I've never seen any forms of animism or voodoun enslave and destroy a continent for 500 Years. Glad you addressed this topic Hometeam. Africa must unite, and in order for that, we have to love everything African. Even if you don't practice, you shouldn't demonize forms of African spirituality.
Thissss 👏🏾🙌🏾 🔥 even if you don’t subscribe to one specific “religion” or spiritual concept, we shouldn’t shit on or try and debunk each other and knowing we may not all believe the same shit, blk ppl as a whole aren’t running amok trying to oppress ppl or off them for what they believe or Don’t 🙄😩
@Chilling In the name of "Christianity" Africa was enslaved and colonized. Dudes was justifying us being enslaved & lynched by changing the Bible. Only true Christianity is whatever they practice in Ethiopia.
For Clarity. Scholar Christopher Ehret mentions that Monotheism in Africa began thousands of years before it did in Europe and the Middle-East. His estimate is around 8000BC. Based on this source it would make Africa the origin of monotheism unless we discover older models in Asia or the America's.
Western monotheism is à a non existent myth - Elohim is a feminine plural - even in modern Hebrew (canaanite/Phoenician) there is no singular word for “God” which is why Y-W-H (I AM) was used - phonetically it is YAHOO -not YAWEH (yaway) . That the “ greatest deceiver “is at the head of the 3 Abrahamic religions - nothing is clearer .!!
Abrahamic religions merely mimic African religions. They change the lesser gods into angels, and in later years, the ancestors into saints. It's all a matter of perspective.
The so called African americans are the original Biblical Israelites. Its why they never teach Blk History Before 1619. Many videos have come out how even the Garden of Eden was in Africa. Indeed it is the true Motherland of Humanity. Hidden identity. ua-cam.com/video/4t0VPwFcLqg/v-deo.html
Monotheism never developed in Europe. The Europeans borrowed from the myths of ancient Kemet, and perverted them to create Christianity. Christianity is a bunch of made up BS. It's complete nonsense.
Before islam came to Somalia 🇸🇴 my people practiced their own local monotheistic religion called Waaqism with the sky god called Waaq. But we have not practiced it for 14 centuries now and only remember about 15% of what it actually was.
Thank you for adding Haiti 🇭🇹, we have been misinterpreted for so long and I remember when the serpent and the rainbow came out and that gave an extra additional, incorrect narrative of Haiti. I remembered being bully and thrown in the Trash during the 90's when Haiti was misinterpreted by mainstream media. While along US and other countries invaded Haiti and stole our resources. Until this day Haiti refugees are treated different from Cuba refugees and others. We helped free slaves in revolt and even helped US win Louisiana from the French. Out of all the west indies diaspora we have the closest genes to Africa. We still practice our African cultural rituals.
Haiti needs the same voodoo system to liberate itself today. The second and last liberation of Haiti shall be conducted only when the youth in Haiti stop running away and take the future into their hands as Tousant L'ouverture and Desalines did.
You are right! Haiti was the fiercest protector of their independence and at the same time an ally in helping the US acquire Louisiana. I'm an Afrikan in the diaspora, born in the US, and I notice the difference in how Haitians are treated when trying to enter this country as opposed to others seeking entrance. I pray there is some justice in my lifetimes, but we native born Afrikans are treated differently also 😢
Islam is The true religion with undeniable proof and evidence. We Muslims believe in Jesus but not as God and we don’t believe God has a son. Jesus peace be upon him is a prophet and Messenger Of Allah (God) and he is the messiah. He wasn’t killed as Allah saved him before they could get to him. There is also scientific and historical miracles mentioned in the Quran such as the formation of the human embryo as well as the creation of honey in bees. There are Islamic prophecies that came true and will come true and I recommend everyone to try and learn about them. I myself know of people who were ill and suffering with issues (including black magic) and got cured miraculously when the Quran was recited over them. I invite everyone to learn about Islam.
Thank You Brother. As a Spiritual Afrikan who is returning to Afrikan Spirituality, I really hate when ignorant religious people, including afrikans themselves calling the Spirituality of Our Ancestors " demonic, evil, primitive, or dark magic". Our Ancestors first and foremost are Greatly Spiritual People who are in tune with Mother Earth🌍and The Universe🌌🌌🌕☀🌠🪐. Religion has caused nothing but misery for us, and making us hate Our Culture and Traditions. The Colonizers know how powerful we are when we do our Ancient Spiritual Practices that Pre-Date any Man-Made religion. Heck i even find it more ironic when people say Vodun is "evil' but during the Haitian Revolution, Our Afrikan Ancestors use their Spirituality for Spiritual Protection, kill the Enemy and win, but don't know anything. Vodun means Spirit. Side Note: Spirituality is Natural and Ancient. It comes from our Soul.
Thank youuuu and Wyte ppl have NO SOUL and thus why they aren’t spiritual and have made up that BS religion and have no problem being pillagers and evil bc they’re whole history is nothing but violence and chaos and they have no CULTURE 🙄🥴🤷🏾♀️😂😂
I was initiated into IFA last year. Amazing decision. I was raised catholic in New Orleans. Then I become Baptist at Morehouse. I have nothing bad to say about Christianity. It was what I needed at that stage in my development. I just needed more….
How has your life changed since initiating into Ifa? I’ve been adjacently involved in Ifa for half a decade, I opted to not get initiated yet because of where I am in life and the commitment
Here's the main things I love about ALL of your videos. For one, they are all well-researched, well-presented and perfect in their disclaimers. The second thing I love is how you are so gifted at presenting the information, providing your sources, and then leaving it up to the audience to further study for themselves.
This is one of those topics as black people I feel like we need some kind of cultural revolution to reconnect with. Some of us can still hold on to Christianity or Islam but those are not OURS and we can and should at least learn, understand, and stop demonizing our ancestral belief systems.
What do you do against the confusion? I was raised as christian and have witnessed a lot of miracles and I can testify that God has been faithful to me, but at the same time I know that our ancestral belief system looked different and I get frustrated trying to see through all the delusions without falling into a confused state ... :/
Exactly blk people in Africa and America still think thise religions are ours and it not its pick and chosen traditions that blk people followed they edited it to their sick standards and we are following it
Thanks for the information. Its so sad how the tradition was demonized by the colonizers. I took a trip to Benin 6 years ago learning about voodoo. There I begin to understand the misconception about it. Personally, I don't practice the spirituality, but I see its more about connecting with oneself.
The main problem in understanding African traditional religion is due to the fact that its priests are initiates, and are unlikely to talk to non-initiates . And they most definitely would not talk to people with supercilious attitudes based on confused notions acquired from Western religions.
@@brixcosmo The similarities are far greater than the differences. You may want to refer to experts like, Cheikh anta Diop andTheophilo Obenga on such matters. These are others, Prof. John Mbiti, and Dr. Osabutey. The underlying principles, Supreme being and divinities or principalities are the same. So as you laugh your self to tears, THINK.
@@katakyni1829 Who's us!? What is Africa!? A colective entity!? I know Mozambique, Angola, Cabo Verde, São Tomé, Marrocos. My father is Mozambican-Portuguese. A lot of my friends are from those Countries. Others have Families who migrated from those Countries and already were born in Portugal. I've been Working designing houses to Angola and Mozambique for 15 years. My father worked for both those Countries his entire life. I have Family in both Countries. That's the Africa i know. And it most definitely ain't a collective entity, culture or religion. But maybe you know Africa better than me 'cause you're native of all the African Countries and therefore know all the ethnicities, cultures and religions that constitute the African Continent where an Algerian got nothing to do with an Angolan. The same way a Portuguese got nothing to do with a Swedish.
Thank you for presenting this topic! As an Isese (Ifa) Orisha priest (Sango) here in the US, I really appreciate this video. We need to open this conversation up among the collective. Keep up the good work. Your content is amazing ✨🙏🏾💯
Like? Many of these religions condone practices and activities that could be deemed as immoral. I think you’d have to argue for the moral superiority of “African” religions. And before that you’d have to prove them to be “true” Whats the point of us following a religion just because our ancestors followed it? We know them to not be infalible, just look at our history!
@@ryjitarose5590 no I seen the demonic things that can happen. A straight away from Christianity. In with me it's just my personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ himself. Yeshua
@@ryjitarose5590 African spirituality didn't save us for being sold by our own ancestors some of us. It didn't save Africa and its natural resources were being stolen. Africa is still in shambles so make it make sense.
