“The Vatican strongly endorses African Traditional Religion,” Fr Humphrey Tatah Mbuy

Interviewed by Emmanuel Sanosi
The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue named Rev Fr Humphrey Tatah Mbuy of the Bamenda Archdiocese to head a team monitoring ongoing studies on African Traditional Religion, ATR, for eventual incorporation of the discipline into the syllabuses of tertiary institutions and major seminaries in Africa. He was recently in Nigeria for a three-week seminar, where discussions focused on the different aspects affecting Christianity in Africa, especially when viewed from a backdrop of African traditions. We spoke to Fr. Humphrey Mbuy who comes back to some of the issues that were discussed in Nigeria in greater details. Excerpts:

Father, you were in Nigeria for three weeks attending a seminar on one aspect of inter-religious dialogue. What was it all about?
The seminar was on youth formation on inter-religious dialogue, particularly those in tertiary institutions and universities. Focus was on helping them how to live and cope with colleagues who are not of the same religion with them. The seminar focus was mainly on the adherence to African Traditional Religion, for Africa is marked by three main religions namely Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion or ATR. It should be said here that ATR is the background of the African people and so we must find suitable ways for its adherents to express their various faiths in the context of their traditions. This is important because these three religions exist simultaneously and in some places, religious differences have sparked religious conflicts as adherents of different religions fight each other

. What really is African Traditional Religion?
It is the African expression and manifestation of their belief in the Divine.

It would seem you are talking here about paganism or something along those lines.
Let me state here that Pope John Paul II had forbade us to use such words because they are very misrepresentative or derogatory. I would let you know that the religion of a people is their intrinsic manifestation of their belief in the Divine and the African belief system cannot be reduced to a single word such as paganism, animism or fetishism. Paganism means not believing in the Divine and that is not true of Africa – there are no pagans in Africa as such.

But that’s how the early missionaries termed African traditional worship.
Yes, but it was because they did not understand at the time and now the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue has cancelled such terms for the reasons I have just mentioned above.

So, how would a native of Nso, for example, differentiate his Christian worship from that of a Mankon man, since they have different traditions and cultures?
There is no difference at all except for the fact that one will express his faith slightly differently from the other. It is like saying that a Cameroonian Christian is different from a Chinese Christian – they are both Christians although their manner of worship differs in the way they express their Christian faith because of their different cultural backgrounds.

Are we talking here about Inculturation?
No. We are talking about the different religions and Inculturation only comes in the sense that we can no longer evangelise adherents of these religions without Inculturation, which in fact, is based on their individual traditional setups. Inculturation is quite a new field which we have not even approached yet except at the level of preliminary studies. We are not even yet at Inculturation, we are still at adaptation and there is still quite a long road ahead of us before we can really start talking about Inculturation.

Do you not think that limiting ATR to seminaries and universities is sort of depriving younger students of this vital aspect of our faith?
What we are doing for now is to train people who will in turn train others. All the people who were present at this seminar are people who already have an influence their different societies in one way or another. There was the Chaplain of the University of Dakar, there was a Rev Sister who lectures at the Major Seminary in Jos, there was Cardinal Okojie and one Monsignor who is the Nigerian National Coordinator for Inter-religious Dialogue, including many student leaders from a variety of universities. So, you can see how broadly spread the representation was and these people influence a huge collection of peoples. Surprisingly there were representatives of the forces of law and order and they were very impressed especially when you consider how volatile Nigeria is on issues of religious differences.

About three years ago you attended similar seminars in Ouagadougou, Johannesburg and Zambia. How is this recent one different from those three?
Those previous seminars were in keeping with what Pope John Paul II of blessed memory made almost mandatory, that is, that ATR be taught in all Catholic universities and seminaries in Africa. There was therefore a need to bring together teachers and professors who handle this area of specialisation so that they could brainstorm and come up with suitable proposals and syllabuses, and equally share different pedagogic approaches.

So, if your aspirations come true at the end of it all, what would be the impact of ATR on the faith of the people?
There are basically three things to be gained from the work we are doing. First of all, many people have studied and presented ATR to the world through the parameters of Christianity such that it has been Christianity interpreting ATR. This approach is therefore lopsided because this religion is being seen through the eyes of Christian missionaries, and not the religion itself. We can no longer afford to keep people away from what they should know, so there will be a correction of this religion which, so far, has been misrepresented or truncated.
The second thing is that we are dealing with Africans and there is no way you can understand an African without understanding his deepest religious aspirations. It is no secret that every African, no matter how deeply adherent he is to his faith, still regards certain things about his ancestors to be dearer to him than the religion he openly professes. That’s why when Christians find themselves in a crisis they naturally turn to the religion of their forefathers, even without any conscious awareness because it is deep down in their sub-conscious. The third thing to be gained is in the domain of inter-religious dialogue. This means that one must first learn to listen to the other person regardless of whether one believes or not in the same thing the other holds divine. This means that each person affirms his or her religion as it is while accepting the other person for what he is.
It is very important because when you accept a person for what he is, you can easily understand how he reasons and as such, you avoid some of the conflicts the world has known as a result of religious intolerance.

