LAST UPDATED: 12JUN2005
 

  AFRICA  _______________________________________________________________________________________________
 

  FOREWORD: The low value of girls in these societies make parents to marry them as quickly as possible; also ablation or
  Female Genital Mutilation (FMG) is practiced allegedly/theoricaly to follow tribal traditions, but it really exists because the
  future husbands want virgin, submissive and reliable women; then, the parents of these girls could receive a more high
  price (dowry) for the girl as reward: they are selling marital fidelity. But posterior possible consequences of FGM can be
  haemorrhages, pains, infections, painful sexual intercourses, painful menstruations, urinary problems, traumas, adulteries
  (many husbands prefer "sensitive" women), and many other complications. Moreover, many African females must practice
  "dry vagina": with chemical products or plant extracts within, it appears an inflammation that serves to improve male
  pleasure; if it is not practiced, these women have the risk to loss their husbands in the arms of other women; and recently
  worse with the increased risk to be infected with AIDS also: AIDS in Africa comes from not reliable husbands mainly.
  In the half Noth of Africa, to be a woman, is a risk to be sick, slave, unhappy and mistreated.
  In most of Africa, abortion is illegal and there aren't reliable statistics; otherwise there is ablation, another iniquity duet to
  economical reasons mainly, and estimative statistics of that have been included (Female Genital Mutilation, an Overview ;
  World Heath Organization, Geneva, 1998 at www.who.int). Besides, ablation can be taken possibly to measure the
  prevalence of old tribal customs: if this tradition has survived, we can believe that Animist practices too, included Christian or
  Muslim adherents; but it must be proved.
  FOREWORD (II): Many of the African Independent Churches (AIC) in fact are mixing Christianity with ancestral cult; so,
  per example, in the Zionist churches God and the ancestors have the same rights and cult (such as sacrifices, ordinations,
  consults...). Indeed, these ancestors act as in an Animist milieu: if they are neglected they can get angry and punish with
  diseases their worshippers, and these must apologize with the sacrifice of a goat. The blend with the Animist practices are
  so deep in these churches that ritual ecstasy and herbal medicines are practiced and given. I would suggest "pseudozionist"
  (from the Church of Zion) to name the African syncretistic practices.
 
 

  GABON

    - 1.100.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 52-66% Catholic, 8-19% Protestant, 12% African Churches (syncretical usually), 3-40% Animist.
      Additional source for African countries: Geografía Universal, 1993.
    - Data: Encarta '98: The 95% of the inhabitants are nominally christian, although many continue practicing old beliefs,
      and approximately the 1% is muslim.
 

  SOUTH AFRICA

    - 42.450.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 44% Protestant, 6% Catholic. /  22% AIC, 12% Afrikaans Reformed, 7.5% Catholic, 6% Methodist, 3.8%
      Anglican, 2.5% Lutheran, 1.3% Hinduist, 1.1% Muslim.
    - Data: South Africa has a population of 40.436.000 inhabitants, where the 76% is african black, the 13% white, the 8,5%
      mulatto ("coloureds") and the 2,5% Asiatic. Near of the 80% of the population is Christian Protestant. The majority of the
      Afrikaners belong to the Dutch Reformist Church, and almost the totality of the white south africans that speak english as
      natural tongue are Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics, or Congregationalists. The black population profess too these religions,
      although the majority belong to independent churches that combine elements of Christianity and the African traditional
      religions. The Asiatic population is hinduist or muslim; the population of jewish origin is above 120.000.
      From Adherents.com: 17.5% in African churches, 13% Animist; there are too the CIA's estimations (28.5% Animist),
      that it could be due to add up these two groups; and from the Nazarene.org giving 24 points at the animism.
    - Abortions: 2.7; 2.4% (illegal abortions not counted).
    - The statistic could be: 2% Atheist and Agnostics, 8% Deists, 1.5% Muslim, 1.5% Hinduist, 15% Christian Deists,
      22-17.5% African Churches (syncretism), 13% Animists, 23% Neodoukhobors, 11.5-16% Protestant, and a 2.5-1% Catholic.
    - But according the WVS 2000: 1% Agnostic, 0.5% Atheist, 0.5% Pseudoatheist, 11% Deist (or Animist), 21% Christian
      Deist (or Animist), 2% Indus, 3% Muslims, 14.5% in African Churches, and the rest Protestant or Catholic (being
      nominal Catholic a 11%).
 

