Earlyface
News => General => Religion and Philosophy => Topic started by: JEFFREY96 on August 08, 2017, 02:39:04 am
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Africa has a lot of diverse culture, traditions, religion and tribes. The continent is very wide in land mass and people.
Africa has gone through lots of transition from the pre-colonial era to the present times. This transition had affected the culture, tradition, and religion of the people creating a more diverse situation.
When it comes to religion, each culture had their own traditional belief and practice, however, colonization, immigrants, and globalization had influenced the local religious beliefs and had completely eliminated some local religions or transformed them.
In this article, we will be highlighting the 10 popular religions in Africa, which was compiled by Britannica, a survey carried out on religion in Africa.
Christianity
Christianity is the most popular religion in Africa and it was brought to Africa by the colonial masters during their quest in Africa. Christianity has become one of the accepted religion in Africa with over 500 million Christians of different affiliations, Catholics, Anglican, Pentecostal, Jehovah witness and so on. Christianity has spread all over Africa and it is predominant in East, west and southern part of Africa.
Islam
Islam is one of the major religions in the world and not surprisingly one of the major religion in Africa with over 400 million Islam in Africa and these are predominantly in the northern part of Africa, with few Muslims located in some part of western Africa and very few Muslims in other parts of Africa.
Africa Tradition Religion
This is the main Africa religion passed on by ancestors from generations to generations but have greatly be relegated in numbers after colonization of Africa and world globalization. It is believed that about 10% of Africa population still practice the Africa traditional religion.
The Africa traditional religion is very diverse and varies with different traditions and culture. However, they do have some similarities, such as the use of magic, use of traditional medicine, believe in ancestral gods, oral incantations and so on.
Hinduism
Hinduism is not that popular in Africa but statistics has it that we have over 2 million Hindus in Africa with most of them in East Africa and Mauritania, where it is one of the major religion in the country.
Hinduism was brought to Africa during colonization of the continents by the Indians. The Indians who were mainly servants to the Britain introduced the religion to the Africans and it has been growing since then.
Baha i faith
The Baha I faith was believed to have been introduced initially in Egypt but had been on the low due to the prosecution, however, they are very dominant in Central and Southern Africa countries such as Congo, Zambia, and South Africa. They are about 2 millions of them in Africa.
Atheism
Atheism has been on the increase in Africa and though it cannot be categorized as a religion, as atheist are mainly opposed to any kind of organized religion. Atheists do not congregate or gather like most religion, and until recently, most atheists in Africa are open about their belief for fear of stigmatization. However, recently, most have openly expressed their stance as an atheist and that they do not believe in the existence of any supreme being.
Buddhist
Buddist is one of the lesser religion in Africa brought by the Asians, as they immigrate to Africa, mostly for the purpose of working on the continent. Buddhism is increasing in Africa as the Asians become economically viable in the world economy and their interest in Africa as an upcoming continent had seen many Asians moved to the continent. It is believed that we have just above 280,000 Buddhist in Africa with the majority of them found in South Africa and countries along the Indian Ocean.
Judaism
Judaism is surprisingly practiced in Africa, however, the continent has no linked heritage the Judaism. It is predominantly found in the Northern part of Africa as Israelis settlement are found from migrants who ran away from persecution. The present of Judaism in Africa can also be traced to those Jews who ran to settle in Africa to escape the Holocaust. The population of those practicing Judaism in Africa is just above 100,000.
Chinese Folks Religion
This can be traced to the Asians that have immigrated and settled in Africa as they introduce a different aspect of their culture to the Africa culture. They are about 133,000 people who practice this Chinese religion and way of life and they are predominately located in South Africa and Mauritius.
Jains
Jains is one of the religions that was brought to Africa by the Indians. It has continued to grow in Africa since it was introduced in the 17th century. There are temples found Nairobi and Mombasa where feast are organized yearly. They are a large number of them in Kenya and south Africa with above 96, 000 in Africa.
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