Like many other lies that foreigners told us about Africa and we swallowed them hook, line and sinker; lies like, it was Mungo Park who discovered River Niger, we also bought into the lie that Africa is Pantheistic. Meaning African religions have multiple gods. Those who accept and romanticize that lie are doing so because they don’t want to think.
Long before the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE), who is credited with declaring the global concept of monotheism, (belief in one God), all known African tribes had a name for the ALMIGHTY GOD. There is no tribe or vernacular in Africa that did not know or had a name for, or had a form of worship to the Almighty God.
Unim is almighty God in my Bette language. Abasi is the almighty God in Efik. Chukwu is an almighty God in Igbo. Eledumare is almighty God in Yoruba. Ubangiji is the almighty God in Hausa. Nyame is almighty God in Twi language in Ghana. Unkulunkulu is almighty God in Zulu language in South Africa. Mungu is almighty God in Swahili. It is not foreigners or missionaries that brought these names. All these names existed before the coming of Islam and Christianity. Even before Pharaoh Akhenaten.
So if you can stretch your thinking faculty a little bit, you will know that Africa has always been and still remains Monotheistic. African Religions believe in the existence of one God and worship only one God. The almighty God! Every other god(s) is a deity under the almighty God. A medium through which prayers are taken to the Almighty God. Like Christians pray to God through the name of Jesus.
Christian and Muslim missionaries did not invent God for Africa. We know God. Some people only came around to lie to us so we will worship that God through the lens of their own eyes. They didn’t bring us God. They brought us methods which they claimed were superior to ours and the majority of our people accepted. That does not in any way detract from the rich knowledge of God that Africans have. The same God, unless you think there are two almighty Gods.
So when you hear an African religionist express faith in God or thanksgiving to God and you cringe, it is because you don’t know your history or probably have not thought about it. No religion owns God. God is God of the universe. Not God of any religion and the earlier you realize that, the better.
Good morning and have a blessed weekend.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.