Cedric Mayson Spirit level All our religions are imports. Christianity originated in a Jew from Galilee and Jerusalem. Numerous variations of it reached Africa after journeying through centuries of adaptation in the tortuous politics and economics of the Mediterranean, Europe, the Americas, and colonialism. Six hundred years after Jesus, Islam began in a small community in the spiritual deserts of Arabia, and spread through much of the East. It came to South Africa via the “Dutch” East Indies soon after Van Riebeeck; and later from India. Christianity and Islam have both been proselytising religions. Hindus and Jews have played prominent roles, but their religions seek to share ideas rather than make converts. There are followers of Buddha from the East, Bahaulla from Persia, and the New Age from the United States and Europe. Mooch along the shelves of any bookshop in the great cities of our continent and you will find dozens of scriptures translated into dozens of African languages.
But we are Africans! Whether by origin or settlement, millions of us are experiencing the establishment of a new society and culture in the post-colonial era. We have our own unique spiritual experience derived from two sources. Most people have their roots in traditional African beliefs, sourced in the substratum of basic human spirituality that predates the emergence of all religion. Invaders tossed it aside because it was not written down and had no guns, but the strength of African spirituality was that it had never been institutionalised. Institutions could be defeated: spiritual experience could not. It continues to stir a critical mass of people with a holistic experience of life that permeates visions, faith, experience, hope and relationships, but is not tied down to books, buildings, and priesthoods. Many who have joined the congregations of the imported religions still carry with them the insights of their own ancestors. The other unique spiritual experience we share is the struggle for liberation. This brought together people from every background and developed a liberation theology of a God known in struggle against oppression, of consensus and co-operation, of concern for the poor and oppressed, of women as well as men, and of faith in the victory of liberation despite the impossible odds.
So here is the challenge: we must explore the home-grown common ground of African experience and liberation theology. Both recognise truths in imported religions, but challenge the heresies that emerge when religious bodies are hijacked by oppressive regimes. Both deal in the human experience of a secular spirituality and acclaim the sacredness of land. Their faith stands on bare feet, planted in the Earth. Traditional belief and liberation theology both uncover the vital force at the heart of humanness, which drives the spirit of the “African renaissance”. They are holistic, and see faith and politics as one entity: two sides of the same coin. Both express a communal spiritual awareness that had no need to become a religion. Africanisation is a dynamic process. Ubuntu is not a list of acceptable doctrines but an expression of community-building relationships. It prompts a faith defined by relationships not possessions, by caring not by creed, by enjoying human fulfilment not adhering to orthodoxy. It can enthuse fat black women dancing round a fire, lean white men bowing round an altar, young people working out how to cope with sexual urges and people seeking to redirect the market economy to those outside the market. This communal approach is the real answer to corruption, crime and violence. Morality is not individual goodness, but a cooperative project of survival. It depends on recovering a community consciousness that thrives because people feel involved with one another. Few rob and cheat and kill in their own circle, or force family members to live without an income. Africanisation focuses the power of the human spirit on the home, not in churches, temples, mosques or power structures. This is true of major religions too: Hinduism, Islam and Judaism all have a strong emphasis on home-based spirituality, where women play a prominent part. Moving the emphasis from the home to the institution has played havoc with Christianity, but some are being renewed by relearning how to use scriptures and churches to build community. Syncretism alarms religious industries competing for turf, but is no threat to spirituality. Why should people worry if Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews or atheists support the same moral values? Africanisation affirms the common ground of being, a common good in all humanity, which we can all work at together. The spirit of African renaissance offers a vision and energy that seems desperately needed in the spiritual deserts to the north and west and east. Maybe we should get it right – and then go into the export business.