fail to do adequate research. For example, on History channel countless so-called documentaries on religion are shown, such as the “Da Vinci Code”, “Jesus of Nazereth” and the “Rise of Islam”, that ignore or distort the historical contexts of where religions were at the time. Another instance was a documentary called the “Seven deadly sins”. It left one with the impression that Catholics are stuck in a time warp. Where are we? 2010!
Here is the irony of imperialistic driven Christian conversion. In allowing the Gospel to spread the oppressor planted the seeds of their own destruction. Christianity by the middle of the last century became a means of mobilizing the oppressed towards the fight for equality and freedom. Leaders like Bishop Tutu, Martin Luther and John Paul II (who was then the Arch Bishop of Krakow, Poland) led their people to pursue democratic rights by appealing to the fundamental values of Christianity, which all major religions share. All this was possible because they developed a super identity as Christians that was no longer confined to tribe, race or culture.
for your implied assertion that somehow society is more free without religion. Religion is evolving. Perhaps you should to, Amanda.
Christopher-John Bompas on March 12th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Whatever the religion, the dictum is true that “religion is the opiate of the masses.”
Fortunately for Christianity and Islam, Africa has masses of masses. Religion becomes synonymous with politics and power…and so the world goes round and round.
@Ziggy.
“[T]o link Atheism to human rights abuses is a bit of a stretch.” Is it? Karl Marx wrote that “Religion is the opiate of the masses”, and Communist countries have frequently been far more hostile to religion than you seem to think. They have also been responsible for the worst genocides ever. It is believed that Stalin murdered up to 20 million soviets. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge wiped out a third of the population. Some estimates of the deaths in China under Mao Zedong exceed 40 million.
the argument is sound if somewhat simplistic. Christianity certainly operated as a part of the colonial and apartheid ideological apparatus. It certainly was part of that through which colonial and apartheid ideologues made the case for the legitimacy of their view of how their newly conquered territories ought to be organized and how the people living in them controlled. The opposite is however also true. Local populations everywhere, after having been indoctrinated into the religion began using it, its structures and its tenets to support and prosecute their struggles for liberation. So, it is not surprising that it persists so widely and so long after colonialism’s collapse.
The point I see here is much more damning than Amanda’s however. Basically if it slides so easily into line with widely ideologically and historically variable material and political struggles, can we honestly say it has any substance of its own? Is christianity not just a rhetoric and an aesthetic that attaches to the struggles for dominance of the day?
@Jean-Michel
As a “Chrisitan” one would think you realised that Chrisitanity never passively “moved” to India and China, but was (like everywhere else) taken there. First by Thomas Apostle in 52 CE and subsequently by Persians in the 4th century, and the French missionary Jordanuc Catalan in 1320.
Africa and the rest of the world with be better off without the mass delusion that is religion.
Fed Up, Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin were atheists, schooled by Nietzche himeself, look how many they killed in the name of the super man. Nietzche warned of death to follow when God was dead, the superman would do anything to achieve his goals. So without God, we are amoral.
In any case, look at how many white people are still christians, a religion passed to them through Roman colonialism, imported from asia.
We are all subject to the same fate, I guess, christ’s message is universal. And look where his father took him when Harold wanted him dead, Africa (Egypt). He survived and the word of God lived. You could say the same is happening with christianity under attack, the faith is growing in Africa and will lead its revival.
This article is very distorted. Editor should have done some fact checking
To those who say christianity is not western, yes you are right from a historical perspective perhaps, if you go back far enough but look at the reality in recent times!
Christianity is overwhelmingly dominated by the influence of European churches, almost all christian literature is in English or translated from English, and the largest christian denomination is led from Rome.
Christianity today is as western dominated as the internet and mainstream cinema, where even an industry as big as Bollywood can be completely ignored by most of the world as irrelevant.
Also in terms of the “atheist nations” with the bad human rights records, bear in mind that there is no such thing as an atheist doctrine. Those nations replaced religion with another powerful doctrine to be subservient to, and beyond criticism, they have more in common with religion in that regard than atheism. A real ‘atheist state’ is more like Sweden, or Australia, or Britain, where religion is a minority obsession and there is no absolute authority to prostrate yourself to.
Atheism is skepticism of doctrine, are communist or totalitarian states really driven by a skeptical rejection of authority and doctrine?
