Let Africa Colonise Europe through Religion
- Category: Faith
- Date 28-08-2005
- 389 views
Last Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI wound up his first international trip, since his election in April, to his motherland where he had gone to attend the World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne, Germany. His trip ended with an open air Mass at the Marienfeld, or Mary’s Field, outside the western Germany city of Cologne.
The Pope did not really celebrate, as he preached to his one million congregations of the faithful who turned out to see him urge the youth to make wise use of the freedom God has given them. He explicitly mourned the steady demise of the Church in Europe – a continent that nurtured and spread the Church’s traditional teachings across the universe, and indeed whose people were considered or regarded themselves to be nearer to the Creator than any other human race.
During the middle ages, Christianity spread like forest fire across the European continent. In some countries, the Church and the State could not be possibly separated as they shared values and Church leaders would increasingly become kingmakers. The Church often enjoyed a privileged position in a country’s governance, and there was always a symbiotic relationship between government and religion in administering to the citizens; a practice, which can still be fairly traced in some European states.
European missionaries, backed by their home, colonial governments, spearheaded the advent of Christianity into Africa during the 19th century. They worked hard to demonise the existing traditional African religion, converted very many from it and assured that there was only one true star which points out the way: Jesus Christ. Perhaps they believed their own teachings, perhaps they did not. While Africans have since gone wild with Christianity, the influence of the Church in the European social, political and economic affairs has significantly diminished and Christian teachings are largely regarded as outlandish exhortations.
Church attendance has declined, in some cases to single digits in Western Europe; priests have continually become scarce, while anti-Christian lifestyles like abortion, divorce, and homosexuality have gained rival status with Christianity. The industrial revolution and the subsequent scientific and technological advancement have principally persuaded the European population that life’s meaning and lessons are to be found scientifically, not superstitiously – through blind faith in Devine providence. Thus secularism has set up a foothold in the name of freedom.
It is probably this “false” freedom that the Pontiff apparently condemned while in Germany. Pope Benedict hopes to roll back the rising wave of secularism engulfing Europe. Capping his trip seen as the Pope’s effort to re-evangelise a secular Europe, which he says must return to its Christian roots, Benedict XVI cried out, “Freedom is not simply about enjoying life in total autonomy,” and added that there is a “strange forgetfulness of God” in the world.
On the contrary, Christianity in Africa is growing by lips and bounds. Each single sect is boasting of its growing numbers and membership as a sign that people are growing in faith and turning to God the Almighty. Since the Europeans partly deployed Christianity to colonise Africa, it is probably the time for Africa to pay back in the same currency. But would the most vibrant brand of Christianity – fundamental Protestantism, Pentecostalism and Charismatic Catholicism – really appeal to the Europeans? Are the Africans genuinely embracing their newfound religion out of conviction or dire helplessness? The evangelical Churches are growing fastest in Africa because they promise miracles and quick fix solutions in terms of jobs, incomes, business successes, marriage opportunities, disease prevention, and security against enemies.
“When a person is in that kind of need – it makes them much more open to external relief and belief than if you have comfort,” wrote Leslie Goffe in the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine (July – September 2005). “Poverty really opens you up spiritually,” he adds, quoting Luis Bush, an American missionary. Thus Christianity in Africa is equally dead as in Europe, the difference being that the dollar hunters know they can exploit Africa’s plight to re-colonise it as Goffe notes in his story “God, Gospel and the Dollar”, where he observes, “Africa is being colonised and christianised all over again.”
Yes, the Pope was right when he pointed out in Cologne, “If it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make profit out of it.” Unfortunately for us Africans, this is the Christianity flourishing in Africa, and it would too much luck if we could use it to invade Europe and colonise its peoples.
By Venansio Ahabwe