AFRICAN RELIGIOUS GOD: THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE

By
Ogunrotifa Adeboboye Micheal
Department of Arts Education (Religious Studies)
Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko
adeboboyem@gmail.com/07035870510

ABSTRACT

Following the trend of the western scholars, it will come to logical thought that the position of the black is

not counted among the people. Many scholars have judge the Africans to have been primitive and on the

cause, the Africans are suffering neglect from the stream of man hierarchy. This is not limited to the

Africans but in everything, they do count them as inferior to the whites. So, African religion is put into

disrepute to the extent that scholars posed the religion of the African as that which is based on Spirit and

ancestral worship. The scholars have gone a long way in telling the position of African in the ranking of

religion by saying some words like this; “how can the untutored mind of African understand the concept

God”.

This paper is set to define the identity of the African religion and it’s God in this world neglect, and

segregation. Therefore, attempt is made in defining the African religion, its belief about the existent of

God, the pillar of African religion, the relationship between the African God and other religions God.

The methodology used in this work is library approach. Thus, the work ends with recommendation on

how the integrity of African religious God as in world religions God can be achieved.

KEY WORDS: primitive, man hierarchy, religion, ancestral worship and segregation

Introduction

Religion has been defined by classical scholars as that which man cannot do without it. Religion in this

sense is the totality of man and in it man plays his role in the society. Following the increasing popularity

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of the guest religions Christianity and Islam on the continent of Africa, it seems to have created the

erroneous but widespread impression that the indigenous religious insights, values and institutions of our

African forbears have been superseded by the “world religions”, whose according to Kofi Asare Opoku

spiritual strengths have triumphed over the inherent weaknesses and woeful spiritual inadequacies of the

host religious heritage. The westerners give their argument that before the inception of Christianity and

Islam in the continent, the people are without religion or the concept of God. With this they said, “How

can the untutored mind of African understand the concept of God”.

Sociologists and social anthropologists have treated African religion as if it were a strange museum

article, wholly different from other religions or religious phenomena found in Western civilization. They

have given it an abstract analysis that betrays their prejudices about African cultures, which, in many

ways, are not valid, and lack coherent justification. There has been too much confused thinking about the

religious practices and beliefs of Africans. The people have been described by some writers as pagans,

heathens, or men, whose lives are subjugated and trammeled by superstitions. It has been said that they

lack theological ideas, and that all the rudiments, which make other religious inspiring, are deficient in

African religion. Even missionaries were imprudent about African religion, and, by their chaotic thinking,

propagated erroneous ideas about African religious beliefs and practices.

Moreover, God in Africa according to them is not interested in what is going on in this present

contemporary world, which is to say having no deal or nothing to do with the present phenomenon. In this

regard, Baudin and Westermann observed that, God in Africa seem to receive recognition by the

worshippers. But, Baudin summitted that the ideas of God in Africa are confused obscured, and that

Africa have no clear concept of God. On the other hand Westermann in his own perspective claimed that

God in Africa is a “Deus in certus et remotus” – meaning that God is indefinite, obscure, remote and far

away.

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In response to this, Mbiti proves beyond any reasonable doubts that in Africa there was and there is

monotheism and it is not borrowed from the white missionaries but rather it is a heritage. Even if in

African traditional religion there is nothing written, but they have passed religious thoughts from one

generation to the other over the years. He further by saying religion is in all locale of human life. It has

dominated the mind of the African to such degree that it has shaped their cultures, civilization, social life,

political organizations and economic activities. In this their religion, the activities of God cannot be ruled

out unlike some world religion which has no belief in the existence of God. Rather God play a vital role in

the activities of man in Africa setup as he is the custodian of their affairs.

What is Africa Religion?

Awolalu (1976) pose religion as a fundamental principle that places the most important influence in the

life of most Africans; yet its essential principles are too often unknown to foreigners who thus make

themselves constantly liable to misunderstand the African worldview and beliefs. Religion enters into

every aspect of the life of the Africans and it cannot be studied in isolation. Its study has to go hand-in-

hand with the study of the people who practice the religion. In this view it’s the conclusion of libertarian

African scholar that African cannot do without religion in his daily living. No wonder why, when African

are to do anything they do it religiously i.e they pray before eating, they libate before drinking and even in

the toilet they are in a communal term with the Supreme Being (God).

In most publications, African Religion is commonly referred to as the African Traditional Religion (ATR).

