Imperialism and its effects on the African Traditional Religion: Towards the liberty of African Spirituality

Abstract

This paper argues that the juxtaposition of the African Traditional Religion (ATR) with Ibramic faiths tends to deprive the African Traditional Religion its true status as an independent religion, and thus, the process appears to be a product of imperialism, which imposed racial bigotries and effected theories that conveyed socio-cultural and religious inequalities in Africa. Besides in this paradigm, even though imperialism has ended, its effects are still evident in the representation of the African Traditional Religion by nonpractitioners, as they work to undermine the religion. It is undoubtedly desirable that religion and spirituality be used to generate greater understanding and harmony between peoples, rather than be used as a tool to divide people as was sadly the case in the past. Thus it becomes critical to allow ATR to recover its rightful place amongst the faiths on the continent.

Keywords

• Imperialism
• Christianity
• African Tradition Religion
• African Spirituality