I take issue with your crude assessment of missionaries in Africa, Amanda. Judging with hindsight using today’s values only distorts history.
Damning long-dead missionaries is rather like accusing pre-20th century doctors of criminal neglect because they did use penicillin, or cardiac surgery to save their patients’ lives. Do you really believe it reasonable to expect that, centuries ago, settlers and missionaries to Africa should have arrived fully briefed on human rights, democracy, Darwin’s theories of evolution and genetic science?
Without doubt these early Europeans saw Africans as lesser being, perhaps not even human. Despite this they still fought slavery and believed that Africa would benefit from education and healthcare. Step back in time and perhaps you will understand why this was so. Donald Frazer (a 19th century scottish missionary) published a book called ‘The Future of Africa’ in 1911. If you could find a copy it might enlighten you on the world in which missionaries operated.
Dear Amanda, enough has been said about Christianity not being a white religion. December 27, 2008 Matthew Parris wrote in The Times: “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset.” This wasn’t a sweeping statement he made, but substantiated it with facts from his experience travelling in Africa.
“I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.
But this doesn’t fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.” And Parris traveled extensively through Africa. “I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. ‘Privately’, because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. … . Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.”
I wish you could read the whole article. He made some really penetrating observations.
Christianity does more good than harm.
Amanda: Jesus Christ was black, sweety. You write an excellent article but you missed that crucial point. Jesus and Kind Solomon were both of negroid extraction. No Caucasians, Asians or Semites could have survived in those parts of the world during that time.
The problem with Christianity is that it is a slave religion, to use Nietzsche’s characterization. It is predisposed to taking the side of the weak and oppressed and has thus contributed to the weakening of humanity. For these times of overpopulation and environmental catastrophe, we need Islam - Nietzsche’s preferred prototype of the war-loving, manly religion.
Why is everyone so upset with Amanda? Her profile says she “nearly became a journalist….”.Why should someone who says she sold her soul do any research ,this is a young lady blogging.This is SA we have a right to express ourselves,so Amanda keep on expressing.
ps you look HOT
@Phillipa
You’re making the assumption that these fantastic people from this millenial year old, mish mash of a story book were actually real people…
Christianity, like all other methods of social engineering (read: religions)have no place in Africa or the rest of the world anymore.
Christianity, and all other proselytizing religions have NO defence, none at all. You cannot justify the way local people were treated by missionaries, in Africa, South America, Australia, North America.
Now before you type a defense, STOP IT! you cant defend slavery, the robbing of cultural beliefs and land.
Your forefathers did a bad thing, maybe (most of) their motives we pure, but their means were not.
Sure “savage continent” blah blah blah, it was a continent living its natural order. Pre-white (white because they were the ones who brought it AND it is still a predominantly “white” religion) people Africa was a harsh and untainted land of tribes and beautiful cultures. Now its run by megalomaniacs who think god put them there.
TheBrr, those of us who historians of religion cringe at comments like yours and blogs like Amanda’s. They show a startling lack of complexity and nuance of thought.
Jesus Christ was a Semite, desceded from the line of King David and King Solomon. A Semite is neither white (caucusan) nor black (negroid/bantu) but brown.
You keep repeating this “Solomon and Jesus were black” myth.
Give us the source for your belief? Or is it your father again - like with Caster?
Entymology: French sémite, from Sem Shem, from Late Latin, from Greek Sēm, from Hebrew Shēm
Date: 1848
1 a : a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs b : a descendant of these peoples
Person speaking one of a group of related languages, presumably derived from a common language, Semitic (see Semitic languages). The term came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, some Ethiopians, and Aramaean tribes including Hebrews. Semitic tribes migrated from the Arabian Peninsula, beginning c. 2500 bc, to the Mediterranean coast, Mesopotamia, and the Nile River delta. In Phoenicia, they became seafarers. In Mesopotamia, they blended with the civilization of Sumer. The Hebrews settled at last with other Semites in Palestine.
Now PLEASE give me your source for Jesus and King Solomon being black.
I have given you 2 sources that show the Jews were Semites.
@MsAnnThrope
I’m not sure what your point is. Perhaps I was inarticulate in what I meant by the term “massive move.” I was referring to the rapid growth of Christianity in China & India, the reasons for which are irrelevant to the point I was making.