Our ancestors in the Nile Valley always said that there is only one God. They called him Amon, Amen, etc. a name which means the hidden. Indeed our ancestors considered the creator as a hidden being, elusive, unfathomable, invisible to humans, since they are blocked by their senses (Hearing, Smell, etc.) which prevent them from completely surrounding him. This is the reason they called him Amon. Actually, monotheism existed long before Akhenaten. And it originated from Sudan. Our ancestors said that the One Hidden Creator, has (like a diamond) many facets, through which he performs his functions, manifests himself to creation and to creatures. It is these multiple facets or manifestations of the unique creator that our ancestors in the Pharaonic civilization called under the names of Osiris, Isis, Thot, Ra, etc ... (The Neterou). The text entitled Doua en Imen (Praise to Amon) taken from the Papyrus of Leiden says : "Unique is Amon who is hidden from them (...) without our knowing his true aspect". The text clearly refers here to the fact that the creator is hidden, unknowable, elusive, etc. ... and, above all, that he is the only one. Whether God is called Aten or Amon-Râ by our African ancestors of the Nile valley, his spiritual symbol is always the sun, perceived as the manifestation of the Creator in his creation. And there is only one sun in the sky ! In a papyrus kept in the Cairo Museum and dating back to Amenophis II, Akhenaten's great-grandfather, we read this: "He is the One, there are no others except him". In the Pyramid Texts (v 456), nearly 1500 years before Akhenaton's existence, we still read : Glory to you, the Unique! What people call African deities are just various manifestations of the same and unique God ! Even nowadays, there is no polytheism in Africa but a polymorphic monotheism.
No different than the Israelites said. Matter fact if it wasn’t for the influence of zoroastrianism, the Abrahamic religions will still say there are other gods. Early Hebrews did believe in other gods they just only worship one.
Hi I'm a Namibian and I love your video man, and to I just wanna say that your video helped me understand my own culture and how it helped me understand how it was so easy to spread Christianity. For instance in my culture God is known as Karunga but if you search you will find Njambi Karunga is a Supreme diety which was very confusing
I practice a African Traditional Spirituality. The one I practice is an oral tradition and it is complex. As you mentioned, it is difficult to find a lot of information on them because it is meant to be. You earn the right to learn the history, rituals, and the hierarchy of divine beings. This is for the survival of the faith.
A very thoughtful, objective, and nuanced discussion of a thorny topic in such a short video. My only regret is I didn’t know of this channel sooner 👍🏿. Great stuff!
I remember being confused when someone told me Kemetian/Egyptian mythology was monotheistic, but after watching this video and learning about Amun worship it seems to be true. Amun/AmunRaPtah is the hidden supreme creator, while the other gods are agents(Horus is the agent of good,Seth the agent of evil etc..). This is supported by Amun translating to "the hidden one"
@@maxxmabemwe4859 It's debated that monotheism was established long before he arrived. In case you didn't know, Amun worship dates back to the middle kingdom period.
Love your channel as always. Europeans put spots on their donkey and call it a leopard. They take our leopard paint it brown and call it a donkey. In Ghana for instance, there's "Onyame" who is the supreme God. When the Europeans came, they said, that it wasn't monotheistic because there is also "Asaase Yaa" or Mother Earth. But then we look at Catholicism with all of their thousands of Saints for everything including Fertility, how the heck is this not polytheism? Even worshipping Jesus is kind of idolatrous - Muslims and Jews will tell you that! But Europeans are are able to justify polytheism by calling it "The Trinity" or justify their Fetishes (Saints or praying to the Cross) as "representations"....it's like how the United States has open bribery of politicians, but just calls it Lobbying...mtchew!
Thank you for every single thing you've said, fam! Succinct distillation of a complex subject that lays bare their hypocrisy against us globally. After all, even in the aforementioned Abrahamic faiths, there's a blatant antiBlackness and a deep injury from the traumas of enslavement and colonization. My blood relatives are Muslim and Christian, with most a hateful disrespect of any Indigenous faith as evil or backwards.
What do you do against the confusion? I was raised as christian and have witnessed a lot of miracles and I can testify that God has been faithful to me, but at the same time I know that our ancestral belief system looked different and I get frustrated trying to see through all the delusions without falling into a confused state ... :/
@@TrevorWestSide Honestly, I would recommend that you stick with Christianity. It's more structured, has a book and easy resources. You have to be born into the ancestral belief systems or have someone you trust guiding you...frankly that's too difficult and you will most likely get lost. I'm a Christian too, but I think the Bible is just one way of God revealing himself...a good way!
This the one I been waiting for. This is what I feel/view of my beliefs. I believe in the trinity, but in the manner that you speak of here. I just haven’t been able to verbalize what I feel. Thanks.
Spirituality come from your soul, religion is men made to control people, and scared the masses, who go to hell and who go to heaven those to places exist on earth
They won't talk about it if you are not initiate into it they will only give you bits of it just like how they did to the Europeans because 1 they weren't circumcised 2 that's not for them anyway so they will just tell people childish stuff
I'm a Trinidadian indian hindu. Africans here seem to be fixated on christianity, jumping back and forth between jehovah, Seventh Days, protestant, Presbyterian, etc It's sad cause when encountering afro Trinidadian evangelicals i bring up similarities to traditional African religion and hinduism, they respond by getting angry and call it satanic and put hinduism in the same category, and honestly, I don't blame them, Abrahamic religions are white supremacist and they do this to people, it makes people hate their ancestors and culture, and religion was used as to show the supremacy of whites to enforce there values and world view on other non European peoples.
No matter what mainstream academia says, the very source of the ancient Egyptian civilisation was animism, founded by archaic Africans. Animism later evolved into polytheism (after West Eurasians emerged in Africa). That’s why Egyptians of today still practice circumcision, which Pygmies and other isolated non-Islamic cultures also practice. The very essence of the ancient Egyptian civilization was from those prehistoric archaic Africans. Without them, there would be no ancient Egypt. Likewise, without animism, there would be no polytheism, Christianity, or Islam. Animism was the core of religion. There’s really no mystery as to why Egypt is whiter today. As more West Asians arrived in North Africa, Egypt became more multicultural. However, the culture and spirituality were always in Africa. The Dogon, Yoruba, Igbo, and other West African groups are the immediate descendants of those early pre-historic Africans. That animistic culture (where masks are worn to impersonate animal spirits) is still practiced today by the Dogon.
Also, the population explosion of the 20th century happened primarily in the Cairo area where medical services were more advances and was populated by a larger number of West Asians.
A problem that i have with African religion, and people may correct me if I'm wrong, no literature was left behind by our ancestors or whatsoever. Yes the colonizer burned it all and made sure that things were kept way from us and instead gave their religion to us, but one thing that annoys me is that if you try to investigate more on African religion, for example, I'm from Angola, sometimes i be wondering what was it that my people believed in and prayed too before the all Christianity thing, but its hard answering that because no writings or books or whatever where left behind for whomever wanted to know more about their roots
@@facetofloor How would you know for sure if its demonic or not because till today we (the ordinary people) still don't know how the all spiritual realm works, all we know its based on Christianity structure that we were given, for example, spirits could be neutral beings that when we try to evoke them they act based on our intention, the all demon and angel, God and the Devil, evil vs good could just be something made up, but i myself wouldn't dive deep in such conversation because even i, am not knowledgeable enough to discuss such topics
community leaders and practitioners were the ones that passed this information along because it was sacred and community based, so that could also be a factor in lack of writing. i know ifa tradition has the odu, but again, you’re not gonna find it in its entirety online, you would have to be initiated/working towards initiation.
@@leandrocambuta7178 You will find people all around the world involved in similar rituals: invoking these beings, performing various blood sacrifices to such entities, carving idols and making blood rituals to the idols, etc. Even the people who follow such religions will often say that these "shamans" are involved with evil forces. The baseline of knowing that such arts are misguidance is that they involve the worship of various creations and not the Creator.
Really good video. Your categorization of traditional African religions as being monotheistic is interesting and strong. And you’re absolutely right, the monotheistic aspect in traditional African religions and the belief in one Supreme Being is routinely ignored and suppressed in the West. The main difference is focus. In general, traditional African religions recognize God but seldom try to interact with Him or address Him directly. Instead they typically address lower deities and ancestors. That along with racist stereotypes are the reason Europeans got it confused. Regarding the animism, shamans, witchcraft, fetishism, etc. that you discuss at 12:00 - that actually is part of most traditional African religions. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. There’s the monotheistic aspect *and* the polytheistic aspect in most of those religions. What has made Christianity in particular explode in Africa after they booted out the colonial oppressors is: 1. Its focus on the direct ongoing communication and fellowship with the Supreme Being traditional African religion recognized overall but typically ignored in the day to day life. 2. The confidence in the Bible as an accessible, easily understandable guide to how to communicate effectively with the Supreme Being as a literal Father and how to live in a way that pleases Him. 3. Assurance of being accepted by Him and knowing one is safe for the coming Judgment instead of leaving it to chance based on one’s best efforts.
Excellent job breaking down the complexities of the thousands of years of our traditional spiritual systems and beliefs! That took some research work because though we are all African people, our cultural Spirituality differ slightly from one group to the next, and it is not just our different tribes and languages...
