Two weeks ago, religious leaders from a variety of the world’s faiths met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican to publicly and collectively denounce the spread of religious fanaticism that has, unfortunately, continued to plague many countries – including this one. Although the emphasis was, for good reason, squarely on the prevention of physical violence, I would have liked to see more mention of the ways in which more systemic violence – including cultural imperialism, economic exploitation and other – factors play into the picture.

Still, despite the criticism from some Catholics who clearly missed the point and described the meeting as a “mishmash of contrary beliefs” I believe that this meeting – which drew praise from many, including President Obama – is a step in the right direction and I was particularly delighted to see a Babalawo included amongst the religious dignitaries. Although this is not the first time that the Catholic Church has positively engaged with African Religions, they are – much to the chagrin of scholar-practitioners such as myself – often excluded from the realm of “World Religions” from which these interfaith councils are commonly drawn.

Aside from the inclusion and respect factor, I am very much interested in the real implications that the rejuvenation of indigenous religions and cultural forms may have for Nigeria which, in recent years, has been plagued by violence that has been dubbed “religious” – with many of the clashes taking place between Christians and Muslims – the most recent event having taken place just a few days ago.

To give a bit of background, the types of Christianity and Islam present in Nigeria during what Jacob Olupona refers to as the “first modernity” which he dates to beginning in the early 20th century were more open to articulating with indigenous cultural ideas and epistemologies, which meant that people were largely tolerant of one another’s beliefs and practices as indigenous traditions tend toward a natural pluralism. In the Yorùbá context, scholars, including Olupona and J. Lorand Matory, have spoken about the role of òrìsà – traditional Yorùbá deities – and other aspects of Yorùbá traditional religion and culture which have served as a “sacred canopy” (to use Peter Berger’s words) under which all Yorùbá people could congregate regardless of being Christian, Muslim or Traditionalist. Under the “sacred canopy” created by many indigenous religio-cultural forms, the same family might, for instance, have Christians, Muslims and Traditionalists as members and experience little to no conflict.

Today, however, new, more rigid forms of Christianity and Islam – including extremist groups like Boko Haram – are jockeying for position within Nigerian society. Despite the acknowledgement that clashes between these various groups may have much more to do with economic factors than spiritual ones, they are still being couched in terms of religion. As indigenous culture is so tied with religion, many formerly unifying cultural institutions, including sacred kingships and certain festivals, are now being denounced as anti-Christian or anti-Muslim and people are being asked – nay, required – to choose sides between religion and culture. Without the indigenous cultural rallying points which once served as a middle ground between Christians and Muslims, the line drawn in the sand has grown thinner and thinner, leading to more and more intolerance up to and including violent outbreaks.

Although it is, unfortunately, unlikely that violence and conflict will immediately stop in Nigeria or elsewhere, as a result of this meeting at the Vatican, it is encouraging. While I’m certainly not a proponent of the über-relativist “we’re all the same” mentality that many mistakenly attribute to pluralism, the sooner we realize that sitting down together to advocate for less violence and more understanding is in all of our best interests, the better. As well, it is clear that the natural pluralism present within African Indigenous Religions has served well in the past and has the potential to do so again, so I’m glad to see them at the table and look forward to seeing even more inclusion of Indigenous priests and priestesses from various traditions in these types of conversations.

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons. The photo was taken by Jurema Oliveira and released into the public domain.