As is the case for most of sub-Saharan Africa, African Traditional
Religion (ATR) is the indigenous religion of Sierra Leone. When the
early forebears and later progenitors of Islam and Christianity
arrived, they met Sierra Leone indigenes with a remarkable
knowledge of God and a structured religious system. Successive
Muslim clerics, traders, and missionaries were respectful of and
sensitive to the culture and religion of the indigenes who
accommodated them and offered them hospitality. This approach
resulted in a syncretistic brand of Islam. In contrast, most
Christian missionaries adopted an exclusive and insensitive
approach to African culture and religiosity. Christianity,
especially Protestantism, demanded a complete abandonment of
African culture and religion, and a total dedication to
Christianity. This attitude is continued by some indigenous clerics
and religious leaders to such an extent that Sierra Leone
Indigenous Religion (SLIR) and its practitioners continue to be
marginalised in Sierra Leone's interreligious dialogue and
cooperation. Although the indigenes of Sierra Leone were and
continue to be hospitable to Islam and Christianity, and in spite
of the fact that SLIR shares affinity with Islam and Christianity
in many theological and practical issues, and even though there are
many Muslims and Christians who still hold on to traditional
spirituality and culture, Muslim and Christian leaders of these
immigrant religions are reluctant to include Traditionalists in
interfaith issues in the country. The formation and constitution of
the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL), which has
local and international recognition, did not include ATR. These
considerations, then, beg the following questions: Why have Muslim
and Christian leaders long marginalized ATR, its practices, and
practitioners from interfaith dialogue and cooperation in Sierra
Leone? What is lacking in ATR that continues to prevent
practitioners of Christianity and Islam from officially involving
Traditionalists in the socioreligious development of the country?
This book investigates the reasons for the exclusion of ATR from
interreligious dialogue/cooperation and ATR's relevance and place
in the socioreligious landscape of Sierra Leone and the rest of the
world. It also discusses possible ways for ATR's inclusion in the
ongoing interfaith dialogue and cooperation in the country; this is
important because people living side by side meet and interact
personally and communally on a regular basis. As such, they share
common resources; communal benefits; and the joys, crises, and
sorrows of life. The social and cultural interaction and
cooperation involved in this dialogue of life are what compel
people to fully understand the worldviews of their neighbours and
to seek out better relationships with them. Most of the extant
books and courses about interreligious encounters and dialogue deal
primarily with the interaction between two or more of the major
world religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism,
and Sikhism. This book fills a gap in the study of interreligious
dialogue in Africa by taking into consideration the place and
relevance of ATR in interreligious dialogue and cooperation in
Sierra Leone. It provides the reader with basic knowledge of ATR,
Islam, and Christianity in their Sierra Leonean contexts, and of
interfaith encounters and dialogue among thethree major faith
traditions in Africa. As such, it provides for the first time a
historical, chronological, and comparative study of interreligious
encounters and dialogue among Traditionalists, Muslims, and
Christians in Sierra Leone. Traditionalists, Muslims, and
Christians in Africa is an important reference for scholars,
researchers, religious leaders, missionaries, and all who are
interested in interfaith cooperation and dialogue, especially among
all three of Africa's major living religions-ATR, Islam, and
Christianity.
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