- Feb 5, 2002
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(OPINION) Many educated urbanites dismiss Christianity as a dangerous colonial trickery meant to placate the African and pave the way for his consequent plunder and pillage. The view that Christianity is distinctively a White man’s religion is prevalent, but it is not new.
Jomo Kenyatta, a renown Pan-Africanist and Kenya’s first president is reported to have had a lukewarm view of Christianity, perhaps informed by the colonial experience. “When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible,” he reportedly lamented.
For Kenyatta’s 15 years as the president, he never once went to church.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma is known to have described the negative influence of Christianity on the otherwise pristinely stellar indigenous African culture.
Walter Rodney, the inimitable academic and African historian, whose magnum opus, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa inspired and informed several pre-colonial African revolutionaries,” had a similar view of the matter:
“The Christian missionaries were much part of the colonizing forces as were the explorers, traders and soldiers. There may be room for arguing whether in a given colony the missionaries brought other colonialist forces or vice versa, but there is no doubting the fact that missionaries were agents of colonialism in the practical sense whether or not they saw themselves in that light.”
Apart from the troublesome colonial connections, many Africans view Christianity as western and un-African. Jesus is viewed as a White savior. The sacred text is seen as the “White man’s Bible.” And Christianity is scorned as a White man’s religion. This has spawned a form of evangelical activism, which, instead of preaching about sin and salvation, is focusing on Africanizing Christianity. Advocates agitate for the wearing of African attire in church. Instead of suits and tuxedos, believers adorn African kitenges. It is some form of liberation theology; more political than it is theological.
Continued below.
Christianity in Africa is not a Colonizer Religion
Jomo Kenyatta, a renown Pan-Africanist and Kenya’s first president is reported to have had a lukewarm view of Christianity, perhaps informed by the colonial experience. “When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible,” he reportedly lamented.
For Kenyatta’s 15 years as the president, he never once went to church.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma is known to have described the negative influence of Christianity on the otherwise pristinely stellar indigenous African culture.
Walter Rodney, the inimitable academic and African historian, whose magnum opus, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa inspired and informed several pre-colonial African revolutionaries,” had a similar view of the matter:
“The Christian missionaries were much part of the colonizing forces as were the explorers, traders and soldiers. There may be room for arguing whether in a given colony the missionaries brought other colonialist forces or vice versa, but there is no doubting the fact that missionaries were agents of colonialism in the practical sense whether or not they saw themselves in that light.”
Apart from the troublesome colonial connections, many Africans view Christianity as western and un-African. Jesus is viewed as a White savior. The sacred text is seen as the “White man’s Bible.” And Christianity is scorned as a White man’s religion. This has spawned a form of evangelical activism, which, instead of preaching about sin and salvation, is focusing on Africanizing Christianity. Advocates agitate for the wearing of African attire in church. Instead of suits and tuxedos, believers adorn African kitenges. It is some form of liberation theology; more political than it is theological.
Continued below.
Christianity in Africa is not a Colonizer Religion
