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Disability has, in recent years, become a focal point of discussion in many parts of the world with the increasing awareness that people with disabilities (PWDs) are disadvantaged because of their condition. Throughout history, PWDs have been relegated to the status of second‐class citizens and in some instances treated inhumanly. In many cultures, particularly in Africa, issues of disability are surrounded by fear because of the strong belief that they are caused by sin, witchcraft, or evil spirits. People with mental challenges are demonized. This has led to a negative attitude toward PWDs in the world generally and in Southern and Central Africa in particular. This paper discusses the mission of the church in this context. It argues that the church must act as a catalyst for change by generating a positive attitude toward PWDs so that they can enjoy fullness of life. This can be achieved by mainstreaming issues of disability in the social, economic, political, and spiritual life of society as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbols are communicative tools with performative functions in all cultures. Apart from their decorative functions, non‐Christian symbols adopted into Christianity have had a tremendous impact on Christian life since the early times, especially in liturgical practices. Through Western missionary activities, Ghana inherited Christian biblical‐liturgical art as has been developed in the home countries of the missionaries. However, since the 1960s Adinkra symbols have been incorporated into Christian worship and theology, receiving attention within secular and religious circles because of their communicative potential. On the religious level, some churches have adopted them as logos or incorporated them into architectural designs and liturgical art. This paper seeks to investigate what motivates various missions to choose particular Adinkra symbol(s) and what they hope to achieve with them. Furthermore, it attempts a theological reflection on the communicative potential of artefacts in Ghanaian Christianity as a response to the “Great Commission. “We approach the subject from a historical, contextual, and theological perspective, using selected Roman Catholic and Methodist churches in Ghana as case studies. The study employed unstructured in‐depth interviews and photo elicitations to trace the relationship between visual arts and religion, with particular emphasis on Christian visual arts and how they have informed Christianity in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the most of enormous challenges threatening the public health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, faith-based organizations (FBOs) are making a substantial contribution to the health of communities. This paper offers a brief retrospective into the development of such collaboration, and how scientific "religion blindness" made it all but invisible. In this context, the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARttAP) was initiated to research and understand "religious health assets" (RHAs), to probe how such assets can be drawn into public health systems, and to develop appropriate language for this field. First, we explain the turn to "assets" in contrast to the more common discourse of "needs" or "deficits", and show the importance of both tangible and intangible RHAs for a proper understanding of their significance. Second, we are interested in how religion might strengthen the "leading causes of life", rather than focusing in the first instance on illness and the burden of disease. We sta3gest that the potency of an FBO for health will depend on the extent to which these leading causes of life are present. A third innovation arose once we contemplated that fact that many African languages have no direct equivalents for either 'religion' or 'health', but use comprehensive concepts like b0phelo, that encapsulate both religion and health in terms of holistic, relational well-being. To express this, we have coined the term "healthworlds'; which describes the way in which religion and health are intertwined with each other, and impact on the choices people make about their health. The paper emphasizes the connection between (ill-) health, power and justice as essential areas of concern for people of faith. It closes by stressing