Religion in Ivory Coast
[7] This diversity accounts, in part, for early missionaries in West Africa who often described the spiritual "chaos" they encountered, when they were actually observing different social groupings, each with different spiritual obligations to ancestral and other spirits, acting in accordance with common beliefs about the nature of the universe.
[7] Most Akan believe in a supreme being, Nyame, who created all things and from whom lesser gods derive their power.
[7] Ancestral spirits (samanfo) surpass these deities in importance among most Akan people, as it is the ancestors who safeguard the prosperity of the lineage and provide assistance in meeting daily challenges.
[7] Ancestral spirits are often consulted, offered food and drink, and reminded that people are depending on them, in the hope that an individual will be able to act with confidence, especially in dealing with others in the lineage.
[7] Failure to perform sacrifices to ancestral spirits not only damages a person spiritually but also brings forth the wrath of the ancestor and can result in tragedy or unhappiness.
[7] Priests can also act as diviners, and the most esteemed among them are believed to be clairvoyant, able to locate the source of spiritual difficulty for their clients, who consult them for a fee.
[7] It is a memorial service for the dead and begs for their protection in the future; it is a time of thanksgiving for good harvests; and it is a ritual of purification that helps rid the group of evil influences.
[7] Religion among the Kru peoples of the southwest resembles that of the Akan, with an important difference in the presence of a second powerful deity alongside the creator.
[7] Diviners do not predict the future; rather, they prescribe a course of action that emphasizes accepted social values in an effort to help people cope with present-day dilemmas.
[7] They serve important functions in the initiation and education of the young, and they provide vehicles for preserving beliefs about the past.
[7] Blacksmiths have secret societies of their own, and in some areas this occupational group is believed to have special spiritual powers.
[7] Sufism, involving the organization of mystical brotherhoods (tariqa) for the purification and spread of Islam, is also widespread, laced with indigenous beliefs and practices.
[7] The influence of marabouts has produced a number of reactions in Ivoirian society, among them a series of reformist movements inspired by Wahhabist puritanism, which originated in nineteenth-century Saudi Arabia.
[7] Hamallism began as an Islamic reform movement in the French Sudan early in the twentieth century, and has provided a channel for expressing political and religious discontent.
[7] Catholicism is the largest Christian denomination, but Methodist, Baptist, and a number of smaller mission churches also exist.
[13] There are about 250 families of Indians in Ivory Coast, most of them businessmen of Sindhi and Gujarati origin, professionals in trading and manufacturing companies owned by NRI-PIOs and officials working with the UN.
[7] Syncretic religions are generally more common among minorities in a particular area or among groups that perceive themselves to be resisting political domination by their neighbors.
[7] The Agni have remained heavily Catholic, for example, whereas the neighboring Baoulé have evolved a variety of syncretisms, following prophets that promise good fortune as a reward for allegiance to them.
[7] Small groups in the far northeast have also evolved a variety of belief systems to maintain their traditions, incorporate selected aspects of Islam, and resist domination by outsiders.
[7] The president personally contributes to the cost of building mosques and churches, and he encourages both Muslims and Christians to assist in projects undertaken by other religious communities.
[7] Religious practitioners have also earned substantial goodwill through the services they offer their communities, especially in health and education, and by their overall contribution to social harmony.
[7] Officials often attend religious ceremonies as representatives of the state, and some mission schools receive government aid.
[7] Missionaries are generally welcomed throughout the nation, although their teachings seldom replace centuries-old systems of spiritual belief and practice that form the basis of cultural unity.