Unfortunately, I also think much of history of many ancient cultures was destroyed. Great video and points. Hopefully more of true history/non-biased can emerge and be available for all to learn.
Thank you for your patience with this topic. If I were you I’d be so angry at what the facts actually show. As of matter of fact I am angry. Everyday I see nothing has changed since the beginning of the slave trade with Spain in Ndongo literally NOTHING and even worse we have a whole culture that refuses to accept its natural origins and spiritual beliefs out of fear. It’s so disgusting to me living in these times where up is down and wrong is right 😢
I'm so glad you made this video! The further back in time you go, ALL the world's cultures worshiped one God. I believe he actually showed up one day as Christ. Don't get caught up in race religions. God made a covenant with all the world's peoples at one point.
RELIGION means to Bind, Control. Africans had SPIRITUALLY, Spiritually is Freedom, deals with Nature , Spirit, Soul and the Natural order of Creation. Religion and Spiritually is not the same.
Spirituality is freedom what did African spirituality do for us our own ancestors sold some of us. Look how poor Africa is what is African spirituality doing for that. What is African spirituality going for the people that are steady conquer in Africa right now. Y'all been doing African spirituality for how long and look at the state Africa is in shambles
@@lovelove-pr2yo That is RELIGION, Africa has been RELIGIOUS for the last 400 - 1000 years. When you are Spiritually, Culturally, and Mentally Enslaved. You can Physically take People, land and Resources. Read the Document of Discovery,. Religion sanctioned SLAVERY as means to spread Christianity to the lands being Discovered by Europeans. so the Narrative that we were already Slaves who sold each other is a LIE. With Spiritually we built the first Civilizations.
@@thewittiewolf honey Christianity has always been here. A lot of Africans have said that to that I've come in contact with. But it was not called Christianity. Christianity came from the Greek word christos which originally was used to make fun of those that followed the messiah and at that time the hebrews or Yahshrael (Israelites) were under captivity with Rome, they were a nation and not a religion. So stop it So in the book of deuturonomy 28 he warns them because they were practicing and seeking these other spirit’s and told them if they changed back he would bless them beyond belief but if they didn’t he would curse them beyond belief then proceeds to explain the slave trade to the letter, so the tribe of Judah (yahuda) was given up to another nation and thus started the slave trade. Look at Africa it has never recovered
It is not western religion. If you trace it back to the roots it is religion that came from Asia Minor. Ancient European religions and African religions are very similar in nature if not identical in many aspects.
I have a question/clarrification, if I may. In your first example/topic, are we using the term agents in a synonymous way - letting it stand for something like "a semi-autonomous 'aspect' of the sublime/supreme being above the creator?" Or am I misunderstanding? When I hear the word Agent, it "usually" - but certainly not always - gets attached to a completely seperate entity working for some higher authority (legitimate or otherwise). If you've got the time and willingness to answer this (or if someone else does) I'd certainly appreciate it. Thanks for all that you do.
I think the word youre looking for is Henotheism where theres a supreme god thats worshipped with lesser gods that may or may not be worshipped. We see this in early judaism where they recognized other gods but didnt worship them.
Read John Mbiti’s African Religions and Philosophy. He taught at the University of Nairobi. I was an Africana Studies major at Hunter CUNY in the 1970s. It is an excellent book. It presence a complex view of African religions and the concept of time.
This email discusses crucial, intertwined issues affecting our society: the historical and present-day importance of cannabis and cannabinoids for medicinal and religious purposes and the urgency of fighting climate change. As we continue to realize the interconnectedness of our planet and its inhabitants, it's our responsibility to use our knowledge and take action. Cannabis and cannabinoids have been used for thousands of years for medicinal and religious purposes. The ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Greeks used cannabis to treat a range of illnesses, while other cultures have incorporated the plant into their religious practices. Recent developments in science have solidified our understanding of cannabinoids' effects on the human body - particularly their interaction with the endocannabinoid system - and opened up exciting therapeutic possibilities for treating diseases such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and cancer-related pain. The medical field should have the freedom to prescribe cannabis and cannabinoid-based products to patients suffering from chronic pain and other related disorders. Designing regulations and policies that recognize the historical and present-day medicinal importance of the plant, especially within specific cultural and religious contexts, would be an important step towards achieving this freedom. We need to find the intersection between the traditional and modern perspectives on cannabis use to ensure a proper balance of medical efficacy and cultural and religious reverence. However, while it is crucial to embrace cannabis and cannabinoids' medicinal and cultural importance, we must not forget the equally important issue of climate change. Climate change impacts our planet in countless ways, from rising sea levels to extreme weather events and heat waves. Planting more trees, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, harnessing sustainable energy sources, and supporting climate-friendly policies are some crucial steps to reduce our impact on the planet and reverse the effects of climate change. Each small step, when taken together, can create powerful change. Overall, we must embrace the historical significance of cannabis and cannabinoids and use modern advancements to help treat medical ailments. But we must also ensure that this is done in a way that respects the plant's rich cultural and religious importance. While we tackle climate change and its many negative effects, we must take environmental responsibility to improve our planet's health. As we continue to learn about individual impact on our planet, we can harness our knowledge and work towards creating a more sustainable society. Thank you for taking the time to read this message. I hope it has sparked awareness and motivated action, both for the benefit of individual lives and for the betterment of the world we share. Sincerely, ua-cam.com/video/YjLP3xmsKf0/v-deo.html freedom of religion should exist
I really enjoyed this video you did a good job pointing out how westerners have down played Africa’s “Monotheistic” beliefs systems. I do have a slight critique on the points about westerners looking at African religion through a Abrahamic framework. The problem is “Abrahamic” is a problematic term in and of itself bc Christianity and Judaism both have different conceptions God from Islam. Even between Christianity and Judaism there are differences bc of Talmudic Judaism innovations. Anyways, The proper Biblical monotheism framework is in fact similar to the African ones such as the Igbo, Yoruba, and the ones seen on every other continent. According to the Bible there are many gods but only one Supreme Creator God whom everything else was created by. In the Old Testament there are several references to the others gods who are enemies YHWH, and in Psalm 82 it even talks about how God will judge these gods for how they lead with evil and injustice. Many Old Testament scholars such as Dr. Michael Heiser, Dr. Tim Mackie, and others have brought this to broader exposure. Another great video I’m glad African religions are being studied more carefully by some in religious scholarship. Insightful videos in this topic. ua-cam.com/video/2QM7anD5vSI/v-deo.html m.ua-cam.com/video/b-bMgXQV7no/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/users/liveL2iVaxr0AWc?feature=share
They also know that We are The Tribes Of Yah-Serael. There's a reference by Cornelius Tacitus Book 5 chapter 2 who labeled us as a Race of Ethiopians in Jerusalem before the destruction of Jerusalem. He even wrote about where Jerusalem was located, with the Mediterranean Sea north of the city and Egypt to the South. Overall, they know who we are and who We serve, The YAH of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, meaning The Creator Of Everything. Signed Archangel Me-aa-Kha 👼🏿🗡️🗡️🗡️⚔️ To-may-aa-Kha Aa-Kee to-mah Kha-a-me Ty-ee in Ancient Aramaic. I speak Aramaic fluently by The Holy Spirit. The world is upset with us because We have a personal relationship with YHWY, and not through religion. We have a lot of secrets that is not written but is passed by word of mouth, and that frustrates the white supremacists.
Very well articulated in bringing out the ignorance, reductionist & racial biases, stemmed from eurocentric ideologies. Sadly, these notions continue to hook most of us. We prefer the alien concept of God & in fact, current practices of African Traditional Religions/ATRs have also not done justice to the course. Majority have been adulterated because of competitiveness among leaders/worshippers, as well as the greed, money making & the creation of egocentric ideas by the priests. You only need to watch them on various channels in Ghana to experience how ATR priests strenuously infuse their ideas into established practices! Alas, some of us have become askance of ATR because of such vices. There's certainly a role for this tradition in our communities. All in all, each to their own, I'd say be discerning where & whom you pay homage to. Thanks again for another enlightening discourse. Fab channel 👍🏾👍🏾
Yeah the on and on or onwards exaggerations or fabrications about Sub Saharan Africans being too stone aged and lacking any understanding of the consequences of there actions in some way when most SSAs were in fact Iron Aged and had a sense of law, order, rule, restriction, government, political sphere, regulation, trial, and tribulation yeah. I remember Middle Easterners particularly Arabs And Persians said similar quotes about Sub Saharan Africans in that matter yeah.
I love this young man, another melanated person teaching and bringing life and light back to our original why of life before we were colonized and stolen from the mother land
This is wonderful! I am south sudanese, our origins being Sudan and Egypt so we have a very ancient culture from Kush. Our spiritual practices are really beautiful.
