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Religion in Africa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religion in Africa is multifaceted. Most Africans adhere to either Christianity or Islam. Many also practice African traditional religions, often also in traditions of folk religion or syncretism alongside Christianity and Islam.
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The majority of Africans are adherents of the Abrahamic religions: Christianity and Islam. Christianity and Islam are widespread throughout Africa. These religions are often adapted to African cultural contexts and indigenous belief systems.[1]
Christianity has existed in Africa for two millennia. The Orthodox Coptic Church, today prominent in Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea were, according to Christian scriptures, established by the Apostle Mark approximately AD 42.[citation needed] Missionary activity during the colonial period, as well as evangelism and Pentecostalism in modern times, has firmly established Christianity in Africa, particularly in central, southern and eastern Africa, and around the Gulf of Guinea.
Islam has adherents throughout Africa. It is the dominant religion in Northern Africa, and also prominent in West Africa (particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, northern Ghana, southwest and northern Nigeria), in Northeastern Africa and along the coast of East Africa.
There are several communities of African adherents of Judaism dispersed across the African continent, including the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, the Abayudaya of Uganda, the House of Israel in Ghana and the Lemba of Southern Africa.
Traditional African religion encompasses a wide variety traditional beliefs. Traditional religious customs are sometimes shared by many African societies, but they are usually unique to specific ethnic groups. Many African Christians and Muslims maintain some aspects of their traditional religions.
- BBC
- Afrikaworld.net
- Text of "Atoms and Ancestors", considered a classic study
- Stanford Page
- "Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa", James Fernandez, Princeton University Press, 1982
- http://www.scn.org/rdi/kw-gods.htm
- The Meaning of Peace in African Traditional Religion and Culture
- Introduction to Afro-American Studies
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| Sovereign states | Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti · Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe |
| Dependencies, autonomies and other territories |
Canary Islands (Spain) · Ceuta (Spain) · Madeira (Portugal) · Mayotte (France) · Melilla (Spain) · Puntland · Réunion (France) · St. Helena (UK) · Socotra (Yemen) · Somaliland · Southern Sudan · Western Sahara · Zanzibar (Tanzania) |