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Grisso with Osunnike, Yoruba priestess and clairvoyant |
In Defense of African Traditional Religion (ATR)
By Grisso
Introduction
African traditional religion (ATR) is associated in many people's minds with things negative. The European Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition has contributed much to this, condemning ATR with a variety of characterizations such as "pagan", "satanic", "devil-worship", "witchcraft", "idol-worship", etc. It is seldom considered possible, let alone likely, that the wisdom found within ATR is as profound, if not more so, as any commonly attributed to the so-called "great world religions".
I have selected for publication in these pages, 86 articles that I wrote on the usenet newsgroup alt.religion.orisha over the period from July to November, 2000. The broad theme running through these articles is a defense of ATR from a variety of calumnies and attacks. What first prompted me to jump in to the discussion was a poster forming an equation between ATR and sorcery. Over the course of 86 articles, the discussion ranged far and wide, addressing issues such as human sacrifice, the origin of the divination arts, the ancient wisdom in Africa and its connections with Kemet (ancient Egypt), the influence or otherwise on ATR origins of Arabs, Berbers, Jews, and other non-Africans, etc., etc. The ancillary theme was also present of the status of non-Africans within ATR, the legitimacy of the priestly titles that some claim, the racism that is often evinced even by those Europeans and Euro-Americans who claim priestly titles within ATR, and the sincerity or otherwise of anthropologists and other academicians, some of whom, it would appear, initiate into ATR as a research tactic.
The articles are organized in chronological order, but the Table of Contents shows the articles also by subject. Readers are invited to make use of the keyword search facility of the website to zero in on particular subjects of interest.
Grisso
Nov. 15, 2000
Grisso
is a 49 year old African of the diaspora.
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