THE MYTHS OF TRIBAL SUPERIORITY: A THEOLOGICAL CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH IN AFRICA
INTRODUCTION
The
church in Africa is faced with an internal problem that is eating her to death.
This phenomenon that has turned believers in Christ to side one group over the
other is called tribal superiority. The act of tribal superiority view people
from different tribal groups as inferior in most sense of life and sees only
the tribal group which the individual belong as superior and the best. Even
though this problem has its roots in the beliefs and practices of African
Traditional Religion, the challenge before us is to identify the myths that
African Christians inherited from their traditional religion which is discriminatory
and unbiblical.
This
paper therefore seeks to identify the myths of tribal superiority among African
Christians and suggest how they can live as the Christians that Christ intended
them to be, when he prayed that, “Holy
Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one”
(John 17:11, emphasis added).
This paper is also limited in scope and may
not address all the myths of tribal superiority but just a few. It is hoped
that this paper will contribute to understanding how Africans can truly live
the Christian life that is biblical and unbiased in all ramifications.
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
MYTHS: refer to beliefs and practices that a select group of people hold
unto which was passed to them from their ancestors and may or may not be true
when it is applied to other people.
TRIBE: The tribe refers “to a social group of people
comprising numerous families or clans living together for generations and
claiming to have one ancestor or origin. The group is usually characterized by
a strong ingroup loyalty, affinity, consciousness and obligations for self
preservation and identity” (Turaki, 1997:7).
THE
MYTHS OF TRIBAL SUPERIORITY
MYTH #1: SOME TRIBES
ARE OUTCASTS (THE CASTE SYSTEM)
This is a practice in which one group of
people are considered outcast within a larger group, for reasons based on
traditional beliefs. Even in the 21st century where religions and
modernization is everywhere, certain groups of people are still looked at as
outcasts. The sad news is that even Christians consider other Christians from
these labeled tribes or groups as outcasts. Once a group of people is regarded
as outcasts, they do not have equal rights with the rest of the people who are
not outcasts. For example, the Osu caste system in South-East Nigeria is
obvious. Uchenna observes that:
Traditionally,
there are two classes of people in Igboland – the Nwadiala and the Osu. The
Nwadiala literally meaning ‘sons of the soil’. They are the masters while the
Osu are the people dedicated to the gods; so they are regarded as slaves,
strangers, outcasts and untouchables…The Osus are treated as inferior human
beings and kept in a state of permanent and irreversible disability; they are
subjected to various forms of abuse and discrimination (http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/osu-caste-in-igboland/).
The origin of the Osu caste system comes
from traditional beliefs that human beings can be offered as living sacrifices
to the gods. Metuh observes that:
The Igbo had the practice of consecrating some
animals or human beings as sacrifices to a deity, without killing them. Such
victims after the sacrificial ritual are allowed to live or wander around the
neighbourhood of the premises of the god, as its property. The immolation or
ritual killing of the victim is symbolically expressed by either making a deep
cut on the animal to let some blood to drip on the altar, or slicing off a tiny
bit of its body as token offering to the deity. The scar thereafter remains as
a mark that it is the property of the deity... If the victim is a human being,
he becomes an Osu (slave of a god)…A person could also voluntarily offer
himself to be consecrated as ‘osu’ to a spirit, in fulfillment of an oath, or
to escape the unscrupulous molestation of evil neighbours (1985: 62,63).
Similarly,
in other parts of Igboland, particularly in Enugu state, you have a similar
caste system that is known as Ohu. However, for the purpose of this paper,
emphasis will be on the Osu caste system. The problem of the Osu caste system
is that some Christians from this background are still considered as outcasts
and subservient to the so called freeborn Christians; and marriages between the
Osus and the Nwadialas is never encourage by majority of people who practice
this tradition. They believe that if you marry an Osu woman or man, you will
bring curse upon your family. Even when the intending couple decides to go
against the tradition and plan for the marriage, Rev. Aaron Akabuokwu observed
that “in some cases, the relatives may disrupt the wedding program or do
anything within their reach to stop the event or even disown the person because
Nwadiala cannot marry Osu” (oral interview). Therefore, the major questions
that one may ask is are these people truly Christians or are they traditional
worshipers with Christian names?
MYTH #2 BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER
This
concept stems out of the idea held by different tribal groups in Africa that
blood lineage is thicker than water baptism. This is because African tribes
lived together as one indivisible and united people that have the same blood
running through them due to their ancestry. For this reason, their allegiance
is not to anyone else than to their tribes. This is a moral issue that African
Christians are battling with in their everyday life. To understand this concept
further, Turaki explains the concept of “blood is thicker than water” thus:
““what is of your blood-group is yours and takes precedence over what is not of
your blood-group”; “blood-group interest is better than self-interest and
altruism; “take care of what belongs to your blood-group first before
considering outsiders””(1997:61).
What
these Christians do not understand is that even though Africans belong to one
tribe or the other, in Christ however, there is no difference between one tribe
and the other. Romans 3:29 says that “Is God the God
of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too”.
Another
problem of the concept of “blood is thicker than water” is the killings among
tribes. The genocide of 1994 in Rwanda between the Hutus and the Tutsis is
grounded in this concept. Over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus were killed because of
tribal superiority. These killings are done by Christians because they cannot
settle their grievances as Christians; therefore, the short cut is “blood is
thicker than water”. This shows that Christianity is merely on the surface in
the lives of many Africans while their tribes and cultural beliefs are deep
within their souls.