This phrase is however a contested description of the African religiosity. To some, the term ‘traditional’

has some Christianity and Islamic biasness—meant to portray the African religiosity as antiquated,

ancient, old fashioned, outdated; hence irrelevant. Some have advanced the view that it should simply be

referred to as the ‘African Religion’ just as there is, for instance, Islamic Religion or Hindu Religion. The

debate however goes beyond these explanations—as some have argued that with the centre of Christian

gravity having shifted to Africa, it is imprecise to talk of African Religion (AR)—as Christianity has also
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become an African Religion. Others would talk of Islam as an African religion. So how do we tell the

difference between Christianity and the pre-Christian or pre-Muslim religious discourses in Africa?

In this view, Africa scholars have come into the view of giving the last solution as partaking to the

definition of Africa religion. Thus Ogunleye opine that:

This last solution is the real solution because the religion is Africa; the religion is
singular; and it is indigenous. The word indigenous means – what started with the people,
home grown, came from within and have been within. … However, only Africa religion
is indigenous because African religion started with the people and home grown. It is from
within and has been with African, so African indigenous is the appropriate name.

Therefore, every bias that Africa religion is traditional should be suspended and every attempt to pluralize

the religion should be set down because, even the tribes and languages are different, the element of its

worship is the same.

Who is God?

Why hasn’t the progress of science brought joy and real happiness to humankind? No one doubts the great

advance in scientific knowledge since Sir Isaac Newton’s great leap. Progress in communication, the

supply of human material needs and the control of diseases have been taken to tremendous heights.

However, to offset these, we also witness in the industrialized world many disturbing developments; a

marked rise in suicide, drug abuse, melancholy, nervous tension, and conflicts between nations. With this

there advancement, they stand against religion and its belief in a God that oversea the affairs of the

universe. They come out with diver’s theory in order to put the existence of God into disrepute.

For this reason, Sunday (2009) said “philosophy and religion are the two main disciplines that attempt to

answer the question, what is God”. Man is preoccupied about the question of God because he is

preoccupied about himself, about his own existence, the meaning and purpose of his existence, where he

came from and where he is going, especially what will happen to him after death. It is the problem of man

that leads to the problem of God. This leads to religion and to preoccupation about God. He further by
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saying, that the cultural belief of a religious society goes a long way to determine how God would be seen

in such a society. Every religion, without exception is the product of a culture and is part of that culture.

When we talk about God what exactly are we talking about? Do we have in mind an old bearded man

living in the heavens or in space? Is God a material or an immaterial being? Is he part of the universe or

distinct from the universe? Is he the sum-total of all that exist, the totality of all beings? Is that what we

mean by the term God? Is it nature? Whichever way we look at it, we are all starting from the first premise

that the God we are trying to define his nature must truly exist. In view of this, the French philosopher,

Michel Foucault argues that:

If humanity were in generalized doubt with regard to the existence of God, there would be
unimaginable disaster both in life and thought of humans to such an extent that it would result
in “the death of man”.

Thus, going by this Omoregbe (1993), he posed that, the way God is conceived and portrayed in any

religion is a reflection of the worldview and beliefs of the culture that gave birth to that religion. Every

religion is the product of culture and part of that culture. To go by this, a question must be asked; are these

cultures having their Gods separately? Is their God having any way of relating together? Which of this

God is the creator, the originator and the sustainer of the universe? In this view, man can logically

determine who God is and its nature will come to the light reason.

The Belief of African about the Existence of God

"The fool says in his heart 'There is no God". In traditional Africa there are no such "fools." In his

inaugural lecture delivered at Ibadan in 1974, Professor Bolaji Idowu discussed "the reality and unreality

of God" under the title "Obituary: God's or man's?" bringing to that university the "God is dead" debate of

the 1960s. Idowu believes that "man's estimate of himself and his destiny, his interpretation of the

phenomena of the universe and his philosophy of history depend upon this one central point: belief in

God, because He is; or unbelief. . ." Elsewhere Idowu asserts that "God is universal and so is revelation."

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Here he agrees with the Tanzanian who said that as people everywhere see the one sun, so they all have

the one God. On the other hand, Betty Goviden, in her article "In search of our own wells," quotes Malusi

Mpumlwanas, a South African poet, who asks "What do I mean when I say I believe in God?...”