As for your comment that the world would be a better place without religion, well we live in a free society & in the market place of ideas we are all free to choose what we believe in. I totally respect your right to have the opinion you do.
I think you forgot the word “are” in your statement, but we’ll overlook that as clearly you are a scholar and you think that I am not.
I think that the negative influences of Religion far outweigh any good that was brought, if you think that the introduction of religion itself is the great gift well, then that shows a lack of nuances thought.
Jesus Christ/Allah or any other deity is not going to save anybody as they do not exist. If they did, well… they would not as all forgiving beings send poor little brown people to hell for not believing in them. I dont see how anyone could believe in a god that would.
No, slavery and abuse and theft of culture is not a sin that can be forgiven, because they brought god
It’s quite simple, Jesus is a lot like Father Christmas, a made up character to make us feel better about life. I’m just amazed at home many people worldwide really believe that he is real. The bible is lot like a really long bedtime story, very well written and overwhelmingly convincing (see all religious wars) with lots of great names to inspire you when you’re having a baby and need a name. It’s a story people, with a convincing lead actor. If it’s your rock and spiritual framework that gets you through life, great. It’s not mine. But I must agree with Amanda, it’s a great pity Christianity became the rock and framework of 91% of Africans. An even greater pity that it takes money from them every Sunday. I think in general us African’s could be a little less gullible and ask more pointed questions that require scientific or at least some kind of proof. Night night.
The Brr: yes, I did leave out the word “are.” And you may be a scholar, but obviously not of religion. On the other hand, history of religion is what I have a PhD in, so yes, I am a scholar of religion. And painting something as broad, complex, contradictory, and culture-shaping (indeed, culture-transforming) as religion as either “good” or “bad” shows a lack of nuanced thought in favor of dogma.
I’m not talking as a believer here. I’m talking as a scholar, and I’m saying that statements such as yours are the ones that make people in my field smack their heads and take another drink.
@TheBrr: yes, I did omit a word, thank you for correcting it. And yes, I am a scholar of religion, as in, that is what my PhD is in. I’m not suggesting you are not a scholar–merely that you are not a scholar of religion.
Understand I do not say this as a theologian or a believer, but as a scholar in the academic discipline of religious studies: to suggest that religion is either all good or all bad is a sweeping generalization suggesting a foregoing of nuanced thought in favor of dogma. Something as broad, complex, contradictory, culture-shaping (and indeed, culture-transforming) as religion cannot easily be categorized by such simple moral categories as “good” or “bad.”
I don’t care if you believe in God or not. That is not the issue and I am not interested in your personal convictions. You are speaking out of passion no less than believers do. I am saying, as one who has studied this field academically for well over a decade, that comments like yours make people in my field smack their foreheads and order another drink.
@TheBrr: Also worth noting a fairly significant error which you assert as fact: Christianity can in no way be considered “still a predominantly white religion.” By what measure? Numerically, the majority of those who identify as Christian now live in the 2/3 world. Christianity is on the decline in Europe, while growing in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The most significant theological movements of the past 50 years, including liberation, contextual and postcolonial theologies, have originated in the 2/3 world as well. You live in a very sequestered world if you believe Christianity is still “white,” and you ignore the many varied and interesting movements popping up all over the globe.
firstly, it was Herod who wanted Jesus dead, not some guy called Harold.
secondly, we do not need God for a moral compass. You are saying that the men who killed in Jesus’ name, or Allah’s name are moral because they did it in the name of god?
What about the crusades?
What about the Catholic v Protestants in Ireland?
The Black Death in Europe was blamed on the Jews, by Christians. (Moral Compass- Where?)
The Spanish, or any other of the inquisitions?
Children, men, woman tortured in the name of god
I leave you with this truth:
Name me if you can, a noble action performed, or a noble thought uttered. By a believer in god that could not be uttered by a non believer
Now, name a wicked action performed or a wicked thing said, by someone purely because of their religious faith.
I apologise for contributing to your alcoholism. Interestingly I am very jealous of your PHD I think that is one of the most wonderful things to have knowledge about. I am sure it must frustrate you to hear simplistic ideas on religion.
But you must also be sympathetic to a layman who is commenting on your field, it is precisely why you should be offering some sort of words of opposition that are not just attacking a lack of knowledge in others. Your posts are not telling us why we should change our minds, they just say that YOU know why we should change our minds but wont tell us.