MYTH #3 INSIDERS VERSUS
OUTSIDERS
The
nature of land ownership in Africa is another issue that is causing serious
problems even among Christians. This is because a particular geographical
location belongs to one tribe or the other and therefore when a person from a
different tribal group migrates to another place, he may be given land to farm
or settle but he is considered a second class citizen because that is not his
ancestral home. Even when the said visitors have lived in a particular
environment for more than a century, they are still regarded as strangers or
outsiders.
This
problem has infiltrated the church in terms of leadership. Most times, people
are elected not based on merit or been led by the Holy Spirit but by tribal
sentiments. It is sad to say that in many churches where a particular group is
the majority, elections into leadership of the church favour them more than
other minor tribes.
MYTH#4 OUR CULTURE IS
OUR IDENTITY
This
myth is one of the deadliest and subtle way of blending Christianity and
African Traditional Religion. In search for identity within a particular tribal
culture, many Christians held that they first belong to the tribe before
belonging to Christianity and that when Christianity fails or delays, their
tribes will always be willing to help out.
The
danger in this myth is that many Christians usually run to their traditions to
fortify themselves with charms and other forms of protection against forces
that may confront them. To them, Christianity is too weak and does not respond
promptly to burning issues like ethnic/tribal crisis.
BIBLICAL RESPONSE TO THE MYTHS OF TRIBAL
SUPERIORITY
The Bible teaches Christians the right way to
understand God and humankind and how to live in harmony with one another. This
is how the Bible responds to the myths of tribal superiority. God created
humankind in his own image both male and female (Gen.1:27). To the Christians,
this is the origin of humankind and at this point tribal plurality does not
exist. This verse then proofs that all humankind are created equal by God and
none is superior to the other.
Secondly, when humankind sinned and got
driven out of the Garden of Eden (Gen.3), sin took hold of them and all sorts
of atrocities were birthed. This is the genesis of the problems of superiority.
Genesis 11:1-9 marks the birth of different languages:
Now the whole world had one
language and a common speech... Then they said, "Come, let us build
ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make
a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole
earth." But
the Lord came down to see the city
and the tower that the men were building. The Lord
said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun
to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let
us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each
other." So the Lord scattered them from there over all
the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel — because there the Lord confused
the language of the whole world. From there the Lord
scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
From the passage above, we understand that
God created all the languages and scattered them all over the face of the
earth. It is also important to state here that no humankind has the power to
choose the tribe he or she should be born into. This is totally God’s choice
and instead of fighting to be superior over another tribe, African Christians should
rather seek for forgiveness and praise the giver of tribes instead of the gift
itself.
John 1:12,13 says that,
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed
in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God”.
Therefore, God is calling Africans to look beyond the natural descent and focus
on his purpose for their life.
The blood of Jesus brings about the forgiveness of sins (Eph.1:7)
which is stronger and better than “blood is thicker than water”. Christians
need to focus on what Christ has done in them and for them so that they can
transform their communities for God’s glory.
Furthermore, the Bible tells us that,
“And this is God's plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who
believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God's children.
Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because
they belong to Christ Jesus” (Eph.3:6) NLT.
Therefore,
the above discussion helps us to understand that “Grace is in God, and sin is
in man. The grace of God is not a substance, a mana-like power, which is
mediated to men through human acts. Grace is always in God’s action; it is
God’s attribute. It is the action of reconciliation that reaches out across the
no-man’s land of historic war of men against God” (Niebuhr, 1951:151).
TRUE
CHRISTIAN LIVING THAT IS NOT DRIVEN BY TRIBAL SUPERIORITY
There is a need for the African Christian to know that
all humankind are created equal in the image of God. This teaching need to
penetrate into the African soul beyond convictions of tribal beliefs so that
Christians will see each other as equal before God.
Having
done that, Christians need to be taught that all tribes are created equal by
God and none is superior over the other. When Christians understand that God is
the giver of tribes and that the tribes are meant to glorify him and not to be
exalted in themselves, then brotherly love and kindness will reign among
believers.
One
other thing that we need to know and pray for is that the Holy Spirit will take
over the hearts of men and women who are Christians. This is because it is not
everyone who goes to the church that is a Christian but those who are born of
the spirit. This is the only criteria that one is a Christian and not just
because a particular tribe is known as a Christian tribe. This is how we can
overcome the evil of tribal superiority and live for God’s glory.
CONCLUSION
This
paper sets out to view the myths of tribal superiority which is a theological
challenge to the church in Africa and it is believed that the ideas shared here
are helpful in understanding who we are as Christians and our role in doing
ministry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aaron Akabuokwu. Oral
Interview on the Osu Caste System. Jos 07/02/2012.
Boddy-Evans Alistair. The Rwandan Genocide: Part 1 &
2. http://africanhistory.about.com/od/rwanda/a/RwandaGen01.htm 10/02/2012.
Metuh
Ikenga Emefie. African
Religions in Western conceptual schemes: The Problem of Interpretation. Ibadan:
Pastoral Institute, 1985.
Niebuhr H. Richard. Christ and Culture. New
York:Harper Colophon Books, 1951.
Turaki
Yusufu. Tribal gods of Africa:
Ethnicity, Racism, Tribalism and the Gospel of Christ. Jos: crossroads
communications, 1997.
Uchenna
Tony. Osu caste in Igboland. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/osu-caste-in-igboland/ 10/02/2012