I find it interesting that some African religions separate the Creator from the Supreme Divinity. You mention the Christian Trinity, but there was another religion, imported from Persia, that was very popular in North Africa around the 3rd-4th centuries CE. It was called Manichaeism after its founder, Mani (215-76 CE), who taught that the world was created by a lesser God in contrast to the Supreme God. (This was not really a new idea as the Persian prophet Zoroaster had taught much the same thing centuries before.) What seems to be different from the African religions is that while the Supreme God was all-good, the Creator God was not. Because he was the God of Evil, that meant all creation was evil as well. Because of this, the Manichees divided themselves into the Elect who were vowed to celibacy (so as to not bring new life into the world) and the Hearers who supported the Elect but did not take vows of celibacy. Before he became a Christian, St. Augustine of Hippo (in North Africa) was a Manichee who was invited to join the Elect but he found the celibacy requirement too much for him at the time so he remained a Hearer until his conversion to Christianity. Ironically, he also adopted celibacy shortly thereafter even though it was not a requirement of his new faith! Augustine became one of the most influential Christian theologians of all time but he was not the only one from North Africa. Many people do not know of the North African role in developing Christianity; it might be an interesting topic for a video sometime.
In order to be a scholar of Traditional African Religion you must be a practitioner/initiate as well. There are PAN African Traditional Religions. The Ausarian Religion, Santería, and Palo Mayombe are some examples.
It’s funny how the local African idols was regarded as demonic but yet the foreign European catholic models (Mary, in particular, and white “Jesus”) were promoted as holy🤔Is not all idolatry spoken against in the Scriptures?
Exactly correct, Africa had always had Monotheistic thought. The ONE was represented by many attributes, principles, energies, or symbols. The ONE is ALL and ALL is the ONE. That idea was practiced in KEMET as well, before Amenhotep lll .
Fascinating on the Supreme Being belief system African religions. And it makes sense. Also, on The Trinity, there’s always been controversy on - it going all the way back to the Nicene Creed, but per strict observant Jews and Muslims, it is not monotheism. In fact, it is said that The trinity is of pagan origin (research Tertullian). Also, since it’s the 3-in-1 description, it’s not a hierarchy either.
Yes it is I have straight away from Christianity for a long time but I went back. African spirituality didn't save us from the slave ships it didn't save us from our own people selling some of us and given the Europeans access to us. It's not saving them now. Play steady have people going over there and taking in conquering over there Africans in shambles. Christianity has always been in Africa if you dig deep. African spirituality I want to do ancestral worship and be possess not even knowing if your ancestors are even good people are not. Yeshua has been very good to me and imma keep it that away
@hometeamhistory806 You made a good reference to pointing of the monotheism still having multiple entities as part of it in these religious groups. When you compare it to abrahamic religions it actually is the same concept as in part of the trinity. In christian in particular God is equal to the supreme deity. While Christ would be the creator god that works or extend from the supreme deity. Many don’t get this concept but it the same in both religions
So do that...and I tell You From the Roots of African Religions You Will Find the Seeds of the New Religion that will guide the Next Generation into the Millennium ❤️💚💜
Haiti? LOL What has the USA accomplished in 200 years compared to Haiti in 200 years? They were both founded 200 years ago. Science, Technology, Art, Standard of Living?
10:26 It is interesting that you reference Prof. Dr. C. Ehret here on this crucial Afri~ matter. I'm a Graduate, & former student scholar who joined a project on Afri~ lexicon origins, headed Dr. Ehret @ a Los Angeles, Cali-State Uni~.
7:45 yeah exactly,every authentic African spirituality has ONE supreme being who manifests himself through several Dieties. The thing is the term "God" has been perverted and didn't have the same conceptual meaning throughout the continent than it does today, which help understand even more why the supreme being and his Dieties are one,but that's another story. It is for this same reason that people misconceive KMT for example as a polytheist nation when it was never the case; it's simply the same concept.
@@AL_AFGHANI1LEARN origin of ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS, BECAUSE MANY AROUND THE WORLD WERE PRACTICING PAGANISM BEFORE GOD WORSHIPING ORIGIN WAS AFRICA. AM GLAD GOD KNOWN PAGANISM ENDED , BUT SADLY ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS TEACHERS DIDNT GET IT QUITE RIGHT OR NOT EDUCATIED ENOUGH, BUT THERE IS STILL TIME,AGAIN AFRICA AHEAD OF EVERYONE,
Interesting, though seeing as I know nothing about African religions... good, bad, or indifferent.... frankly was hoping for more of some kinda broader overview and explanation of what African religions are actually like and what they have in common, instead of what they're 'not', and yet another "Africa-as-victim" rant. Perhaps a future video could be more helpful in that regard. Thx.
i've always said that the western world do not understand African Traditional religions and falsely characterizes it as animist which it clearly isn't. African traditional religions have a supreme being that created the other minor gods and the spirits. In some religions there is also a creator god, but in others like the igbo religion, Chukwu is the supreme being and the creator god. But at the same time, let's not be confused. The concept of the trinity is nothing like African traditional religions. The trinity is a complex topic and I'm not saying Africans are incapable of Complex thought, quite the opposite actually. We can hardly begin to understand the trinity so for us to try to compare it to another is simply not right. What we do know of the trinity is while we express the unity of the trinity, the three persons are also co equal and consubstantial. That's not the case in ATR. There is a supreme god and every other being is subject to him.
Great book to read in order to help frame the philosophical and moral basis of African traditional spirituality - foundations of African thought by Chukwunyere Kamalu
I've never seen any forms of animism or voodoun enslave and destroy a continent for 500 Years. Glad you addressed this topic Hometeam. Africa must unite, and in order for that, we have to love everything African. Even if you don't practice, you shouldn't demonize forms of African spirituality.
Spot on.
Thissss 👏🏾🙌🏾 🔥 even if you don’t subscribe to one specific “religion” or spiritual concept, we shouldn’t shit on or try and debunk each other and knowing we may not all believe the same shit, blk ppl as a whole aren’t running amok trying to oppress ppl or off them for what they believe or Don’t 🙄😩
Amina.
I mean I haven’t seen any religion in particular enslave and destroy a continent so that’s a odd point.
@Chilling In the name of "Christianity" Africa was enslaved and colonized. Dudes was justifying us being enslaved & lynched by changing the Bible. Only true Christianity is whatever they practice in Ethiopia.
For Clarity. Scholar Christopher Ehret mentions that Monotheism in Africa began thousands of years before it did in Europe and the Middle-East. His estimate is around 8000BC. Based on this source it would make Africa the origin of monotheism unless we discover older models in Asia or the America's.
Western monotheism is à a non existent myth - Elohim is a feminine plural - even in modern Hebrew (canaanite/Phoenician) there is no singular word for “God”
which is why Y-W-H (I AM) was used - phonetically it is YAHOO -not YAWEH (yaway) .
That the “ greatest deceiver “is at the head of the 3 Abrahamic religions - nothing is clearer .!!
Abrahamic religions merely mimic African religions. They change the lesser gods into angels, and in later years, the ancestors into saints. It's all a matter of perspective.
The so called African americans are the original Biblical Israelites. Its why they never teach Blk History Before 1619. Many videos have come out how even the Garden of Eden was in Africa. Indeed it is the true Motherland of Humanity.
Hidden identity.
ua-cam.com/video/4t0VPwFcLqg/v-deo.html
Monotheism never developed in Europe. The Europeans borrowed from the myths of ancient Kemet, and perverted them to create Christianity. Christianity is a bunch of made up BS. It's complete nonsense.
Before islam came to Somalia 🇸🇴 my people practiced their own local monotheistic religion called Waaqism with the sky god called Waaq. But we have not practiced it for 14 centuries now and only remember about 15% of what it actually was.
That's so sad. Even if they don't practice, it would be wonderful if someone would document it.
The Cushitic speakers ✊🏿 my family is from Ethiopia so I study Oromo & learned about Waaq(The Black God)
You see☝🏿😔
A young black men told his father , he want to get involved in organized crime.his father asked him religion or politrick
The tricksters are very good at manipulation.
Thank you for adding Haiti 🇭🇹, we have been misinterpreted for so long and I remember when the serpent and the rainbow came out and that gave an extra additional, incorrect narrative of Haiti. I remembered being bully and thrown in the Trash during the 90's when Haiti was misinterpreted by mainstream media. While along US and other countries invaded Haiti and stole our resources. Until this day Haiti refugees are treated different from Cuba refugees and others. We helped free slaves in revolt and even helped US win Louisiana from the French. Out of all the west indies diaspora we have the closest genes to Africa. We still practice our African cultural rituals.
Bilolo 🇭🇹👑🇭🇹
haiti beat french military with voodoo . they were fleeing from Haiti . voodoo is very powerful
Haiti needs the same voodoo system to liberate itself today.