Thomas Gale in is work God: African Supreme Beings pose African supreme beings are spiritual beings

or divinities who are as varied as the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the world's second largest continent

after Asia. Belief in a supreme being is universal among most of the over sixty peoples of Africa. Supreme

beings carry a distinct and unique quality in African cosmology as creators with all other supreme

attributes in the theocentric universe. The nature, characters, and attributes of the African Supreme Being

reflect indigenous religious orthodoxy prior to the introduction of, and in spite of, the influence of

Christianity and Islam, and these qualities reflect the continuing diversity of the African peoples'

traditional sociopolitical structures and languages within the current modern nation-states. The African

Supreme Being is usually associated symbolically with the varieties of indigenous cultures of the peoples.

The indigenous concepts and conceptions of most African supreme beings have been retained by the

adherents of the religions that were introduced into Africa in the ritual practices and the translations of the

sacred texts (Bible and Quran) of those religious traditions. Thomas Gale has tried his best in describing

the person of the Africa religious God. But what must be asked is, is it supreme beings or Supreme Being?

To the African, God is one no mater your tribe or race they sees it as one entity. Another observation in

Gale’s work is that he positions the African divinities as the same essence with God. In this view it is the

belief of the African that the divinities serves as messenger to the Supreme Being (God) as it soon be

discussed later.

Furthermore, in the Africa traditional belief, God is ascribed to have created the world and then God and

man live together in a cordial relation. This is express in their myth as they have among them, a case

whereby the sky which is belief to have been the God’s palace which is closer to man was dirty by a

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nursing mother. Then what is the cause of separation between God and man according to the African set

up? Marete posed that

“The consequence of man’s action of disobedience was the separation of man and God. After
separation of man and God, God used the mediator to man.. It was after this separation that man
lost his closeness with God. God was in peace with man but after man’s disobedience, He left.
How do they try to recover from that?”

The knowledge of the Supreme Being in Africa was there from time immemorial. All my consulted books

and articles agreed that Africa people knew God right from the creation. As we see earlier, God created

Africa people. They knew God right at the beginning. If you asked them the time, they even look at you as

if you are a fool. One quip that he or she cannot for they have always known God. How did they know

their God or Supreme Being? The Africa people say that even if God parted with them when they called

him He answered. They added that if there was no rain and they sacrificed to God, He brought rain by the

time the elders officiating reached home. When there was an outbreak of diseases, they sacrificed to God

and God healed them. On the way from where there was an outbreak, they put and smeared blood on the

post of both sides and that disease died down. If you asked any one of them, ‘how did you know God

personally?’The answer would be through my parents, others say ‘through the sacrifice of elders,’ and yet

another says that it was inborn. If you asked them, ‘how do you compare the knowledge of God in Africa

traditional religion and in Christianity?’ They answer that nowadays people do not know God than before.

Base on the fact that the people are now hypocritic in their worship.

There is no concept of an African atheist in antiquity. There is also no concept of a "personal religion." It

is an oxymoron and removed from all African paradigms. It is Eurocentric to allow man to replace

divinity as the highest authority. This sense of belief in God is a key aspect of African identity, and is

contrasted from other continents, such as Asia, by the high function divinity plays in ordinary life.

The Nature of Africa Religious God

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When it comes to God, however, this patchwork way of understanding can fall short of accurately

describing who he is. If you base your understanding of God off of other people and their opinions, I can

tell you now you probably won’t find the concept of God very attractive. It is only when you decide to

find out for yourself what God is like that you can begin to form a more accurate picture. Thus to the

African, the nature of God can be known through the name ascribe to him by the virtue of his

characteristics. For these reason some of the name are taking into consideration:

AFRICAN TRIBE NAME AND MEANING OF GOD

The Akan of Ghana Onyame: The Supreme Being, God the creator
of all things, the Deity., Nana Onyakopon:,
Grandfather, Nyame who alone is the Great
one.
Amosu: Giver of rain.

