15 April 2010
The study, "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa," is based on more than 25,000 face-to-face interviews in more than 60 languages in 19 countries.
The 19 countries in the survey are collectively home to 75 percent of the total population of sub-Saharan Africa, which is about 820 million people.
Pew researchers carried out the study between December 2008 and April 2009.
The Pew Forum studied how Christians and Muslims feel about each other in a region that has seen growing religious violence between the two communities.
Muslims have a significantly more positive view of Christians than Christians do of Muslims, the survey suggested.
Some 43 percent of Christians across the region see Muslims as violent, while 20 percent of Muslims see Christians as violent, the study found.
Across the 19 countries in the survey, Christians and Muslims both associated positive traits with the other religion.
Muslims see Christians as tolerant, honest and respectful of women; Christians say Muslims are honest, devout and respectful of women.
Many people also said they were more worried by extremists of their own religion than by the other.
Muslims said they were more concerned about Muslim extremism than Christian extremism, and Christians in four countries said they were more concerned about Christian extremism than about Muslim extremism, the report said.
People who said violence against civilians in defense of one's religion is rarely or never justified vastly outnumber those who said it is sometimes or often justified.
However, most Muslims and Christians across Sub-Saharan Africa admitted they do not know much about the other religion.
Sub-Saharan Africans Most Religious of People
At least half of all Christians in sub-Saharan Africa believe Jesus will return to Earth in their lifetime -- part of a pattern that indicates the region is among the most religious places in the world.
Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa experience their religion equally as passionately. Nearly one in three Muslims in the region expect to see the re-establishment of the caliphate -- Islam's golden age -- before they die.
"In many countries across the continent, roughly nine in 10 people say religion is very important in their lives," the study found.
That puts even the least religious countries in the region ahead of the United States, which is among the most religious of advanced industrial countries, the study's authors wrote.
For example, only one in five American Christians said they expected to see Jesus return to Earth in their lifetime -- far lower than the African result of more than half -- according to a 2006 Pew survey, which asked a slightly different question.
Both Islam and Christianity have grown exponentially in Africa in the last century.
There are approximately 234 million Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa today, up from 11 million in 1900.
The French-speaking countries of Mali, Senegal and Djibouti were predominantly Muslim; Chad and Cameroon were more of an even mix in terms of adherents of Christianity and Islam, while countries in southern Africa were predominantly Christian.
There are about 470 million Christians, up from 7 million in 1900.
This makes Sub-Saharan Africa home to one in five of all the world's Christians, and more than 15 percent of the world's Muslims.
Including predominantly Muslim North Africa, there about 400 to 500 million members of each religion on the continent as a whole, making Africa unique in having a roughly equal number of Christians and Muslims, the study found.
The growth of the two religions leaves only about one in 10 people in sub-Saharan African who are neither Muslim nor Christian, the study found. That implies growth cannot continue at the same rate, because there is little evidence of people switching from one faith to the other.
Sub-Saharan Africa is about 30 percent Muslim, according to the October 2009 Pew report; the comparable study for Christians is not yet complete.
The growth of monotheism has not stamped out older practices, the new study found.
"Many people incorporate elements of African traditional religions into their daily lives," the survey authors said.
"About a quarter believe sacrifices to spirits or ancestors can protect them from bad things happening. Sizable percentages believe in charms or amulets, many consult traditional religious healers and sizable minorities keep sacred objects such as animal skins and skills in their homes," they said.
Mixing elements of older religions with Christianity doesn't happen only in Africa, said Pew researcher Gregory Smith.
In the United States, 29 percent of Catholics and 21 percent of Protestants believe in astrology, and similar numbers believe in reincarnation, a Pew study published in December found.
Many Africans also managed to hold two conflicting beliefs on another subject as well: Majorities in both religions support democracy, but at least one in three people in both religions also support making the Bible or Islamic Sharia law the law of the land.
Another surprising conclusion: Although Muslims often get blamed for allowing female "circumcision," which is an African traditional practice involving the mutilation of female genitals, the study found that in Uganda and Nigeria, the practice is more common among Christians than Muslims.
Sources:
Richard Allen Greene, "Africans among world's most religious people, study finds" CNN April 15, 2010
"US study sheds light on Africa's unique religious mix " AFP April 15, 2010
Julia Duin, "Survey: Sub-Saharan Africa one of the world's most religious places" The Washington Times April 15, 2010
The study, "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa," is based on more than 25,000 face-to-face interviews in more than 60 languages in 19 countries.