The second and last liberation of Haiti shall be conducted only when the youth in Haiti stop running away and take the future into their hands as Tousant L'ouverture and Desalines did.
You are right! Haiti was the fiercest protector of their independence and at the same time an ally in helping the US acquire Louisiana. I'm an Afrikan in the diaspora, born in the US, and I notice the difference in how Haitians are treated when trying to enter this country as opposed to others seeking entrance. I pray there is some justice in my lifetimes, but we native born Afrikans are treated differently also 😢
Islam is The true religion with undeniable proof and evidence. We Muslims believe in Jesus but not as God and we don’t believe God has a son. Jesus peace be upon him is a prophet and Messenger Of Allah (God) and he is the messiah. He wasn’t killed as Allah saved him before they could get to him. There is also scientific and historical miracles mentioned in the Quran such as the formation of the human embryo as well as the creation of honey in bees. There are Islamic prophecies that came true and will come true and I recommend everyone to try and learn about them. I myself know of people who were ill and suffering with issues (including black magic) and got cured miraculously when the Quran was recited over them. I invite everyone to learn about Islam.
Thank You Brother. As a Spiritual Afrikan who is returning to Afrikan Spirituality, I really hate when ignorant religious people, including afrikans themselves calling the Spirituality of Our Ancestors " demonic, evil, primitive, or dark magic". Our Ancestors first and foremost are Greatly Spiritual People who are in tune with Mother Earth🌍and The Universe🌌🌌🌕☀🌠🪐. Religion has caused nothing but misery for us, and making us hate Our Culture and Traditions. The Colonizers know how powerful we are when we do our Ancient Spiritual Practices that Pre-Date any Man-Made religion. Heck i even find it more ironic when people say Vodun is "evil' but during the Haitian Revolution, Our Afrikan Ancestors use their Spirituality for Spiritual Protection, kill the Enemy and win, but don't know anything. Vodun means Spirit.
Side Note: Spirituality is Natural and Ancient. It comes from our Soul.
Thank youuuu and Wyte ppl have NO SOUL and thus why they aren’t spiritual and have made up that BS religion and have no problem being pillagers and evil bc they’re whole history is nothing but violence and chaos and they have no CULTURE 🙄🥴🤷🏾♀️😂😂
Well said Brethren!!💯💯
It' s difficult to save people that don't know, they are captured by abrahamic religions
The Bible teache, slave obey your master's and turn your left check.abrahamic religious books don't have respect, our skins we was cursed
Voodoo still got European influence, check ifa its more African
I was initiated into IFA last year. Amazing decision. I was raised catholic in New Orleans. Then I become Baptist at Morehouse. I have nothing bad to say about Christianity. It was what I needed at that stage in my development. I just needed more….
How has your life changed since initiating into Ifa? I’ve been adjacently involved in Ifa for half a decade, I opted to not get initiated yet because of where I am in life and the commitment
Here's the main things I love about ALL of your videos. For one, they are all well-researched, well-presented and perfect in their disclaimers. The second thing I love is how you are so gifted at presenting the information, providing your sources, and then leaving it up to the audience to further study for themselves.
This is one of those topics as black people I feel like we need some kind of cultural revolution to reconnect with. Some of us can still hold on to Christianity or Islam but those are not OURS and we can and should at least learn, understand, and stop demonizing our ancestral belief systems.
Arabanization and christinazation.took over Africaniy
@@lacinabakayoko4634Unfortunately yea
What do you do against the confusion? I was raised as christian and have witnessed a lot of miracles and I can testify that God has been faithful to me, but at the same time I know that our ancestral belief system looked different and I get frustrated trying to see through all the delusions without falling into a confused state ... :/
Exactly blk people in Africa and America still think thise religions are ours and it not its pick and chosen traditions that blk people followed they edited it to their sick standards and we are following it
@@TrevorWestSide can believe in god but not christianity, most people who are Christians dont follow christianity anyways
Thanks for the information. Its so sad how the tradition was demonized by the colonizers. I took a trip to Benin 6 years ago learning about voodoo. There I begin to understand the misconception about it. Personally, I don't practice the spirituality, but I see its more about connecting with oneself.
Hello! Like meditation or something
I've been trying to tell people this for years. Thank you for speaking out so truthfully and eloquently. I will send this to as many people as I can.
The main problem in understanding African traditional religion is due to the fact that its priests are initiates, and are unlikely to talk to non-initiates . And they most definitely would not talk to people with supercilious attitudes based on confused notions acquired from Western religions.
Very well said.
"African traditional religion" 😂 like if Africa is collective entity, culture or religion 😂
@@brixcosmo The similarities are far greater than the differences. You may want to refer to experts like, Cheikh anta Diop andTheophilo Obenga on such matters. These are others, Prof. John Mbiti, and Dr. Osabutey. The underlying principles, Supreme being and divinities or principalities are the same. So as you laugh your self to tears, THINK.
@@brixcosmo so you know more about Africa than us right😂
@@katakyni1829 Who's us!? What is Africa!? A colective entity!? I know Mozambique, Angola, Cabo Verde, São Tomé, Marrocos. My father is Mozambican-Portuguese. A lot of my friends are from those Countries. Others have Families who migrated from those Countries and already were born in Portugal. I've been Working designing houses to Angola and Mozambique for 15 years. My father worked for both those Countries his entire life. I have Family in both Countries. That's the Africa i know. And it most definitely ain't a collective entity, culture or religion. But maybe you know Africa better than me 'cause you're native of all the African Countries and therefore know all the ethnicities, cultures and religions that constitute the African Continent where an Algerian got nothing to do with an Angolan. The same way a Portuguese got nothing to do with a Swedish.
Thank you for presenting this topic!
As an Isese (Ifa) Orisha priest (Sango) here in the US, I really appreciate this video. We need to open this conversation up among the collective. Keep up the good work. Your content is amazing ✨🙏🏾💯
We must come back to our own religions more than ever now
Why
@@amindada9947
Because those religions tend to be humane
Like? Many of these religions condone practices and activities that could be deemed as immoral. I think you’d have to argue for the moral superiority of “African” religions. And before that you’d have to prove them to be “true” Whats the point of us following a religion just because our ancestors followed it? We know them to not be infalible, just look at our history!
@@ryjitarose5590 no I seen the demonic things that can happen. A straight away from Christianity. In with me it's just my personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ himself. Yeshua
@@ryjitarose5590 African spirituality didn't save us for being sold by our own ancestors some of us. It didn't save Africa and its natural resources were being stolen. Africa is still in shambles so make it make sense.
Our ancestors in the Nile Valley always said that there is only one God. They called him Amon, Amen, etc. a name which means the hidden. Indeed our ancestors considered the creator as a hidden being, elusive, unfathomable, invisible to humans, since they are blocked by their senses (Hearing, Smell, etc.) which prevent them from completely surrounding him. This is the reason they called him Amon.
Actually, monotheism existed long before Akhenaten. And it originated from Sudan.
Our ancestors said that the One Hidden Creator, has (like a diamond) many facets, through which he performs his functions, manifests himself to creation and to creatures. It is these multiple facets or manifestations of the unique creator that our ancestors in the Pharaonic civilization called under the names of Osiris, Isis, Thot, Ra, etc ... (The Neterou).
The text entitled Doua en Imen (Praise to Amon) taken from the Papyrus of Leiden says : "Unique is Amon who is hidden from them (...) without our knowing his true aspect". The text clearly refers here to the fact that the creator is hidden, unknowable, elusive, etc. ... and, above all, that he is the only one.
Whether God is called Aten or Amon-Râ by our African ancestors of the Nile valley, his spiritual symbol is always the sun, perceived as the manifestation of the Creator in his creation.
And there is only one sun in the sky !
In a papyrus kept in the Cairo Museum and dating back to Amenophis II, Akhenaten's great-grandfather, we read this: "He is the One, there are no others except him".
In the Pyramid Texts (v 456), nearly 1500 years before Akhenaton's existence, we still read : Glory to you, the Unique!
What people call African deities are just various manifestations of the same and unique God !
Even nowadays, there is no polytheism in Africa but a polymorphic monotheism.
No different than the Israelites said. Matter fact if it wasn’t for the influence of zoroastrianism, the Abrahamic religions will still say there are other gods. Early Hebrews did believe in other gods they just only worship one.
This channel needs even more subscribers seriously.
Hi I'm a Namibian and I love your video man, and to I just wanna say that your video helped me understand my own culture and how it helped me understand how it was so easy to spread Christianity. For instance in my culture God is known as Karunga but if you search you will find Njambi Karunga is a Supreme diety which was very confusing
Africa that happened Christianity. Africans trying to get away from the ancestral spirituality and worship. I've things that are demonic
I practice a African Traditional Spirituality. The one I practice is an oral tradition and it is complex. As you mentioned, it is difficult to find a lot of information on them because it is meant to be. You earn the right to learn the history, rituals, and the hierarchy of divine beings. This is for the survival of the faith.