Followers of Christ are Christians; those of Mohamed are Muslims and the list continues. There is no clear distinction yet because people cannot easily understand how a person can have two religions  at the same time, that is, adhering to their traditional religions while being Christians – it’s rather contradictory I should say. Who are adherents of ATR and is it the same as ancestral worship?
Ancestral Worship is again another terminology that needs to be redefined just like paganism. ATR is the African expression of religion. It is the African’s manifestation of his belief in the Divine. This is based on six major pillars:
First, the belief in the Supreme – the African believes that there is a supreme being that looks over him. Second the belief in divinities and principalities – the divinities are the expressions of that Supreme Being and the principalities are the negation of it so that you have good and evil.
Third, the belief in Ancestors (Ancestral Worship) – the African believes that you do not just go to God directly but through your ancestors and I am pleased to state here that the Church has officially taken up this aspect of the African belief that expresses in an African way what the Church calls the Communion of Saints.
Next, the African believes in the community – for the African the community is all-important – I am because they are and they are because I am. Fifth, the belief in morality – the African still clings firmly to what our ancestors taught about good and evil, because the different cultures are entrenched in moral laws that guide each African community and finally, the belief in Life – for the African life is sacred and should be respected from conception till death.
That is why a true African will abhor abortion and euthanasia. These are the six stones on which African Traditional Religion hangs and once you understand these stones you can easily understand why an African would react the way he reacts in certain situations.

In one of his writings, the Bishop of Nkongsamba, Mgr Dieudonné Watio, condemns what we would call “cry-die”, because he says it is done out of fear of our ancestors instead of doing it out of love. Does the reason change the fact?
Bishop Watio is absolutely correct. ATR has its shady side just like every other religion including Christianity. Examples abound but I think issues such as the Inquisition and witchcraft in the history of the Church are few. Also if you consider that the various days of the week are all taken from Roman mythological gods, you will then see that every religion has its dark side must be clarified. The Second Vatican Council talked of Ecclesia Simpre Reformata, which means the Church is always reforming itself.
So it is not only limited to Africans and ATR but is evident in all religions everywhere in the world. Now within the context of ATR, these shady areas also exist and we need to understand why such things are done and what they mean for the African Christian before we attempt to change them. Instead, we have spent all these many years condemning these aspects without taking the time to understand what significance it has for these people. For instance, what Europeans term Animism in Africans is because they have not taken the pains to understand why Africans have shrines in certain places. They have falsely concluded that we worship trees or stones. The actual fact is that for an African it is the atmosphere of a place that makes him feel the presence of God and so he places his shrine there.

But why is the Church so particular about Africa on this issue when India and China, for example, are still far behind in Christianity?

The issue is the false satisfaction we get from the visible statistics of Christianity in Africa. When one comes into a Church house in Africa, one sees thousands of people and falsely concludes that they are really Christians. If they are ordered to disrobe and pull out the amulets and talismans they carry on them for protection, one will be surprised to see the number of talismans that will be pulled out. Such people are not real Christians.  So the large number of church goers should not fool us into believing that we have successfully evangelised Africa – far from it! Before we go to China or India we need to really be sure we ourselves are completely free of the fake Christianity that we practice.

If you look at the recent tribal conflicts that took place in the North West Province, you will realise they were in areas supposedly entrenched in the Christian faith – Bali is the seat of the Protestant faith in the province and Oku’s majority population is Baptist and Mbessa is almost 90 percent Catholic, yet these are the very people who came out with guns and machetes and butchered their neighbours and brothers. Can you say they are true Christians?
So let us not be fooled by how full the church was today or last Sunday, but instead get to understand the intrinsic habits of Christians before we can get a true picture of who is living a  genuine Christian life.

Comments

[KILLIAN NDONUI]

Thanks so much Fr for these words.
Please i have some think to write to Fr Tatah, so i will be happy if your communicate his e mail to me. Thanks
KILLIAN NDONUI, BAMBUI CAMEROON

[Akoh Valery]

Fr Tatah gives a deep insight into the nature of ATR and the six major pillars of this often misunderstood religion. Very interesting! Check it out.

[dominic bonifacio mascarenhas]

Dear fr.tatah,

I was there for your retreat in Dubai it was amazing experience, on the last day of the retreat you had asked to give personal prayer request as these prayers request will be read on the altar in Rome for the beatification of pope john Paul II My prayer request was to unit my family but my daughter expired suddenly and the family members started only smiling to each other but still the anger is there my prayer was not to take away my daughter who i loved very dearly
please pray for our family.
kind regards
Dominic bonifacio mascarenhas