None of your statements contain anything remotely mind changing. Sure, its a broad topic, but you can refer me to some papers published, maybe even some of your own. Preferably on the net that I can read and say to myself. OK HDS had a point how does that affect my own thoughts.
Jesus Christ is not a made-up character. Roman and Jewish historians documented His life and death, and the subsequent growth of Christianity. They were if anything biased AGAINST Christianity so had nothing to gain by giving credence to a character “made up” to make people “feel better about life”. As for the early believers: if Jesus were just a made-up character then of all people the apostles would have been the ones best placed to know that - but they were willing to die (and most did) for their faith. Go figure. Jesus is an authentic historical character as much as Julius Caesar or Herod the Great.
Textual criticism of the earliest secular and Biblical manuscripts gives even greater credence to the veracity of Biblical accounts than to secular history (which historians seem to have difficulty accepting).
Now you have to choose, was He a crazy, a lunatic? Was he a fraudster without peer who could convince people to follow His lead into death? Or is He really Who He says He is, God become man who offers human beings reconciliation to Himself? Those are the options open to you, the choice is yours.
Comparison of manuscripts
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Herodotus
———
Written 488-428BC; earliest copy 900 AD; time lapse 1300 years; 8 copies
Thucydides
———-
Written c.460-100BC; earliest copy c.900 AD; time lapse 1300 years; 8 copies
Tacitus
——-
Written 100 AD; Earliest copy 1100 AD; time lapse 1000 years; 20 copies
Caesar’s Gallic War
——————-
Written 58-50 BC; Earliest copy 900 AD; time lapse 950 years; 10 copies
Livy’s Roman History
——————–
Written 59 BC - 17 AD; earliest copy 900 AD; time lapse 900 years; 20 copies
New Testament
————-
Written 40-100 AD; earliest copies: fragments from 130 AD with full copies from 350 AD; time lapse 30-130 years; >5000 Greek, 10000 Latin and 9300 other copies
Based purely on analysis of the available manuscripts, Jesus Christ is more of an historical figure than the caesars of Rome; He is not a “made up” character.
Christianity had originated in Middle East but the Romans made it an European religion. In India Christianity makes up 1 % & most people follow Indian religions. In South Africa only less than 5% of Indians were Christian but in last 15 years that amount has increased to 30-40% because of missionaries. They used to go around the poor indian people and trying to convert them.
Buy them food. Say that if they went not Christian that’s they are suffering and That being Hindu you are worshiping devil. This has split up families. Indian Christians have totally abandon there indian culture and become totally English . They are the most prejudice towards Hindus. It is true if u meet an indian christian ask them about Hinduism and indian culture. Christianity has done the same in Africa.
The same has happened to indigenous people all over Africa & the America`s
You said, “Africa was a harsh and untainted land of tribes and beautiful cultures. Now its run by megalomaniacs who think god put them there.”
Yes, I recall reading that Robert Mugabe is supposedly God’s gift to Zimbabwe. But some who invoke the name of God or of a religion do so dishonestly out of self-interest. It is easy for me to declare on behalf of atheists all over the world that we have now seen the light and worship God, but it would be a fraudulent claim, and so too is the claim of those who do evil in the name of God.
From the time that the black migrants arriving from the north started murdering and displacing the original inhabitants of this part of Africa, the Khoi and the San, this has hardly been an “untainted land of tribes and beautiful cultures”, it has rather been a land of unceasing tribal conflict, bloody warfare and dominance. Neither the white settlers nor the religion they brought instigated stealing of land or oppression of other tribes. I put it to you that Christianity, for all the many faults of its adherents, has done much to bring peace between people of good will and invite you to visit Melville Union Church in Auckland Park on any Sunday convenient to you to observe this for yourself.
You said, “Anyone who seriously thinks they deserve a god - of any kind - are conceited morons”.
You have hit on a critical aspect of Christian teaching namely that nobody is deserving of anything from God; but that God, in love, chooses to initiate a personal relationship with those who are open to Him.
Last chapter in “How God Became African: African spirituality and western secular thought.”