African Spituality is rooted in witchcraft I recommend reading the Gospels Matthew , Mark , Luke and John.
"Spirituality before religion" by Kaba Kamene
Is it a book
African Spituality is rooted in witchcraft I recommend reading the Gospels Matthew , Mark , Luke and John.
A very thoughtful, objective, and nuanced discussion of a thorny topic in such a short video. My only regret is I didn’t know of this channel sooner 👍🏿. Great stuff!
I remember being confused when someone told me Kemetian/Egyptian mythology was monotheistic, but after watching this video and learning about Amun worship it seems to be true. Amun/AmunRaPtah is the hidden supreme creator, while the other gods are agents(Horus is the agent of good,Seth the agent of evil etc..). This is supported by Amun translating to "the hidden one"
Akhenaten established monotheism in Kemet with the worship of the Aten.
@@maxxmabemwe4859 It's debated that monotheism was established long before he arrived. In case you didn't know, Amun worship dates back to the middle kingdom period.
@@maxxmabemwe4859Only in his Dinasty!
It wasn't! Grab a book!
@@maxxmabemwe4859Ankhen Aten worshipped a foreign deity. He worshipped the physical sun. So that made him an idol worshipper.
B1 from Richmond, VA.
Ase', great video I loved the visuals & information.
Keep preaching the truth brotha
Love your channel as always. Europeans put spots on their donkey and call it a leopard. They take our leopard paint it brown and call it a donkey. In Ghana for instance, there's "Onyame" who is the supreme God. When the Europeans came, they said, that it wasn't monotheistic because there is also "Asaase Yaa" or Mother Earth. But then we look at Catholicism with all of their thousands of Saints for everything including Fertility, how the heck is this not polytheism? Even worshipping Jesus is kind of idolatrous - Muslims and Jews will tell you that! But Europeans are are able to justify polytheism by calling it "The Trinity" or justify their Fetishes (Saints or praying to the Cross) as "representations"....it's like how the United States has open bribery of politicians, but just calls it Lobbying...mtchew!
Thank you for every single thing you've said, fam! Succinct distillation of a complex subject that lays bare their hypocrisy against us globally. After all, even in the aforementioned Abrahamic faiths, there's a blatant antiBlackness and a deep injury from the traumas of enslavement and colonization. My blood relatives are Muslim and Christian, with most a hateful disrespect of any Indigenous faith as evil or backwards.
Church is hustle and Jesus Christ is the product
What do you do against the confusion? I was raised as christian and have witnessed a lot of miracles and I can testify that God has been faithful to me, but at the same time I know that our ancestral belief system looked different and I get frustrated trying to see through all the delusions without falling into a confused state ... :/
Blablabla But the great Majority of Africans is Christian or Muslim. No one's forcing them to! You can believe in Yeezuz, American! 😂
@@TrevorWestSide Honestly, I would recommend that you stick with Christianity. It's more structured, has a book and easy resources. You have to be born into the ancestral belief systems or have someone you trust guiding you...frankly that's too difficult and you will most likely get lost. I'm a Christian too, but I think the Bible is just one way of God revealing himself...a good way!
This the one I been waiting for. This is what I feel/view of my beliefs. I believe in the trinity, but in the manner that you speak of here. I just haven’t been able to verbalize what I feel. Thanks.
thank You brother love it,❤ from Surinaams
Have you ever considered interviewing traditional African religion practitioners?
It will be though given where he lives. It might be possible to use a zoom call, but I'm not sure how he'd be able to network to make it possible.
Spirituality come from your soul, religion is men made to control people, and scared the masses, who go to hell and who go to heaven those to places exist on earth
Of course not! They would tell him to take their names out of his F***in Mouth!
They won't talk about it if you are not initiate into it they will only give you bits of it just like how they did to the Europeans because 1 they weren't circumcised 2 that's not for them anyway so they will just tell people childish stuff
There are UA-cam channels that interviews the practioners
I like Olaudah Equiano's explanation of his religious beliefs.
I'm a Trinidadian indian hindu. Africans here seem to be fixated on christianity, jumping back and forth between jehovah, Seventh Days, protestant, Presbyterian, etc
It's sad cause when encountering afro Trinidadian evangelicals i bring up similarities to traditional African religion and hinduism, they respond by getting angry and call it satanic and put hinduism in the same category, and honestly, I don't blame them, Abrahamic religions are white supremacist and they do this to people, it makes people hate their ancestors and culture, and religion was used as to show the supremacy of whites to enforce there values and world view on other non European peoples.
Cousin, this is a splendid video!!! Much Respect 🙇♀️
Thank you for sharing this video. It inspired me to begin reading "Christianity is an African Religion" by Dr. Donald Matthew's. H. Matthews (PhD).❤
I’m just finding out recently the Ethiopian bible is 800 years older than the common King James one
The Ethiopian Bible don't have nothing to do with us as African,the invaders Bible dump it in trash can
All this people on the Bible are Men and white
😂
@@CloudTribeThe Ejtiopian Bible came from the Byzantines, tho. Sonthat just takes you right back to Europe.
African spirituality, way to go 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Communism at it's peak
Invading Spirituality next
No matter what mainstream academia says, the very source of the ancient Egyptian civilisation was animism, founded by archaic Africans.
Animism later evolved into polytheism (after West Eurasians emerged in Africa). That’s why Egyptians of today still practice circumcision, which Pygmies and other isolated non-Islamic cultures also practice.
The very essence of the ancient Egyptian civilization was from those prehistoric archaic Africans. Without them, there would be no ancient Egypt. Likewise, without animism, there would be no polytheism, Christianity, or Islam.
Animism was the core of religion.
There’s really no mystery as to why Egypt is whiter today. As more West Asians arrived in North Africa, Egypt became more multicultural. However, the culture and spirituality were always in Africa.
The Dogon, Yoruba, Igbo, and other West African groups are the immediate descendants of those early pre-historic Africans.
That animistic culture (where masks are worn to impersonate animal spirits) is still practiced today by the Dogon.
Also, the population explosion of the 20th century happened primarily in the Cairo area where medical services were more advances and was populated by a larger number of West Asians.
😂
A problem that i have with African religion, and people may correct me if I'm wrong, no literature was left behind by our ancestors or whatsoever. Yes the colonizer burned it all and made sure that things were kept way from us and instead gave their religion to us, but one thing that annoys me is that if you try to investigate more on African religion, for example, I'm from Angola, sometimes i be wondering what was it that my people believed in and prayed too before the all Christianity thing, but its hard answering that because no writings or books or whatever where left behind for whomever wanted to know more about their roots
Yeah I agree that’s the hard part. Which is why people tend to convert to Christianity or Islam because it’s more structured. But I’m not.
Typically such people prayed to various demonic entities.
@@facetofloor How would you know for sure if its demonic or not because till today we (the ordinary people) still don't know how the all spiritual realm works, all we know its based on Christianity structure that we were given, for example, spirits could be neutral beings that when we try to evoke them they act based on our intention, the all demon and angel, God and the Devil, evil vs good could just be something made up, but i myself wouldn't dive deep in such conversation because even i, am not knowledgeable enough to discuss such topics
community leaders and practitioners were the ones that passed this information along because it was sacred and community based, so that could also be a factor in lack of writing. i know ifa tradition has the odu, but again, you’re not gonna find it in its entirety online, you would have to be initiated/working towards initiation.
@@leandrocambuta7178
You will find people all around the world involved in similar rituals: invoking these beings, performing various blood sacrifices to such entities, carving idols and making blood rituals to the idols, etc. Even the people who follow such religions will often say that these "shamans" are involved with evil forces.
The baseline of knowing that such arts are misguidance is that they involve the worship of various creations and not the Creator.
Really good video. Your categorization of traditional African religions as being monotheistic is interesting and strong. And you’re absolutely right, the monotheistic aspect in traditional African religions and the belief in one Supreme Being is routinely ignored and suppressed in the West.
The main difference is focus. In general, traditional African religions recognize God but seldom try to interact with Him or address Him directly. Instead they typically address lower deities and ancestors. That along with racist stereotypes are the reason Europeans got it confused.
Regarding the animism, shamans, witchcraft, fetishism, etc. that you discuss at 12:00 - that actually is part of most traditional African religions.
It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. There’s the monotheistic aspect *and* the polytheistic aspect in most of those religions.
What has made Christianity in particular explode in Africa after they booted out the colonial oppressors is:
1. Its focus on the direct ongoing communication and fellowship with the Supreme Being traditional African religion recognized overall but typically ignored in the day to day life.
2. The confidence in the Bible as an accessible, easily understandable guide to how to communicate effectively with the Supreme Being as a literal Father and how to live in a way that pleases Him.
3. Assurance of being accepted by Him and knowing one is safe for the coming Judgment instead of leaving it to chance based on one’s best efforts.
