AFRICA, VODUN AND THE DISSERVICE OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY It breaks my heart that so many Africans have been led away from their ancestral affiliations, and spiritual obligations, due to the effectiveness of the Christian missionary. Think on it... Here comes a person, generally ignorant of African traditional culture, who has been indoctrinated into the belief that those who are not of the Christian faith...THEIR faith....do not know God. And that, somehow, to know him and to commune with him one must denounce the caring of ones ancestors, give up ones ancient customs....those customs older than any others in existence... and follow them. This, directed at a people who were Gods first creation, in the first place, and to whom all the worlds cultures derived. It is assumed that these people, somehow, had no communication with their creator until you folks arrived on a boat or bought a plane ticket and showed up stumpin’ in the middle of their villages. The assumption, I suppose, is that after God created this original man, an African, he simply left him to his own devices with no communication, from him, whatsoever. Does this make any sense at all? Oh, the ARROGANCE of such people! While in Africa I had the occasion to befriend two young Christian missionaries. What drew me to them was the fact that they were African American. They were part of the Adopt A Village program. I was by no means trying to convert them. That is not the way of vodun. However, I did attempt to impress upon them the idea of learning something about African traditional culture and respecting those things that they saw within that cultural context. I felt if they took the time and observed the culture and immersed themselves into the lives of the Africans that they claimed to want to help, then, they would come to respect Africa, its culture and its traditions. After all these were two missionaries of African descent; and, in that sense I was on a mission...a mission to help them better understand themselves. Well, it almost worked! Of the two young women one was older. The older one, while humoring her partner, simply tolerated me. As the younger one and I became fast friends the older one would have ice cream outings with us and join us to visit various tourist sites; but, it was apparent that she was keeping her eye peeled on the friendship brewing between me and her partner. She had realized, early on, that I could not be converted. I knew the bible better than her; so, she was a bit fearful of my influence. To make a long story short the younger one was eventually sent back to the United States; but, not before they had a visit from two more very seasoned Christian missionaries. I was delighted! Standing at my door, one morning, were the two young women and two much older African American missionaries. The eldest, who was a great grandmother, was accompanied by a middle aged woman. Grandma had been seasoned by working for many years in Liberia. She delighted me with stories of old; and, we got along like two peas in a pod. Being southern bred and born I instantly reverted to all the training I had learned in respecting my elders. Grandma loved it; and, I loved her. The visit was a wonderful success! Or so I thought. When my young friend returned to the United States she forwarded something to me by internet. Not realizing that the forward included correspondence between her and grandma it said, Your friend was a wonderful delight! But these are the times that we must remember that the enemy [satan/devil] often comes cloaked as a lamb. Grandma, rather than believe that, as a vodun priestess, I was a lovely and compassionate person, adhered to her Christian doctrine that because I was vodun (or other) I must be evil. I could only shake my head in amazement. Christian missionaries have done a great disservice to the African continent. If one was to examine the history of various tribes, in Nigeria, for instance, one would find entire temples destroyed and ancient spiritual relics abandoned, demonized or wiped out due to their efforts (i.e. the Ibo). As a result generations of Africans have been separated from the privilege of eating with their ancestors because the younger generations no longer serve or see the need to feed them. I have friends, from Nigeria, living right here in the United States who talk about family members burning down the family temples after the last traditional priest, in that family, died. While in Africa I have seen beautiful temple relics, infused with vodun, sitting in tourist shops to be sold to anyone that would buy them. I have watched, in horror, while ancient spiritual thrones were sold to European museums by children of deceased African priests. This disrespect and dishonor to the ways of the ancients is difficult to witness. Yet WHO would walk into a Jewish Synagogue and desecrate its religious relics? Who would arrive in Mecca and spit on the Black Stone? And, who would walk into the Vatican, in Rome, and throw stones at its holy crosses? No one; but, to Africa it is to be tolerated? A place where civilizations existed long before many of these were ever thought about? One could argue that the upside, to all of this, is that the Christians bring in a great deal of money and human services with their African outreach. But I ask you, from their own holy book, For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself [his soul]? Luke 9:25 (NIV) I say accept the services, if they are beneficial; but, leave them their religion. Or, if one chooses to follow Jesus, continue to feed ones ancestors so as to be protected. Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater, because, Jesus is not a part of your ancestral tree. But the problem is, that in most cases, one cannot avail themselves of these human services without having to take on the religion. It all comes with a price! Africa is in spiritual crisis today. And that crisis is there, in part, because of the Christian missionary. So, where are our four African American Christian missionaries today and me? Well, the last time I heard my younger friend, while back in the States, went back to school, got herself a degree and married a nice young fellow. Grandma has gone to the other side. Her companion is still a staunch follower of the faith and the older of the two missionaries, whom I first met in Benin, is still serving and waiting for Jesus to drop her a man out of the sky. However, as anal as she seemed to be, that might be a mighty tall order for any spirit. Mami, of course, is still standing and clinging to dem voduns. And, even more so, today, especially since Ive got myself a new set of knees! God bless America and its health care system!
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:02:00 +0000
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