  GHANA

    - 17.500.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 27-40% Protestant, 45-35% Animism, 19-20% Catholicism, 16-12% Islamism, 16% African Churches.
      It is possible that many of the so called African Churches, with a mix in various degrees of Christianity with traditional
      practices and cults, can be confounded as another Protestant Church or a Christian sect.
      The report of the National Church Survey sponsored by the Ghana Evangelism committee in 1989 and 1993 revealed the
      widespread incidence of nominal Christians in the South, and a large number of unreached people groups in the North.
      Out of the national population of 16.37 million, 10 202 770 people, i.e. 62.29% claimed to be Christians, but regrettably,
      only 1,900,990 of these Christians are Bible-believing and attend churches on Sundays (National Church Survey 1993:13-15).
    - Data: The report writen by Rijk A. van Dijk (OCCASIONAL PAPER, Centre of African Studies - University of Copenhagen)
      [dead link], expresses the particular situation of the native Pentacostal churches of Ghana as those of the rest of the
      continent: "Most of the Pentecostal churches in Sub-Saharan Africa, as they developed in the 1960s, emphasized their
      difference from the established mission type of church and at the same time increasingly tried to distance themselves from
      the other African Independent churches which they came to regard more and more as involved with diabolical and demonic
      powers and rituals. The Pentecostalists' strict abstinence from alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, their emphasis on strict morality
      [against witchcraft, evil powers, drunkenness, violence and adultery] and their disdain for all sorts of traditional elements of
      culture, became widely known and noticed." As other pentecostal churches, the African ones center their activities in
      speaking in tongues, prayer healing, religious ecstasy and prophesying. "In general terms this form of Pentecostalism
      manifested itself very strongly among the younger generations of society, the younger groups in the established churches
      and the student populations of universities and colleges." The Pentacostal churches here are "Primarily urban-based, with
      a focus on the influential middle classes of bourgeois society, these churches are able to exert an unparalleled sociopolitical
      and moral influence on society."
    - New statistic:  1% Atheist or agnostic, 18% Deists, 35% Animists, 13% Syncretics (min.), 16% Protestant,
      9% Catholic, 7% Muslim... it is not possible to evaluate in the three last groups the number of syncretics (if there are).
    - FMG or ablation: 30%, Northerner tribes.
 

  NIGERIA

    - 114.600.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 45%  Islam (north), 26% Protestant, 12% Catholic, 11% African Christianity, Animism.
    - Data: World Values Survey 1991, 99% believing in god, 82% in life, 51% in hell, 89% in resurrection, 39% in
      reincarnation, 68% in a personal god.
    - New statistic: 1% Atheist or Agnostic, 17% Christian or Muslim deist, 11% Syncretic (African churches),
      5% Animist, 11% "pseudo-Sikh" (Muslim with reincarnation), 24% Muslim, 11% Neodoukhobor, 13% Protestant,
      7% Catholic... it is not possible to evaluate in the five last groups the number of syncretics (if there are).
      Otherwise in the WVS 2000 the proportion between Christian and Muslims was almost 1:1.
    - Abotions: 25.4; Ratio 12%.
    - FMG: 40%. Contrary to the rest of African countries with female mutilation, in Nigeria it is more practiced in the
      Christian south than in the Muslim north. Otherwise, FMG in Africa is practiced more among non-educated women
      than those yet educated, but the proportions remain almost equal among urban and rural dwellers.
 

