Are African religions worth returning to?

In it, he explained that African-Americans are dumping Christianity for African religions especially the Yoruba religion in an attempt to reconnect with their roots.

This article was inspired by another piece written by Nakia Brown for Vice. It is titled: ‘I Left Christianity for an Ancient African Faith.’

Here, she reveals how her father’s death, Christianity's history of racial oppression and her personal experiences with racism helped her embrace the Yoruba faith (Ifa).

There are many like Brown, who either feel disconnected from Christianity or has no interest in the religion.

ALSO READ: 21 Savage, the hottest rapper in America worships Ifa

Hence, the increase in African Americans that are embracing the traditional religion, Ifa in particular.

However, the question remains. Are these indigenous religions worth returning to? I don't think so.

Some of these are so demanding and cruel, so why would anyone be returning to them?

In Christianity, all you need is faith, but in some of these our African religions, people had to make sacrifices, human sometimes!!! Let’s not forget that.

Some of these indigenous religions had practices like the killing of twins. Among Efik people, twins were considered to be an evil curse. Thus, both babies were often abandoned and left to die in the bush.

A Christian missionary, Mary Slessor, tried her best to stop this by adopting every child she found.

Among the Yorubas and some other tribes, human sacrifice is demanded once an Oba, king or elder dies. The belief is that he needs people to accompany him into the next world. (Doesn't this sound terrible? Why should people’s lives be taken because one person died?)

Like Brown, some people have argued that they can't connect with Christianity because it is associated with the white, who are responsible for slavery and colonisation.

While it is true that Christianity is associated with the white, it doesn't change the fact that indigenous religions were literally and figuratively killing us.

For anyone who argues that Christianity should be thrown away because of its ties to slavery, there is the idiomatic expression, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.’

Like any other religion, Christianity has been misused by some people but it doesn't mean there isn't anything good about it.

Through it, we got Christ, and through Him, salvation so I wouldn't be so quick to condemn the entire religion.

In our haste to jump on the ‘woke’ bandwagon and embrace the back’-African-movement, let us not forget that our African religions are NOT completely without faults of their own.

Ultimately, both Christianity and African religion have been misused by human beings (white and blacks too).