The 19 countries in the survey are collectively home to 75 percent of the total population of sub-Saharan Africa, which is about 820 million people.
Pew researchers carried out the study between December 2008 and April 2009.
The Pew Forum studied how Christians and Muslims feel about each other in a region that has seen growing religious violence between the two communities.
Muslims have a significantly more positive view of Christians than Christians do of Muslims, the survey suggested.
Some 43 percent of Christians across the region see Muslims as violent, while 20 percent of Muslims see Christians as violent, the study found.
Across the 19 countries in the survey, Christians and Muslims both associated positive traits with the other religion.
Muslims see Christians as tolerant, honest and respectful of women; Christians say Muslims are honest, devout and respectful of women.
Many people also said they were more worried by extremists of their own religion than by the other.
Muslims said they were more concerned about Muslim extremism than Christian extremism, and Christians in four countries said they were more concerned about Christian extremism than about Muslim extremism, the report said.
People who said violence against civilians in defense of one's religion is rarely or never justified vastly outnumber those who said it is sometimes or often justified.
However, most Muslims and Christians across Sub-Saharan Africa admitted they do not know much about the other religion.
Sub-Saharan Africans Most Religious of People
At least half of all Christians in sub-Saharan Africa believe Jesus will return to Earth in their lifetime -- part of a pattern that indicates the region is among the most religious places in the world.
Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa experience their religion equally as passionately. Nearly one in three Muslims in the region expect to see the re-establishment of the caliphate -- Islam's golden age -- before they die.
"In many countries across the continent, roughly nine in 10 people say religion is very important in their lives," the study found.
That puts even the least religious countries in the region ahead of the United States, which is among the most religious of advanced industrial countries, the study's authors wrote.
For example, only one in five American Christians said they expected to see Jesus return to Earth in their lifetime -- far lower than the African result of more than half -- according to a 2006 Pew survey, which asked a slightly different question.
Both Islam and Christianity have grown exponentially in Africa in the last century.
There are approximately 234 million Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa today, up from 11 million in 1900.
The French-speaking countries of Mali, Senegal and Djibouti were predominantly Muslim; Chad and Cameroon were more of an even mix in terms of adherents of Christianity and Islam, while countries in southern Africa were predominantly Christian.
There are about 470 million Christians, up from 7 million in 1900.
This makes Sub-Saharan Africa home to one in five of all the world's Christians, and more than 15 percent of the world's Muslims.
Including predominantly Muslim North Africa, there about 400 to 500 million members of each religion on the continent as a whole, making Africa unique in having a roughly equal number of Christians and Muslims, the study found.
The growth of the two religions leaves only about one in 10 people in sub-Saharan African who are neither Muslim nor Christian, the study found. That implies growth cannot continue at the same rate, because there is little evidence of people switching from one faith to the other.
Sub-Saharan Africa is about 30 percent Muslim, according to the October 2009 Pew report; the comparable study for Christians is not yet complete.
The growth of monotheism has not stamped out older practices, the new study found.
"Many people incorporate elements of African traditional religions into their daily lives," the survey authors said.
"About a quarter believe sacrifices to spirits or ancestors can protect them from bad things happening. Sizable percentages believe in charms or amulets, many consult traditional religious healers and sizable minorities keep sacred objects such as animal skins and skills in their homes," they said.
Mixing elements of older religions with Christianity doesn't happen only in Africa, said Pew researcher Gregory Smith.
In the United States, 29 percent of Catholics and 21 percent of Protestants believe in astrology, and similar numbers believe in reincarnation, a Pew study published in December found.
Many Africans also managed to hold two conflicting beliefs on another subject as well: Majorities in both religions support democracy, but at least one in three people in both religions also support making the Bible or Islamic Sharia law the law of the land.
Another surprising conclusion: Although Muslims often get blamed for allowing female "circumcision," which is an African traditional practice involving the mutilation of female genitals, the study found that in Uganda and Nigeria, the practice is more common among Christians than Muslims.
Sources:
Richard Allen Greene, "Africans among world's most religious people, study finds" CNN April 15, 2010
"US study sheds light on Africa's unique religious mix " AFP April 15, 2010
Julia Duin, "Survey: Sub-Saharan Africa one of the world's most religious places" The Washington Times April 15, 2010