  EGYPT

    - 59.200.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 90% Muslim, 7% Coptic Christianity.
    - Data: In Egypt, as in many other Muslim countries, a form of Animism has survived instead of the Islamic orthodoxy.
      I recomend to visit the special report: "Animism Among the Muslims"; information on animistic survivences amidst the
      Muslims as the Maraboutism (cult of the ancestors), the worship of trees, or the Zar ceremonies (voodoo-like rituals).
      The degree of participation in such animism can be deduced by informations as that between 1870-80 these practices
      spread to such an extent in Upper Egypt that the Government had to put a stop to them; or that during the first part of
      the XX century the Cairo press published many articles demanding that "these infidel ceremonies" would be abolished
      by law, but the custom dies hard. (for example the newapaper Al Jareeda in April 18, 1911, or the pamphlet "Mudarr ez
      Zar" "The Baneful Effect of the Zar" Cairo, 1903). It is possible that taking into account the survivence of the FGM as a
      pre-Islamic, pre-Christian, and surely as pre-Pharaonic tradition, we could deduce that other religious rituals (as the Zar
      sessions) are mantained in the same way and in the same proportion (only an idea).
    - Abortion: 23; Ratio 15.7%.
    - FMG: 97%, comprising both religious communities.
    - Sexuality: On homosexuality among Arab - Islamic societies it is said that differs very much from the Westerner
      homosexuality that has been produced by its Post-Christian/Humanist societies, in which is practiced among "equals".
      Among Islamic socieites (or at least those of Arab kind) the sex, being understood as penetration, takes place between
      dominant and subordinate social inferiors (with no difference of age or sex, can be wives, boys, slaves, etc.); in fact sex
      when is among same-sex adults is there a symbol of dominace / superiority: the dominant takes pleasure through
      domination and the inferior recognizes his inferiority at the superior as to be accepted or rewarded by him. There then
      is no place to understand the Westerner homosexuality as a relation among equals. In fact, equality, being in heterosexual
      or in homosexual relations, would threaten this system of power. Such system of power through homosexuality is known
      that was common among the Romans, Greeks, Incas, Masais, Chinese and Japanese (even was institutionalized among
      Buddhist monks and Samurais). For the Egyptian case all said before could serve, but we have that in Siwa oasis this
      sexuality has been reported by Cline in 1936 "all normal Siwan men and boys practice sodomy". Also there are/were
      non-oficial marriages of the type boy-adult, being the boys aged 12 to 18. In Abdallah's "Siwan Customs" (Cambridge, 1917)
      observed that 59 out of 60 adults would have been catamites [sexual young partners] themselves when young. These data
      and similar have been got mainly from Janssen's "Growing Up Sexually. World Reference Atlas" (2002, Amsterdam).
 

  SUDAN

    - 31.050.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 70-74.5% Muslim, 20-17% Animist, 5% Catholic and 5% Protestant (10%), or in other statistics 8%.
    - Data: The Zar ceremonies in Sudan were well-established in the Sudan by the 1820's, and they were outlawed by the
      Sharia law in 1983, but instead of decreasing the ceremonies actually appear to have increased.
      The Muslim Egyptian Arabs that invaded the area from the XIII Century have changed the religious and linguistic shape
      of Sudan, but still there are some 500000 inhabitants that speak Nubian languages in the North, but they forsook their
      Monophysist Christianity for Islam because they are mainly Muslim. The Arab speakers constitute the half of the population,
      but there are also some 110 languages with less than 50000 speakers (being usual the languages spoken by only 8000
      persons even). With more than 50000 speakers stand out the Bedawi in the coast (Muslim), the Dinka at the central
      rainforest region (animistics excepting those of the Southeast), the Fur (Muslims), the Nuer (mainly Animistic); and the rest
      of languages are spoken by populations of 50000 to 500000 speakers.... Among the new Christian missions in the South,
      stand out the Zande, the Dinka of the Southeast and the Toposa as peoples with more of 100000 and with more than half
      being Christian. Geograficaly: Christians in the frontier regions with Rep. Congo and Uganda, some in South Kordofan.
      There are some 100000 Christian Copts (Amharas and Tigrays). Data on languages and religion are got mainly from
      the Ethnologue and the Joshua Project.
    - FMG: 89%, except in the south.
 