African Spituality is rooted in witchcraft I recommend reading the Gospels Matthew , Mark , Luke and John.
Excellent job breaking down the complexities of the thousands of years of our traditional spiritual systems and beliefs! That took some research work because though we are all African people, our cultural Spirituality differ slightly from one group to the next, and it is not just our different tribes and languages...
Unfortunately, I also think much of history of many ancient cultures was destroyed.
Great video and points. Hopefully more of true history/non-biased can emerge and be available for all to learn.
This is a global phenomena and happening to all peoples and cultures. So who is driving this? So many people are blaming the wrong people.
Maferefun Shango 📿, people are waking up and I love it. Reach your destiny and make proud your family members that are gone.
One of the best books from a Native African about African Spirituality is
_Of Water and the Spirit_ by Malidoma Patrice Somé
Brilliant essay as always. I appreciate the time you take to make these
Thank you for your patience with this topic. If I were you I’d be so angry at what the facts actually show. As of matter of fact I am angry. Everyday I see nothing has changed since the beginning of the slave trade with Spain in Ndongo literally NOTHING and even worse we have a whole culture that refuses to accept its natural origins and spiritual beliefs out of fear. It’s so disgusting to me living in these times where up is down and wrong is right 😢
The truth is coming out so things are looking up!
I'm so glad you made this video! The further back in time you go, ALL the world's cultures worshiped one God. I believe he actually showed up one day as Christ. Don't get caught up in race religions. God made a covenant with all the world's peoples at one point.
RELIGION means to Bind, Control. Africans had SPIRITUALLY, Spiritually is Freedom, deals with Nature , Spirit, Soul and the Natural order of Creation. Religion and Spiritually is not the same.
Thank you.
Spirituality is freedom what did African spirituality do for us our own ancestors sold some of us. Look how poor Africa is what is African spirituality doing for that. What is African spirituality going for the people that are steady conquer in Africa right now. Y'all been doing African spirituality for how long and look at the state Africa is in shambles
@@lovelove-pr2yo That is RELIGION, Africa has been RELIGIOUS for the last 400 - 1000 years. When you are Spiritually, Culturally, and Mentally Enslaved. You can Physically take People, land and Resources. Read the Document of Discovery,. Religion sanctioned SLAVERY as means to spread Christianity to the lands being Discovered by Europeans. so the Narrative that we were already Slaves who sold each other is a LIE. With Spiritually we built the first Civilizations.
@@lovelove-pr2yo Christianity and islam are helping in increasing the GDP of Africa? What are they doing from last 2-3 centuries?
@@thewittiewolf honey Christianity has always been here. A lot of Africans have said that to that I've come in contact with. But it was not called Christianity. Christianity came from the Greek word christos which originally was used to make fun of those that followed the messiah and at that time the hebrews or Yahshrael (Israelites) were under captivity with Rome, they were a nation and not a religion.
So stop it So in the book of deuturonomy 28 he warns them because they were practicing and seeking these other spirit’s and told them if they changed back he would bless them beyond belief but if they didn’t he would curse them beyond belief then proceeds to explain the slave trade to the letter, so the tribe of Judah (yahuda) was given up to another nation and thus started the slave trade.
Look at Africa it has never recovered
It is not western religion. If you trace it back to the roots it is religion that came from Asia Minor.
Ancient European religions and African religions are very similar in nature if not identical in many aspects.
I have a question/clarrification, if I may. In your first example/topic, are we using the term agents in a synonymous way - letting it stand for something like "a semi-autonomous 'aspect' of the sublime/supreme being above the creator?" Or am I misunderstanding? When I hear the word Agent, it "usually" - but certainly not always - gets attached to a completely seperate entity working for some higher authority (legitimate or otherwise). If you've got the time and willingness to answer this (or if someone else does) I'd certainly appreciate it. Thanks for all that you do.
I think the word youre looking for is Henotheism where theres a supreme god thats worshipped with lesser gods that may or may not be worshipped. We see this in early judaism where they recognized other gods but didnt worship them.
Happy Thursday fam 💯👍
We were and are very spiritual people. Religion locks us in boxes..
Read John Mbiti’s African Religions and Philosophy. He taught at the University of Nairobi. I was an Africana Studies major at Hunter CUNY in the 1970s. It is an excellent book. It presence a complex view of African religions and the concept of time.
African Spituality is rooted in witchcraft I recommend reading the Gospels Matthew , Mark , Luke and John.
Spirits, the ancestors, and the creator are the arms and legs of what some call God
This email discusses crucial, intertwined issues affecting our society: the historical and present-day importance of cannabis and cannabinoids for medicinal and religious purposes and the urgency of fighting climate change. As we continue to realize the interconnectedness of our planet and its inhabitants, it's our responsibility to use our knowledge and take action.
Cannabis and cannabinoids have been used for thousands of years for medicinal and religious purposes. The ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Greeks used cannabis to treat a range of illnesses, while other cultures have incorporated the plant into their religious practices. Recent developments in science have solidified our understanding of cannabinoids' effects on the human body - particularly their interaction with the endocannabinoid system - and opened up exciting therapeutic possibilities for treating diseases such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and cancer-related pain.
The medical field should have the freedom to prescribe cannabis and cannabinoid-based products to patients suffering from chronic pain and other related disorders. Designing regulations and policies that recognize the historical and present-day medicinal importance of the plant, especially within specific cultural and religious contexts, would be an important step towards achieving this freedom. We need to find the intersection between the traditional and modern perspectives on cannabis use to ensure a proper balance of medical efficacy and cultural and religious reverence.
However, while it is crucial to embrace cannabis and cannabinoids' medicinal and cultural importance, we must not forget the equally important issue of climate change. Climate change impacts our planet in countless ways, from rising sea levels to extreme weather events and heat waves. Planting more trees, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, harnessing sustainable energy sources, and supporting climate-friendly policies are some crucial steps to reduce our impact on the planet and reverse the effects of climate change. Each small step, when taken together, can create powerful change.
Overall, we must embrace the historical significance of cannabis and cannabinoids and use modern advancements to help treat medical ailments. But we must also ensure that this is done in a way that respects the plant's rich cultural and religious importance. While we tackle climate change and its many negative effects, we must take environmental responsibility to improve our planet's health. As we continue to learn about individual impact on our planet, we can harness our knowledge and work towards creating a more sustainable society.
Thank you for taking the time to read this message. I hope it has sparked awareness and motivated action, both for the benefit of individual lives and for the betterment of the world we share.
Sincerely, ua-cam.com/video/YjLP3xmsKf0/v-deo.html freedom of religion should exist
I really enjoyed this video you did a good job pointing out how westerners have down played Africa’s “Monotheistic” beliefs systems.
I do have a slight critique on the points about westerners looking at African religion through a Abrahamic framework.
The problem is “Abrahamic” is a problematic term in and of itself bc Christianity and Judaism both have different conceptions God from Islam. Even between Christianity and Judaism there are differences bc of Talmudic Judaism innovations.
Anyways, The proper Biblical monotheism framework is in fact similar to the African ones such as the Igbo, Yoruba, and the ones seen on every other continent. According to the Bible there are many gods but only one Supreme Creator God whom everything else was created by. In the Old Testament there are several references to the others gods who are enemies YHWH, and in Psalm 82 it even talks about how God will judge these gods for how they lead with evil and injustice.
Many Old Testament scholars such as Dr. Michael Heiser, Dr. Tim Mackie, and others have brought this to broader exposure.
Another great video I’m glad African religions are being studied more carefully by some in religious scholarship. Insightful videos in this topic.
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They also know that We are The Tribes Of Yah-Serael. There's a reference by Cornelius Tacitus Book 5 chapter 2 who labeled us as a Race of Ethiopians in Jerusalem before the destruction of Jerusalem. He even wrote about where Jerusalem was located, with the Mediterranean Sea north of the city and Egypt to the South.
Overall, they know who we are and who We serve, The YAH of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, meaning The Creator Of Everything.
Signed Archangel Me-aa-Kha 👼🏿🗡️🗡️🗡️⚔️ To-may-aa-Kha Aa-Kee to-mah Kha-a-me Ty-ee in Ancient Aramaic. I speak Aramaic fluently by The Holy Spirit.
The world is upset with us because We have a personal relationship with YHWY, and not through religion. We have a lot of secrets that is not written but is passed by word of mouth, and that frustrates the white supremacists.
One salient point is that we have to expand, adapt or abolish European definitions of the black/African experience.
Fascinating work!
See Anthony Browder and his research of Egyptian (Kemetan) Studies and the roots of Abrahamic religions in Egyptian belief systems.