Lamin Sanneh, “Translating the Message: Missionary Impact on Culture” and “Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West”
Jean Comaroff, “Culture, Consciousness, and Structural Transformation,” in Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance: The Culture and History of a South African People
Jean and John Comaroff, Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa, vol. 1, chs. 1, 5, 6
Kwame Bediako, “Understanding African Theology in the Twentieth Century,” in Jesus and the Gospel in Africa
Birgit Meyer, “‘Make a complete break with the past’: memory and postcolonial modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostalist Discourse,” Journal of Religion in Africa 28(3)
“African Christianities,” essays edited by Eloi Messi Metogo
There’s been an enormous amount written lately about the explosion in particular of charismatic and evangelical Christianities in the 2/3 world and the rise of indigenous churches and theologies. And of course if you want to go back to the African origins of early Christian thought (Augustine, Origen, etc) that’s an entirely different subject.
These don’t scratch the surface and they don’t argue for or against Xity in Africa, they just look at it as a nuanced phenomenon marked by agency and engagement, acculturation and translation.
South African Journal of Theology out of U of Kwazulu-Natal is also a good source.
“Christianity never forceably converted like Islam did”
A lie and an insult to the thousands and thousands of people in South America, Tahiti, India (goa) - not to mention many many other places in the world- who were tortured and abused at the hands of “the messengers of god”
I mean just the genocide in Brasil ALONE should condemn christianity’s conversion tactics .
I dont know whether you are just being ignorant, divisive or stupid.
Read Lyndall’s post in the context of the topic under discussion i.e. ‘91% of black Africans are Christian. Shocking*’
Do you have examples of forced conversion of black Africans to Christianity to contribute to the discussion?
If yes, perhaps you would like to present a balanced view by also giving examples of persecution by other religious groups in Africa up to and including the present day.
OK TheBrr, let’s assume your Jesus, as a simple man, really did live at one time and his glowing story was accurately scribed (and glossed and rewritten and rescribed) by these historians…what happened thereafter forms part of what I refer to as the ’story’… As he lives no longer, nor does his ‘father’ and I am sure without a doubt that he certainly cannot hear you or answer your prayers or ensure that your afterlife is filled with candyfloss and sunshine. If I am wrong, please do show me some current proof of this. Chritianity is a finely tuned smooth-running global business with different branches and branch codes, it’s an excellent, enduring, enchanting, powerful brand with millions of devoted customers and brand ‘evangelists’ (HAH!). Indeed, 91% of Africans are customers and pay their subscription every Sunday to keep the brand alive. PROOF, SHOW ME PROOF! And I shall feebly and meekly pray for my erroneous words and ways as a mere laywomen and non believer. I am however, you may be surprised to find out, spiritual. There is a difference.
@Ziggy
Forgive my incredulity, but can you show me the references to freedom of religion in those constitutions?
Those communist states were founded on Marxist principles where the deliberate oppression of relgion was a conrnerstone of their ideals and actions. A completely humanist, communist state was their goal. You may not like their particular flavour/practice/implementation of state sponsored atheism…but to deny the link is fraudulent.
Let’s avoid talking about “Islam’s tactics” or “Christianity’s tactics.”
Neither are monolithic entities. Both are products of the time and place in which they exist, of the people missionizing and the people who were missionized (although even that language is imprecise suggesting a subject/object relationship that negates the agency of indigenous peoples), of their particular milieus, denominations, nations, educations, etc.
Christianity didn’t have a method. Neither did Islam. There are as many as there are people who claim the name.
Lyndall, jihad in Islam has a long and varied history, but there is a policy that has been in effect since Muhammad of protection for non-Muslims (known literally as dhimmis, meaning “the protected”) living in Muslim societies that protects their rights to varying degrees although generally an additional tax is levied upon them. Some societies lived up to it more than others, but it is a Quranic principle.
The Islam you see now is not the only Islam that has ever existed. It is actually a fairly obscure sect known as Wahhabism, founded in the 18th century by Muhammad ibn abd-al-Wahhab, who allied himself with the tribe that became the Saudi royal family; Saudi petrodollars now guarantee that it is exported globally. In other words, they just have a louder megaphone than anyone else because of the money they can pour into educational materials, mosques, schools, etc. But twas not always thus.
@Not a Believer: you are certain “beyond a doubt” that there is no God? And you can’t see how that is precisely the same thing as being certain beyond a doubt that there is? Both presume to know the unknowable.
The people I know with the most intellectual integrity tend to be agnostic: the “I don’t presume to know the unknowable” kind of folks. That position has a lot more humility than atheists who are just as dogmatic in their beliefs as fundamentalist believers (and just as aggressive in sharing it with others–which I have no problem with, marketplace of ideas and all, but be honest and cop to it).