  ETHIOPIA

    - 58.800.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 31.5-45% Islam, 52.5-40% Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity (Copt Church), Animism (11.5%).
    - Data: Library of Congress (see Bibliography): " Belief in the existence of active spirits --many malevolent, some
      benevolent-- is widespread among Ethiopians, whether Christian, Muslim, or pagan. The spirits called zar can be male or
      female and have a variety of personality traits. Many peasants believe they can prevent misfortune by propitiating the zar.
      [...] The protective adbar spirits belong to the community rather than to the individual or  family. The female adbar is
      thought to protect the community from disease, misfortune, and poverty, while the male adbar is said to prevent fighting,
      feuds, and war and to bring good harvests. People normally pay tribute to the adbars in the form of honey, grains, and
      butter. [...]
      Myths connected with the evil eye (buda) vary, but most people believe that the power rests  with members of lowly
      occupational groups who interact with Amhara communities but are not part of them. To prevent the effects of the evil eye,
      people wear amulets or invoke God's name . Because one can never be sure of the source of illness or misfortune,
      the peasant has recourse  to wizards who can make diagnoses and specify cures. Debteras also make amulets and
      charms designed to ward off satanic creatures.".
      ETHNIC GROUPS: Oromo 40% (Cushitic group), Amhara and Tigrean 32% (semitic group), Sidamo 9% (Cushitic),
      Shankella 6% (Nilo-Saharan tribes), Somali 6% and Afar 4% (Cushitic), Gurage 2% (semitic), other 1%.
      The Christians (the old nations that adopted in the time of Aksum the Monophysism) are the Tigray (accounting a 12%)
      and the dominant Amhara (a 20%); recently the Oromo of the Shewa region around the capital area have been
      orthodoxized where those inhabiting the Welega/West Regions have been Christianized by Protestant churches till
      some degree. As Christians in Ethiopia are related mainly to one or another Christian nation, today they are present
      mainly in the national states of the Tigray and of the Amhara, and scattered here and there as result of the colonization
      done by Amharas after that the Ethiopian Empire conquered in the period 1883-1900 the South Highlands and Plains:
      the "Naftanyas". The Somalis and the Afars have being traditionally Muslims. Peoples that have retained their Animist
      religions untill now are the Omotic and Gurage peoples, south of Addis Abbeba; the Nilo-Saharian peoples that inhabit
      the western border regions, and the Sidamo, inhabiting in the area below the Gurage. Despite of mantaining their Animist
      practices and beliefs, several Animist groups have adopted recently Islam (Hadya, Timbaro, Alaba, Berta, Nara...) while
      others have adopted Christianity (as the Kefa, Kimbata, Kunema, etc.).
      THE OROMO: the Oromo is an ethnic group enough populous as to speak about it apart (roughly the Oromos constitute
      a 40% of all Ethiopians, some 27 milions of persons, and this cipher exceeds that of the number of inhabitants of
      Netherlands). The old Oromo religion is similar at that of Black Africa: there is an absolut god (Waaqa) who had
      emanations which became secondary divinities/spirits (named ayyaana) and are worshipped in their temples (galma)
      and attended by their sacerdots (qaallu). The most important religious feature among the Oromo Animists is the rite known
      as "Dalaga", practiced at night, and where the people dances and the drums are played till the qaallu enters in trance
      and is possessed by some of the ayyaana, who gives instructions and prophecies at the parishioners. Recently many
      Oromos have adopted Islam as a reaction against the Christian Amhara that where occupying their lands, where as stated
      previously those inhabiting the center and west have been christianized. Otherwise the old animist religion has not died out
      in many Oromo regions, and even in those regions christianized or islamized the oromos are still practicing it; Bartels in its
      1983's "Oromo Religion" expressed this reality as follows: "Whether they [Oromo] became Christians or Muslims, the
      Oromo's traditional modes of experiencing the divine have continued almost unaffected, in spite of the fact that several
      rituals and social institutions in which it was expressed, have been very diminished or apparently submerged in new ritual
      cloaks."
    - Note: After seventeen centuries of christianity, the superstitions remain intact as the usual african system of mutual profit
      between human and spirits. If it does give a new dimension to the former christianity practiced here, the Catholic Church
      has criticized this christianity as an heresy (monophisism = Christ was only divine, never human)... By the protestant
     churches, I don't know what statements they have about.
    - New statistic: 31.5% muslim syncretism, 52.5% ethiopian syncretism, 11.5% pure Traditional African Religion.
    - FMG: 85%.
 