Mawu – God, Mawuga – The Great God, Se –

The Ene of Ghana The Supreme God
The Mende of Sierra Leone Ngewo: God, the Great spirit who existed from
the beginning and is the author of all life, of
the visible world, of men and the invisible
spirits.
Mahawa: Great chief
Maada -Tenda: Grandfather

Yoruba tribe of Nigeria Olodumare: The Creator, Almighty, Supreme

Olorun: Owner or Lord of heaven
The Bini of Nigeria Osanobua: Creator of the world, sky and earth
and of life and death, Osa-Nakpame – Osa:
The Great Artist or the Arch moulder, Osa
Neghouda: The Source Being who carries and
sustains the universe

The Igbo of Nigeria Chineke: God who creates, Chi-wawu: Great

Spirit, Chukwu Okike: The person who
creates

The Pillar of Africa Religion in Proving Its God among Other Religious God

While generalizations are difficult due to the diversity of African native religions, some do share some

common features: a belief in a supreme deity above a host of lesser gods or semi-divine figures; a belief in

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the power and intercession of ancestral spirits; the idea of sacrifice or libation, to ensure divine protection

and generosity; the need to undergo rites of passage to move from the different stages of life (childhood to

adulthood, from life to death). Many African religions have a creation stories which speak of the

framework for the self-identity of these communities in a universal context. The role of humanity is

generally seen as a harmonizing relationship between nature and the super-natural forces.

Thus talking of the diversity of African religion, there are some elements that prove the principle of unity

in diversity. Therefore, attempt will be made in this section to discuss the pillar of Africa traditional

religion. As it is in Islam so also it is in African religion as the religion is having five religious

fundamentals which are:

 Belief in God: With this belief based on God’s revelation of Himself to the Africans, God became

real, and every African community has a local name for God. God has always been real and never

an abstract concept to the African. The names which various African communities give to God

project their best expression of Him in their religious experiences. These names are descriptive in

nature because they portray the character as well as the attributes of God as understood by the

people. Virtually all religions believe in the existence of a Supreme Being. He is equally referred

to as the creator and controller of the universe. Every one or locality accords him a great name and

he is given full respect. The origin of the belief in God arose as a result of people’s reflections

about the universe. Based on the enormity and continuity of the earth, and heaven at large, people

began to think that the world is controlled and sustained by an invisible hand. People believe that

without God, the world would have fallen apart. They therefore concluded that the world had a

wonderful creator. In this view, Sunday (2009), argue that: Man’s limited nature and weakness

made him to have belief in the Supreme Being. Man discovered that he had limited power and

knowledge, this particularly is seen in the case of death, calamity, and the forces of nature, like

thunderstorm, earthquakes, forests, and rivers, which man could not control. Man’s limitedness
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 made it necessary for him to believe in someone who is mightier than him. Hence, people felt that

they needed the help of someone whose power is immeasurable and greater than them.

Furthermore, it is worthy of note that, African are highly religious. In this case Baudin missed the

point when he said “God was everything and everything is God (Pantheism)”.in response to this

Idowu (1982) argue that Africans did not worship images. Although, they were carved, erect, draw

a Divinity but Africans do not worship these images. The images according to Ogunleye are a

visible material of physical representation of a spiritual reality. He further by saying, we have

images because of the weakness of human mind that may not be able to figure out the supernatural,

and then they need an object to be able to reach the supernatural in order to meet their needs.

 Belief in Divinities: These divinities are the functionaries, as well as ministers, in the theocratic

government of the world. The divinities are there as messengers of the All-powerful God. Their

power and authority are derived from the God in order to enable them to render acceptable services

both to the God and to man. There is a general belief that divinities are a derivation of the Supreme

Being. They assist him in the control and maintenance of the universe. They can be termed

“intermediaries”; they have the attributes and characteristics of God. A host of others considers

them to be off springs of the Supreme Being. The Ewe considers the Vodu (divinities) as the

children of mawu-lisu, and the Yoruba describes orisa-nla, as the son of

Olodumare. There is a belief, most especially in Yoruba land; that divinities are real. Divinities are

found in different categories. These categories according to Sunday (2009) are Primordial, Deified,

and Personified divinities. The Africans believe in the existence of divinities. These divinities have

names and these names depict their characters as well as functions.

 Belief in Spirit: This concept is anthropomorphically conceived, since the spirits are both

immaterial and incorporeal beings. Aside from God the father almighty, there are people who

occupy the universe. They are the spirits people often speak about spirits as though they are human

beings and they are treated as if they have human characteristics. They can speak, think and are
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 endowed with great powers, which they use at will. God is the creator of the whole universe

including the spirits so they are his subordinates. These spirits live in rocks, mountains, rivers,

trees, bushes, waterways, among other places. Another important dimension associated with this

belief is the “born-to-die” idea, which is closely connected with reincarnation. This aspect of the

belief claims wandering spirits specialize in finding their way into the wombs of pregnant women

in order to be born and later to die. In a similar manner, it is believed in many parts of Africa that

the activities of witches, who operate as mystic living creatures such as birds, bats, rats, and other

living things, should not be ignored. The objectives of the witches are to inflict harm: insanity,

disease, miscarriages, deformities, or any other unexplainable problem. The spirits which Mbiti

(1970) explained with the aid of diagram are of diverse type: Nature and Human Spirit. Thus,

spirits are apparitional entities that belong to particular category in Africa religious hierarchy. It

must be noted that, spirits are not divinities and ancestors; but divinities and ancestors are spirits.