🤣🤣Communist Delusion
TY for this vid King
Very well articulated in bringing out the ignorance, reductionist & racial biases, stemmed from eurocentric ideologies. Sadly, these notions continue to hook most of us. We prefer the alien concept of God & in fact, current practices of African Traditional Religions/ATRs have also not done justice to the course. Majority have been adulterated because of competitiveness among leaders/worshippers, as well as the greed, money making & the creation of egocentric ideas by the priests. You only need to watch them on various channels in Ghana to experience how ATR priests strenuously infuse their ideas into established practices! Alas, some of us have become askance of ATR because of such vices. There's certainly a role for this tradition in our communities. All in all, each to their own, I'd say be discerning where & whom you pay homage to. Thanks again for another enlightening discourse. Fab channel 👍🏾👍🏾
I love this! I've been looking at African religions.
Yeah the on and on or onwards exaggerations or fabrications about Sub Saharan Africans being too stone aged and lacking any understanding of the consequences of there actions in some way when most SSAs were in fact Iron Aged and had a sense of law, order, rule, restriction, government, political sphere, regulation, trial, and tribulation yeah. I remember Middle Easterners particularly Arabs And Persians said similar quotes about Sub Saharan Africans in that matter yeah.
Great video hats off...🖤
Thanks for sharing this Information is very powerful
I love this young man, another melanated person teaching and bringing life and light back to our original why of life before we were colonized and stolen from the mother land
It's spiritually in the Western hemisphere that have nothing to do with the Eastern hemisphere
This is wonderful! I am south sudanese, our origins being Sudan and Egypt so we have a very ancient culture from Kush. Our spiritual practices are really beautiful.
As we can see in the bible, before Europe and centuries before America , Africa already was Abrahamic religion and later Christian.
Great video, thanks 👍
I find it interesting that some African religions separate the Creator from the Supreme Divinity. You mention the Christian Trinity, but there was another religion, imported from Persia, that was very popular in North Africa around the 3rd-4th centuries CE. It was called Manichaeism after its founder, Mani (215-76 CE), who taught that the world was created by a lesser God in contrast to the Supreme God. (This was not really a new idea as the Persian prophet Zoroaster had taught much the same thing centuries before.) What seems to be different from the African religions is that while the Supreme God was all-good, the Creator God was not. Because he was the God of Evil, that meant all creation was evil as well. Because of this, the Manichees divided themselves into the Elect who were vowed to celibacy (so as to not bring new life into the world) and the Hearers who supported the Elect but did not take vows of celibacy. Before he became a Christian, St. Augustine of Hippo (in North Africa) was a Manichee who was invited to join the Elect but he found the celibacy requirement too much for him at the time so he remained a Hearer until his conversion to Christianity. Ironically, he also adopted celibacy shortly thereafter even though it was not a requirement of his new faith! Augustine became one of the most influential Christian theologians of all time but he was not the only one from North Africa. Many people do not know of the North African role in developing Christianity; it might be an interesting topic for a video sometime.
Thanks for this!!! I need your help getting the word out there about how traditional religion is still illegal by laws on the books in Jamaica!!!!
In order to be a scholar of Traditional African Religion you must be a practitioner/initiate as well. There are PAN African Traditional Religions. The Ausarian Religion, Santería, and Palo Mayombe are some examples.
Excellent work!
It’s funny how the local African idols was regarded as demonic but yet the foreign European catholic models (Mary, in particular, and white “Jesus”) were promoted as holy🤔Is not all idolatry spoken against in the Scriptures?
Yoruba one Creator God called Olodumare then ancestors who are intermediaries between Olodumare and the Yorubas called Orishas.
The olive leaf extract that is advertised in beginning did nothing for my blood pressure.
All praise Mami Wata 🧜🏿♀️🐍🌊
You Dey praise mami wata
No offence
@@Plug042 All day everyday boo! 😘
Exactly correct, Africa had always had Monotheistic thought. The ONE was represented by many attributes, principles, energies, or symbols. The ONE is ALL and ALL is the ONE. That idea was practiced in KEMET as well, before Amenhotep lll .
Fascinating on the Supreme Being belief system African religions. And it makes sense.
Also, on The Trinity, there’s always been controversy on - it going all the way back to the Nicene Creed, but per strict observant Jews and Muslims, it is not monotheism. In fact, it is said that The trinity is of pagan origin (research Tertullian). Also, since it’s the 3-in-1 description, it’s not a hierarchy either.
Lol
As black folks been given religion , it was necessary to destroy your spirituality and culture.and rule over you
Is that what the people who actually enslaved and sold your ancestors did then?🙄
@@davidatkinson5858Shut up.
what attracted you into the African religious evolution Sir?
I love Africa spirituality....Africa spirituality is not evil
Yes it is I have straight away from Christianity for a long time but I went back. African spirituality didn't save us from the slave ships it didn't save us from our own people selling some of us and given the Europeans access to us. It's not saving them now. Play steady have people going over there and taking in conquering over there Africans in shambles. Christianity has always been in Africa if you dig deep.
African spirituality I want to do ancestral worship and be possess not even knowing if your ancestors are even good people are not.
Yeshua has been very good to me and imma keep it that away
@hometeamhistory806
You made a good reference to pointing of the monotheism still having multiple entities as part of it in these religious groups. When you compare it to abrahamic religions it actually is the same concept as in part of the trinity. In christian in particular God is equal to the supreme deity. While Christ would be the creator god that works or extend from the supreme deity. Many don’t get this concept but it the same in both religions
So do that...and I tell You
From the Roots of African Religions
You Will Find the Seeds of the
New Religion that will guide the Next Generation into the Millennium ❤️💚💜
HOW THE WESTERN WORLD LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN POSSIBLY THINK OF.....
Haiti? LOL
What has the USA accomplished in 200 years compared to Haiti in 200 years?
They were both founded 200 years ago.
Science, Technology, Art, Standard of Living?
10:26 It is interesting that you reference Prof. Dr. C. Ehret here on this crucial Afri~ matter.
I'm a Graduate, & former student scholar who joined a project on Afri~ lexicon origins, headed Dr. Ehret @ a Los Angeles, Cali-State Uni~.
3:22 what is he holding. It looks very similar to what lord shiva holds, the trishul,with damru .
7:45 yeah exactly,every authentic African spirituality has ONE supreme being who manifests himself through several Dieties. The thing is the term "God" has been perverted and didn't have the same conceptual meaning throughout the continent than it does today, which help understand even more why the supreme being and his Dieties are one,but that's another story. It is for this same reason that people misconceive KMT for example as a polytheist nation when it was never the case; it's simply the same concept.
very good video btw
Another banger from the Home Team. Bro the Abrahmic religions started in Africa too.
The European KNEW we are STRONG AND WISER than them
In what way
@@AL_AFGHANI1LEARN origin of ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS, BECAUSE MANY AROUND THE WORLD WERE PRACTICING PAGANISM BEFORE GOD WORSHIPING ORIGIN WAS AFRICA.
AM GLAD GOD KNOWN PAGANISM ENDED , BUT SADLY ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS TEACHERS DIDNT GET IT QUITE RIGHT OR NOT EDUCATIED ENOUGH, BUT THERE IS STILL TIME,AGAIN AFRICA AHEAD OF EVERYONE,
My spiritually influences and informs my culture
Here are some youtube channels about african spirituality:
Ancestral voices ,powered by ancestry ,obafemio,afro scientific spirituality.
St Afra from Ghana was the last Saint known and that was over 30 000 years ago when their golden age collapsed into darkness.
What HAVEN'T the west lied about!
Interesting, though seeing as I know nothing about African religions... good, bad, or indifferent.... frankly was hoping for more of some kinda broader overview and explanation of what African religions are actually like and what they have in common, instead of what they're 'not', and yet another "Africa-as-victim" rant. Perhaps a future video could be more helpful in that regard. Thx.
i've always said that the western world do not understand African Traditional religions and falsely characterizes it as animist which it clearly isn't. African traditional religions have a supreme being that created the other minor gods and the spirits. In some religions there is also a creator god, but in others like the igbo religion, Chukwu is the supreme being and the creator god. But at the same time, let's not be confused. The concept of the trinity is nothing like African traditional religions. The trinity is a complex topic and I'm not saying Africans are incapable of Complex thought, quite the opposite actually. We can hardly begin to understand the trinity so for us to try to compare it to another is simply not right. What we do know of the trinity is while we express the unity of the trinity, the three persons are also co equal and consubstantial. That's not the case in ATR. There is a supreme god and every other being is subject to him.
We never went to the doctor back in the day blacks could not go families had a doctor there to use herbs
They said our religious is not good but the pope is worshipping idols.
Great book to read in order to help frame the philosophical and moral basis of African traditional spirituality - foundations of African thought by Chukwunyere Kamalu
The best intro music ever😊
Abasi's blessings to all ye kin folk.
PLEASE PLEASE!!! AFRICANS DIDNT HAVE RELIGIONS! A spirituality system..yes!