  ERITREA

    - 3.600.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 49-50% Christian Orthodox (Monophysites - Copts), 49-50% Muslim; Animist practices (2%).
    - Data: Independence in 1993, former Ethiopian territory. In the english TEAL site (informations about religion), based
      on missionary organizations, states that there is a 31% Christian.
      In Erythrea as in many other countries the racial / linguistical composition determines the cultural and religious shape
      of the countrymen. Ethnically Erythrea is inhabited by the Trigrinya (50%), a Christian Monophysite nation that occupes
      the highlands; the Tigré nation (31%), the Afar (5%), the Saho (5%), the Beja (2.5%), the Nara (1.5%) and the Rashida
      nations (1%) which are Sunni; in the other side the Bilen (2%) and the Kunama (2%) are the unique peoples that have a
      noticeable mix of religions, being Christians, Muslims or Animists. The Christianity in Erythrea: 51%; the Islam would
      account for a 48.5%.
      On religion, the Christians don't difer much from the Ethiopians.
    - FMG: 90%.
 

  ZAIRE (NOWADAYS DEMOCRATIC REP. CONGO)

    - 45.000.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 42-48% Catholic, 25-29% Protestant, 15-17% African Churches (Kimbarguism), 2% Islam, Animism.
    - Data: Library of Congress (see Bibliography): "A clear delineation of religious affiliation into these membership categories
      can give a misleading picture of Zairian reality. The number of persons who can be categorized as belonging exclusively
      to one group or another is limited. Overlapping affiliations are more common. As with class identity or with ethnic identity,
      an individual Zairian's religious identity may be situacional. Different spiritual traditions, agents, and communities may be
      sought out for assistance, depending on the situation at hand. For example, Christian students in Christian schools may
      employ sorcery with the objective of improving their individual exam scores or of helping their school's soccer team win in
      competition against their opponents. Sophisticated urbanites, faced with disease in a family member, may patronize
      indigenous healers and diviners. And Zairians practicing traditional African religions may also go to both established
      Christian clergy and breakaway Christian sects in search of spiritual assistance. In the search for spiritual resources,
      Zairians have frequently displayed a marked openness and pragmatism."
      Father Joseph Healey, has reunited a serie of African proverbs in his: "African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories", available
      in his site; among these there is one related may be to the particular situation of the major part of the Christians there:
      "O unhappy Christian: / Mass in the morning / Witchdoctor in the evening / Amulet in the pocket / Scapular around the
      neck."
    - New statistic: limited percentage on strict Christians (5% ?), Islam 2%, animist 10%, and rest Syncretic: 83% (?)
    - FMG prevalence: 5%.
 

  UGANDA

    - 19.800.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 40-33% Catholicism, 26-33% Protestant (Anglicanism), 5-16% Islam, 18% Animism.
    - Data: From the site Religion Around the World (Bibliography) this text has been extracted: "In many areas, particularly
      in rural settings, some religions tend to be syncretistic. Deeply held traditional indigenous beliefs commonly are blended
      into established religious rites or observed side-by-side with such rites, particularly in areas that are predominantly
      Christian".  --- There is a proportion of 1 urban dweller per 9 in the rural part --.
    - Possible statistic: 4% Catholic, 4% Anglican, 2% Muslim, 14% muslim syncretic, 58% christian syncretic or
      "Christo-pagan", 18% pure animist.
    - FMG: 5%, some tribes.
 