the need for collaboration, not only between the religious and public health sectors, but also among those who are seeking to understand this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aim of the paper was to describe the association of religion with HIV outcomes in newly diagnosed Africans living in London. Methods A survey of newly diagnosed HIV-positive Africans attending 15 HIV treatment centres across London was carried out between April 2004 and February 2006. Confidential self-completed questionnaires were used, linked to clinical records. Bivariate analyses were conducted to ascertain whether religious beliefs were associated with late diagnosis, antiretroviral therapy, and immunological and virological outcome 6 months post diagnosis. Results A total of 246 Black Africans were eligible and included in the analysis: 62.6% were women, and the median age was 34 years. The median CD4 count at diagnosis was 194 cells/ μL (range 0-1334 cells/ μL) and 75.6% presented late, as defined as a CD4 count < 350 cells/ μL. Most participants were religious: non- Roman Catholic Christians (55.7%), Roman Catholics (35.2%) and Muslims (6.1%). Only 1.2% stated that they did not have a religion. Participants who attended religious services at least monthly were more likely to believe that 'faith alone can cure HIV' than those who attended less frequently (37.7% vs. 15.0%; P = 0.002). A small proportion (5.2%) believed that taking antiretroviral therapy implied a lack of faith in God. Bivariate analysis found no relationship between religiousness (as measured using frequency of attendance at religious services and religious attitudes or beliefs) and late diagnosis, changes in CD4 count/viral load 6 months post diagnosis, or initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Conclusions Strong religious beliefs about faith and healing are unlikely to act as a barrier to accessing HIV testing or antiretroviral treatment for Black Africans living in London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The marketing of religion remains a large research area to explore, simply because the studies that have been conducted are mostly applications of a marketing mix to the religious offer. In the context of globalization, it is surprising that the internationalization of religious organizations remains an uncovered subject because Christian religions have a biblical mission to become international. This paper explores the phenomenon of the internationalization of religious organizations in order to better understand their preferred expansion modes in Ivory Coast, since Western evangelist Christian communities in West Africa have flourished in recent decades. The current analysis allows us to draw a conclusion that the process of religious expansion is truly the result of a strategic reflection supported by marketing tools and communication. This emphasizes the role of marketing as a leverage for profit and nonprofit organizations, as well as its growing importance as a means for appealing to the masses among new Christian communities of Third World countries. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the deterritorialization and reterritorialization of the Orisha religion in Africa, Nigeria, Cuba and the United States. There is a relationship between religion and territory in the Oyo empire in the West Africa. The paper looks at Orisha worship became established in Cuba. It did not disappear, but became a religion of slaves, and this transplantation provides a good illustration of the dialectal relations between civilization and society. The paper focuses on the introduction of Santeria into the U.S. and its development there. With Cuban emigration to the United States, other type of relationship between civilization and the society have been established. Santeria is recontextualized in a multicultural society segmented into communities. It has also penetrated the black American community. Santeria can be defined as a system of local cults whose essential element related to the adoration of the Santo, i.e. the original deity born of syncretism between African and Catholic beliefs. Santerism arose from the association of spiritism and Santeria produced in the centers of Puerto Rican spiritism in New York. Santerismo has smuggled in some practices of Orisha worship while still likening it to dangerous witchcraft.

