9 - Interrogating secularism in Africa: Paradigmaticor heretical?

Summary

The role of religion in 21st century Africa and its impact on transitions to democracy have been obscured and distorted by flawed assumptions that the realm of faith in its infinite varieties of norms and rules governing humanity's relations to the “divine” constituted impediments to development and democracy. Inspired by the success of 18th-century European philosophers of the Enlightenment in constructing a virtual wall between the physical and spiritual world(s) to contain wars fuelled by political actors seeking the divine sanction, their predecessors (European and Europeanized), social thinkers, came to believe that the “sacred,” ie religion, could be relegated to the private/personal realm. In Africa, this ideology of secularism was introduced as part of the myriad of colonial legacies along with the panoply of statehood such as formal constitutions and flags. The newly inaugurated nation-states were immediately confronted with the challenges of governing diverse multitudes lacking both coherence and consensus on the precepts of just/righteous rule.

Scholarly and policy-oriented debate on the nature of the African postcolonial state, its failures and achievements, and especially the disillusionment of citizenry resulting in the rejection of hegemonic elite(s)’ projects of secular modernity have been addressed throughout this volume. This emphasis on the inability and/ or unwillingness of African political actors and institutions to expunge religion from the public realm has led to what may be described as intellectual despair at the diminishing prospects that the “universal’ age of reason would trump that of religion. Faith in secularism as the harbinger of modernity and socio-economical progress has led to ideological blinders to empirical realities. In contemporary Africa, the conflation of secularism with modernity and elections with democracy has led to facile analyses and erroneous policy making with tragic consequences for those caught in the web of intra-state as well as inter-state violence.

Global resurgence of religious identities and institutions requires more nuanced debates questioning the linear assumptions linking separation of church and state to democratization of societies. Current debate on Africa, highlighting intra-state conflicts as well as the entrenchment of authoritarian regimes declaring war on religious “fundamentalism” – Islamic, Pentecostal and Neo-Traditional – finds itself locked in a conundrum from which there is no exit without going beyond the orthodox liberal, traditional, millenarian frameworks; all of which have failed to shed light on how religious beliefs influence policy choices of national leaders and their transnational dissidents and erstwhile allies.