  ZIMBABWE

    - 11.500.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: Animism, 17-26% Protestant, 14-16% African Churches (syncretists), 14% Catholic. // By Adherents.com: 1/3
      Christian, 1/3 Syncretist. 1/3 Animist... or well 25% Animist, 50% Syncretist (African Churches) and 25% Christian;
      depending on the sources the valuations vary.
    - New Statistic (WVS 2000): 0.5% Atheist, 0.5% Agnostic, 11% Deist (or Animist), 19% Christian Deist (or Animist),
      and the rest African, Protestant and Catholic but being mainly syncretical.
 

  ANGOLA

    - 11.100.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 90% Christianity.
    - Data: According to the National Institute of Religious Affairs by Angola, the self identification is, a 45% catholic, a 30%
      Protestant, a 2% Animist, and a 23% Atheist. There is a systematic atheistic propaganda by the government.
 

  MALAWI

    - 10.100.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 54-83% Christian (20-28% Catholics, 34-55% Protestants including a 19% in syncretical African Churches),
      15-20% Muslims. (If do you want to know the exact percentages on adhesion for each Protestant church, it is
      recommended to visit adherents.com).
    - Data: From the census we can obtain these ciphers: 80% Christians, 16% Muslims; only a 5% has electricity in house,
      a 78% depends economically of his harvests. (www.statistics.gov.mw).
      In this country, the report of Rijk A. van Dijk comments us that the origins of the Pentacostal churches contrary to
      syncretism had its origins in "the young upwardly mobile urban classes in the late 1970s, particularly among those
      young urban groups that had a university or college education." A minority as can be seen.
 

  TANZANIA

    - 30.400.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 40-46% Christian (where the 33% Catholic and the 13% Protestant), 33-35% Muslim, in the coastal zones.
    - New Statistic (WVS 2000): 1% Atheist, 9% Deist (or Animist), 8% Christian Deist (or Animist), and the rest being
      Muslim or Christian in almost equal proportions but blending its beliefs with Animism.
    - Ablation: 10%, North-Eastern regions. If the reader has been aware, the ablation boundaries coincide almost completely
      with the Muslim or Coptic cultural frontiers... There is not a wish to criticize Muslims or Copts here, but it must be stressed
      that civilizations or ethnicities have almost the same behaviour than individuals: these choose traditions and/or religions
      according to their values (good and wrong), as equally the behaviour of an individual produces its opinion, or the opinions
      of an individual lead to the same patterns of behaviour considered (a well established psychological law).
 

  MOZAMBIQUE

    - 18.100.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 70% Animist, 30% Catholic, 10% Muslim.
    - Data: "According to the National Institute of Statistics, half of the population of 16 to 17 million does not profess to
      practice a religion or creed. However, scholars at local universities assert that virtually all persons recognize or practice
      some form of animism or traditional indigenous religions. Of the approximately 8 million persons who do profess a
      recognized religion, 24 percent are Roman Catholic, 22 percent are Protestant, and 20 percent are Muslim. Many Muslim
      clerics disagree with this statistic, claiming that Islam is the country's majority religion. Religious communities are
      dispersed throughout the country. The northern provinces and the coastal strip are most strongly Muslim, Catholics
      predominate in the central provinces, and Protestants are most numerous in the southern region. [...] Traditional
      indigenous practices and rituals are present in most Christian churches, including Catholic churches, and in most Muslim
      worship. For example, members of these faiths commonly travel to the graves of ancestors to say special prayers for rain.
      Similarly, Christians and Muslims continue to practice a ritual of preparation or inauguration at the time of important
      events, e.g. a first job, a school examination, a swearing-in, etc., by offering prayers and spilling beverages on the ground
      to please ancestors. Some Christians and Muslims consult "curandeiros," traditional healers or spiritualists --some of whom
      are themselves nominal Christians or Muslims-- in search of good luck, healing, and solutions to problems."
      (Annual Report on International Religious).
      Survey for the IIRGPH in 1997 with population of five years old or more: Which is your religion or belief ? The results:
      24% Catholic, 23% without religion (but it is possible that many of them practice some religion not established as
      Animism), 18% Muslim, 17.5% Sion religion, 8% Protestant, 2% other christianities, animist, unknown or others with a 6%.
      (National Institute of Statistics).
    - Possible statistic: less than 1% strict christian, 45% mixer animism - christianity, 19% mixer animism - islam, 33%
      animist.
 