Esxcuse me man, I am an atheist and I have no idea what “your Jesus” you talking about.
Come on man, have you read any of my posts?
@ Bill Rogers, as an atheist it would be against my beliefs to attend a church service and I think it would also be disrespectful. That particular church is 50 metres from my house.
I have people coming past every sunday trying to preach to or convert me. I dont like it, but they do it every sunday, even though I ask them, politely, not to.
Africa may have been a “savage” land, but it was an African Savage land, before our forefathers came here to convert people and for a little side note, to take their land and enslave them.
Enlightened christian men were taking the african to Portugal, Spain, America, England and enslaving them.
A balanced view about other religions, sure in another article with another title and another religion in its headline. Other religions are not applicable to this topic although I know many - more often than not the aggressor has been Islam in North Africa anyway - others are not without fault.
Interestingly I wonder if we’re family, I am a Rogers too
In fact the Queen of Tahiti begged the Brits to colonise her so that she would not lose her Protestant Missionaries, but the Brits wanted no more colonies.
When the French colonised one of my ancestors, a teacher/missionary, was thrown out of Tahiti with the rest, and came to SA.
Unfortunately the Reformation did not finish the job; and Islam has not had its reformation yet.
Well done. We need more challenge to the unchallenged: the view that Christianity is of unquestionable benefit to our society - a society that is violent and turbulent despite being one of the most Christian in the world - with a spectacular rate of regular church attendance.
Why is the religion of these oppressors the one part of their culture that gets a free ride? Why is it considered good for Africans when even Europeans are shaking off this mind-virus like they’re awakening from a nightmare? This was the justification for you enslavement. They’d wave this book and tell you that they had the truth.
Christianity was always a trick.
Just because it feels good, doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Just because you wish it were true, doesn’t make it true.
Faith isn’t how you see truth beyond the doubt. It’s how you make yourself believe that nonsense is sense. If it wasn’t rubbish, you wouldn’t need faith to believe it.
@ panchetta:
Your quote, reminded me of a related quote I read recently…
“Religion, opium for the people! To those suffering pain, humiliation, illness, and serfdom, it promised a reward in afterlife. And now we are witnessing a transformation. A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged. The Marxist creed has now been inverted. The true opium of modernity is the belief that there is no God, so that humans are free to do precisely as they please.”
Czeslaw Milosz, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature, from an essay called “The Discreet Charm of Nihilism.”
You were referring to Southern Africa one second, then your using the example of Tahiti as an example of good Christians.
OH
-Nigeria
-Zimbabwe
-South Africa
-Namibia
-Swaziland
-Mozambique
-Kenya
-Egypt
-Botswana
I live in SA and am not ignorant, just because I do not wish to go to church, I assume you were referring to that? I have been to church far more than I ever planned to. Its not something I wish to do again, I have lived under a christian god for too long. I do not believe in that or any god and that does not make me ignorant.
I think those who live without a god are those who are enlightened. We have unshackled our minds of superstitions and fallacies, fictions mixed with non-fictions and outrageous evils.
Do not call me ignorant, I never got nasty, but you did and being provoked cause my nasty reaction. I suggest you follow most of the peoples lead here and keep it civil.
Just a thought on the “Christianity isn’t a white religion thing”.
Judaism isn’t a white religion as its from the Middle east, Catholicism which is a derived from Judaism is arguably not a white religion either. But, Christianity as we know it in SA, and most of Western Europe can Arguably be traced back to Martin Lutter and his protestant reformation in Germany. Thus making “Christianity” very white indeed.
Also it depends on where you draw the line, If you go back far enough you can trace Catholicism’s New testament origins to Egypt 3000BC with Horus sharing many of Jesus’ traits and personal history.
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Amanda studied at Rhodes and nearly became a journalist but decided to sell her soul to the corporate whore instead. That's okay though, she loves advertising. When she's not keeping the world safe for sugar water and insurance companies, she likes to write deep and meaningful stuff. Her bribe of choice is single malt whiskey.
I can't imagine being apolitical. I abhor injustice and admire those who gave up normal lives to fight for my rights. I feel it is my duty as a citize...
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Thanks Amanda, somebody really needed to say that.
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