 Belief in ancestors: Ancestors are departed relations who are no longer visible on earth but have

become spirits. Africans believe that ancestors play a number of roles in their lives. Thus, families

build shrines for their ancestors where they offer sacrifices to them when necessary. It is obvious

that some of them might have been priests or kings who after their departure on earth become

deified over a period. Ancestors are like deities whom people respect and regard as gods. Food

items such as rice, beans, etc are offered and sacrificed to these ancestors in their graves. The

ancestors are called different name by different tribes of the African people e. g. the Yoruba call

them Baba-Nla, the Igbo call them ndicie, the Ewe and Fon call them covodu, and the Akan call

them Samafo. They are spirits and are approached as spirits in the sense that they no longer visible.

They are venerated, not worshipped. Those who died accidentally are not regarded as good

ancestors but those who die quietly (while asleep) are the good ones, therefore, there is good and

bad death in the ancestral cult. In someone’s ripe age, when he dies, he can become an ancestor

(this is what is accepted as moral standards of the group [ancestors]) after which an appropriate
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 funeral rites are made. In most societies, the funeral rites are regarded as “rites of passage” by

which the departed are made ancestors. It must be noted that these category are different from

divinities.

 Belief in magic and Medicine: it is the belief of the African that, the physical have a way of

controlling the spiritual. By these, they tamed some spiritual powers in order to suit their

condition. Magic is different from Medicine in the sense that medicine is aim to heal a specific

sickness while magic is in order to suit ones selfish interest i. e. witchcraft.

Thus other religious faiths have their fundamentals that clarified their uniqueness among other in which

Africa religion is not found wanted.

Logical Comparison between Africa Religious God and Other Religious God

Levy Bruhl held that one might legitimately begin a study of social life by analysis of ways of thought and

ways of behaviour. So he approached his own evaluation from a logical point of view. First, he

condemned the psychological approach taken by Tylor in trying to explain social facts by processes of his

own personal thought, which were the product of different conditions from those, which had moulded the

minds of the people he sought to understand. He felt that Tylor’s advanced mentality coloured whatever

he said about the primitive peoples, whose minds were still in a dormant, undeveloped stage. He

concluded that the mentality of an individual derives from the collective representations of his society,

which are obligatory for him. Thus, Levy Bruhl stresses that every type of society has its distinctive

mentality, since each has its distinctive customs and institutions.

In all, therefore, Levy Bruhl made primitive peoples far more superstitious than they really are. He was

definitely wrong in distinguishing degrees of religious experience by the paradigms of social

development. Religious beliefs are a matter of the intermediary deities, and the spirit of the ancestors, the

people have a feeling of awe and veneration for the Supreme Being, who is high above all deities, and

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who animates them all. Religion in Africa, therefore, is like any other religion, and deals with the same

spiritual matters. The content is the same, but the procedures may vary according to the social

development of the people. It is, therefore, very derogatory and illogical to describe the religion of Africa

and its God, alone, as preological.

Moreover, the entire element found in the classical world religion are not lacking in the Africa indigenous

religion. Thus the question is this, why is the Africa religion face this kind of intimidation? And why its

place among it mates is not well defined? The answer is this, the westerners are prejudice and bias in their

judgments about the religion and this is the task which Africa libertarian scholars must accomplished as

equating the God of Africa with the universal God.

Recommendation

I, hereby recommend that:

 In the classification of world religion, the Africa religion should not be neglected.

 The livingness of Africa religion should be confirm

 Scholars especially the western one should stop describing the religion primitive

 Derogatory terminology like using small letter (g) for the Africa religious God among others

should be avoided

Conclusion

Posing according to Ogunleye, God revelation took place in every place of the word. It means that the

whole world is worshiping the one universal God. And again if the revelation is to every part of the globe,

indeed Africans must have shared out of the revelation. Therefore, any judgment that the Africans worship

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deities and ancestors must be suspended cause ancestors were not worship but venerated and the deities

serves as a means to an end not a end in itself.

Reference

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