 

         Hilde Artsen had wrote this in http://landow.stg.brown.edu/post/zimbabwe/religion/arntsen4.html "In practice,
      Christianity is being mixed with traditional religious beliefs and practices, as much of the links with traditional beliefs
      and practices are being retained by people who claim to be believes in Christianity or other religions. [...] Although a
      substantial portion of the Zimbabwean population today belongs to a Christian congregation or church, people
      retain many of the traditional customs and beliefs in traditional religion such as Shona or Ndebele religions. [...]
      It is very true that . . . it [the bus] turned over and it caught fire and about 45 people died, last year. It's just a plain
      area where there is a straight road, and for the whole of that week, about four accidents occurred on the very
      same spot until some elders from churches whose ancestors used to reside there were called by the government to
      cleanse the area and to talk to the spirits, and nothing happened after, they just passed there."
         Katie Finin '98 (English 27, 1997) wrote: "European colonizers in Africa attempted to supplant both the indigenous
      political and religious systems of their colonies. Christianity accompanied the new white colonial governments,
      spreading throughout the British empire. Instead of completely replacing the indigenous religious orders, there was
      often a melding of religious thought. The resulting Christian-local religion hybrids deviated from traditional European
      Christianity in many ways."
         Seen in La2 Channel, "La Llamada de África", (25JUL04): Among the two local Christian teams of football of Accra
      (Ghana), many players use secretly sorcery (with slaughtering of chickens, vudu, spells, etc.) to hurt psychically or
      bodily the contrary coacher, or against a rival player in same team. Rites performed by sorcerers, who invocate the two
      spirits of the football, one masculine, the other femenine (!). So that if it would be any conception that Syncretism or
      Animism are a system of beliefs that is survinving into the countryside, that is not so really.
         And, following these clues, and comparing other sources... it is possible to think that the syncretics are above a
      25-35% (minimum) in the sub-Saharan Africa; or to think also that the rural population is syncretic (Coincidence between
      rural population and syncretics in South Africa and in Gabon), this percentage can be subtracted in the next map if
      you wish to know the real volume of "traditional" or "official" Christians.
         Now, we can divide Africa between three religious-ethnical sectors:
         a). North-Mediterranean sector: Muslim and white mediterranean-bereber race . It includes Morocco, Argelia,
              Tunis, Libya and Egypt; with 129.300.000 inhabitants.
         b). Subsaharian sector: Muslim and black race. It includes Sudan, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Somalia,
              Mali, Niger and Senegal; with 74.900.000 inhabitants.
         c). Remaining sector: Black race, It has a 20% of its population muslim, a 45% christian (without specification
              on African sects or syncretists) and a 35% animist. 517.200.000 inhabitants.
         Other countries, with demographical importance but without eminent data:
 
 

  MAURITANIA

    - 2.300.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 97% Muslim.
    - FMG: 25%.
 

  SENEGAL

    - 8.500.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 95% Islam, 5% Christianity.
    - FMG: 20%.
 

  GAMBIA

    - 1.100.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 85% Muslim, 10% Christian.
    - FMG: 80%.
 

  GUINEA BISSAU

    - 1.000.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 60% Animist, 30% Muslim, 8% Christian.
    - FMG: 50%.
 

  GUINEA

    - 6.700.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 95% Muslim, others are Animists and Christians.
    - FMG: 60%.
 

  MALI

    - 9.900.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 85.3% Muslim, 12% Animist, 2.7% Christian (Bethany.com)
    - FMG: 94%.
 

