African Religion
African Religion involves a widespread culture of ideas that vary across the cultures of the people of Africa. For instance, in West Agrica kings of Nigerian city-states are associated with divinities and with fertility of the land and welfare of the people. In East Africa, religion is organized and sky divinities are associated with ancestral spirits. All African Religions believe in one Creator God. The religion however is deist in that they believe God set the world in motion, and then left it alone. Therefore in traditional African religion, sacrifices are offered to secondary divinities who serve the supreme being as messengers. The secondary divinities are sometimes portrayed as children of supreme gods but also as refractions of a divine being. The belief about the supreme God varies across the board in African religious culture. In the regions of lakes Nyasa, Victoria, and Tanganyika, the supreme god Mulungu is present but sought only in prayer of last resort. People living in the valley of the Nile recognioze a supreme being whom they address in prayers of petition only after exhausting petitions to secondary divinities. The Yoruba people of Nigeria believe in the Almighty creator, Olorun, who oversees a host of 401 secondary divinities that line the way to haven and are called orisha, with whom the worshippers develop a close personal relationship. Diviners in this region identify the personal orisha to which an individual should appeal for guidance, protection, and blessing. Nevertheless, an individual's ultimate destiny is considered to have been fixed at birth by Olorun. There is no adherance to doctrine demanded in African religions. There is a practical focus of rituals that serve as strategies for reinfocing fertility, life, and power. The principle shared by all African Religions is that human beings must vigilently maintain a harmonious relationship with the divine powers in order to prosper. African religions aim at harnessing these powers and channeling them for the good of the community through ritual. Ritual helps to ensure a community's responsibl relationship with ancestors who are guardians of the moral order, with spiritual forces within nature, and with gods. The worship of secondary divinities is evidenced by the many shrines and altars dedicated to them. Worshippers maintain contact and correct relations with these divinities through prayer, offerings, and sacrifices, as well as other rituals. Most rituals result in altered states of consciousness. Heads of lineages- long lines of ancestors- commonly maintain ancestor cults and act on behalf of the communtiy as priests. Beyond performing ritual operations on behalf of the community, certain priests are invested with powers that identify them more with gods. The divination ritual is the centerpiece of African religions. Other rituals mark transitions between the stages of life. African myths also serve as an important part of the religious culture. These myths identify moral standards, express values, and embody profound psychological reflections. . African mythology commonly dpeicts the cosmos as an entity weith human traits. The human body is thought to be modeled on the structure and the dynamics of the larger cosmos, incorporating the smae essential elements and forces that make up the universe. The trickster is a common figure prevalent in African mythology used to explain the origin of disorder and confusion in the original divine plan for the world. The important paradox communicated by African myths is that the cosmos, grounded in a fundamental order given by God, is characterized by constant change and renewal.
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