The article reports on nationalism in United States. There are scores of new States in Asia and Africa that are trying to set up free societies. It is a "new birth of freedom" on a grand scale. It is in fact freedom's greatest test, for it involves the older free regimes of Europe and the United States. If truth counts over charity, then one must point out that the new States will fail, if not all, then all but a few. Some are already succumbing to the initial perils of liberty that the last paper of the Federalist warned Americans against: "anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a victorious demagogue." The real wonder is in believing that national unity could ever arise in freedom among the many units that nowadays arrogate to themselves the name of nation. They are nations only to the map maker. Many are areas marked off only for colonial administrative convenience; some have dozens, even hundreds, of languages, several antagonistic religions; a still uncounted welter of tribes living in mutual ignorance or traditional war; and above all there stands the great gulf between the village primitive and the urban modern.

We hypothesize that there are two mechanisms by which religion can affect prosocial behaviors. Being reminded about religion can induce prosocial behaviors through an external, triggering effect. The underlying beliefs can have an effect through internal mechanisms. To untangle these competing effects, a lab‐in‐the‐field experiment was conducted in West Africa in which we asked people participating in a survey if they would like to donate their participation fee to a local charity. We randomly assigned respondents a question asking about belief in heaven and hell. We also vary the donation price to test whether there are limits on the prosocial behaviors. We find that the trigger has no effect on the decision to donate, but that belief in heaven/hell has a positive, large, statistically significant effect on the likelihood of donations. Religious belief does encourage prosocial behavior but those effects dissipate as the opportunity cost of giving increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today about one million Baha'is live in Africa. The Baha'i Faith was introduced to the British Cameroons in the early 1950s and spread as a new movement within the networks of the Basel Mission, a Swiss Presbyterian missionary society. Enoch Olinga, an educated African convert from Uganda, was able to act at the centre of the movement without outside supervision and invent new forms of Baha'i identity. His successes are examined, as well as the responses of European missionaries and lay African Christians. African traditional religious practices may have also contributed to rapid Baha'i conversions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mozambique, a marked increase in evangelical churches was recorded in the 1980s. This brought the need for pastoral training into sharp focus, and many new Bible schools were founded in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, the shape and context of theological education remains rather different from other African countries, as Bible schools are mostly not accredited by the government and most schools train part‐time in the evening. As of 2017, religious studies cannot be found at universities, leaving theological training firmly in the hands of the churches and mission organizations. The training of women has become increasingly important, but they also face many challenges. To shed light on these challenges, I present the results of 52 interviews with female students at various Bible schools in Mozambique, ranging from lack of family support to the fact that theological training is perceived to be only for men and full‐time/ordained ministry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article postulates that the way African Pentecostal women politicians utilize the religious discourse of wifely submission in exercising religio‐political power reinforces populism and perpetuates patriarchy‐informed politics in Zambia. It will demonstrate that their religio‐political engagement is based on ideological allegiance to institutional political systems of power tailored to promote the patriarchal agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement in African countries like Ghana had inspired new ways of dealing with the challenges of life. A critical area of operation for the movement is the "healing and deliverance" ministry, through which supernatural evil is confronted in order that Christians may be freed to enjoy the abundant provisions of God in Christ. Systems of "shrine slavery" in Ghana, also found in various forms among certain sub-Saharan African peoples, offer examples from traditional religions of how such institutions may stigmatize victims and generations after them, sometimes perpetually. In keeping with the prophetic declaration by the prophet Ezekiel that, "The sins of the fathers shall be no more be visited on their children", the Pentecostal/Charismatic ministry of "healing and deliverance" provides a Christian ritual context in which the enslaving effects of generational curses resulting from the sins of one's ancestry may be dealt with. This is in order that those born-again in Christ, in keeping with the objective of Christian mission, may experience fullness of life in Christ. The phenomenon of "healing deliverance", discussed here from a Ghanaian perspective, serves as a ministry of restoration in the hands of Africa's new Pentecostal/Charismatic movements and churches as they seek to provide holistic pastoral care to their followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the formation of a united church in Africa, the Uniting Presbyterian Church in South Africa. Emergence of four Presbyterian churches in South Africa; Growth of racial tensions and denominationalism within the churches; Implications of racial problems in causing divisions among the churches; Creation of the Federal Theological Seminary brought about by financial constraints in the churches.

Discusses ways to help churches in Africa promote ecumenical relations in order that they could be a source of life and healing to the churches and peoples of Africa. Discussion of the All Africa Conference of Churches and the World Council of Churches relationship and cooperation; Spread of denominationalism in the continent; Need for a reappraisal of the leadership of the churches in Africa to attain church unity.

The article focuses on spiritualism and authoritarianism found in African moral system. The Western moral thought is more supernaturalistic and less humanistic than that of traditional people. Contemporary Western moral thought has increased rather than diminished the authoritarianism already embedded in traditional African moral thought. On the other hand, scholar John Mbiti claimed that the beliefs and institutions slowly introduced by Westerners actually diminished a tradition of absolute authority for African religions. This diminished belief seems both supernaturalistic and authoritarian.

Focuses on the different religions of the people in Africa. Organization of the Ashanti as a confederation of kingdoms under a paramount ruler in Ghana; Foundation of the Yoruba cosmology of the Yoruba on the basic pattern of a sky god and his deputies or subjects in Nigeria; Social organization of the Lugbara in Uganda.