  NIGER

    - 9.300.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 91.2% Muslim, 8.5 Ethnic religionist, 0.3% Christian.
    - FMG: 20%, only in some regions.
 

  SOMALIA

    - 9.800.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: Islam, 98%.
    - FMG: 98%. Worst here, because the most common type of ablation is infibulation: removal of all sexual parts, and after it is
      left a little orifice to urinate, sewing the "entrance" with thorns or sticks. In the wedding it is reopened with a knife or a sharp
      object, but after each childbirth the vagina is partially re-infibulated again to leave a tight sex, thus her husband will have
      more pleasure.
 

  SIERRA LEONA

    - 4.600.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 8-10% Christian, 30-39-60% Muslim. (The percentage not displayed means usually animism).
    - FMG: 90%.
 

  LIBERIA

    - 2.800.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 10% Christian, 20-30% Muslim.
    - FMG: 60%.
 

  BURKINA FASSO

    - 10.600.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 10-12% Christian, 25-43% Muslim.
    - FMG: 70%.
 

  IVORY COAST

    - 14.700.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 20% Christians, 20-27% Muslims; or 38% Muslim, 21% Catholic, 17% Animist, 13.5% Atheist and 5.3%
      Protestant.
    - FMG: 43%.
 

  TOGO

    - 4.200.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 28.5-35% Christian ( where 21.5% as Catholic and 7% as Protestant), 15-12% Muslim, above all in the
      northern regions.
    - FMG: 50%, in Northern areas.
 

  BENIN

    - 5.600.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 20% Christian, 12-15% Muslim, in the north.
    - FMG: 50%, in Northern regions.
 

  CHAD

    - 6.600.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 30-33% Christian (proportion one out of three as Protestant), 44-50% Muslim.
    - FMG: 60%.
 

  CAMEROON

    - 13.800.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 50% Christian, divided in 33-35% Catholics and 17-18% Protestants, 22% Muslim.
    - FMG: 20%, in the North.
 

  CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

    - 3.300.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 35-50% Christian, 8-15% Muslim.
    - FMG: 43%.
 

  CONGO

    - 2.700.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 80% Christian, with a 55% as Catholic and a 25% as Protestant, 14% in African Churches, 1% Muslim.
 

  RWANDA

    - 7.700.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 50-74% Christian (65-44% Catholic - 9% Protestant), 9-10% Muslim.
 

  BURUNDI

    - 6.400.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 66% Christian; or 61% Catholic, 1.6% Muslim, 14% Protestant.
 

  KENYA

    - 27.300.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 63-77% Christian with these percentages: 26-28% Catholic, 19-37-38% Protestant, 11-27% Syncretic Churches,
      6% Muslim.
    - Data: Steadman Group surveyed urban Kenyatas in march 2003, on abortion issues, a 81% was contrary to legalize
      abortion.
    - FMG: 50%, not practiced in all districts.
 

  ZAMBIA

    - 9.700.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 68.5-72-75% Christian (34% Protestant, 26% Catholic, 8.5% AIC).
    - Data: The government has declared Zambia as Christian nation.
 

  NAMIBIA

    - 1.600.000 inhabitants (Considerable presence of mulattos and whites).
    - Statistics: 82% Christian, with a majority adhered to Protestant churches (62%), and another portion with the Catholic
      Church (22%).
 

  BOSTWANA

    - 1.400.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 50% Christian.
 

  LESOTHO

    - 2.000.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 65-92% Christian: 35-44% Catholic and 30-35-41% as Protestant. Include 8-13% in African Churches.
 

  MADAGASCAR

    - 14.050.000 inhabitants.
    - Statistics: 45-49% Christian: 25-26% Catholic + 20-23% Protestant, 2-7 Muslim.
 
 

 
                 This map was made up according to data provided by Encarta'98 (Microsoft), and by the "Atlas Universal
                 Ilustrado" (Mixing GmbH).
 

 
 

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