–– Paul Schlehlein
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According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, about 26% of the world’s Christians are living on the continent of Africa. In their view, 2018 marks the first year that Africa has the world’s most Christians—30 million more than Latin America.
There’s more. While the numbers for Christians are high in Africa, the numbers of atheists are low. Countries with the most atheists include North Korea (71%), China (52%), and the Netherlands (42%) but the least atheistic nations are almost all from Africa. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop is right. Africans are “incurably religious”.
While the north is predominantly Muslim, Sub-Saharan Africa is quick to claim Christianity. But has Africa really been Christianized? What if we used a different metric to determine a nation’s religious moorings? What if the metric became the nation’s Christian character rather than the nation’s Christian confession? Perhaps the numbers would look much different.
A Couple of Examples
Compare the Czech Republic and Uganda, for example. The Czech Republic has the highest number of atheists in the world at 76%. Uganda is on the opposite end, just 1% atheist. And yet the murder rate in Uganda is 63 times higher than in the Czech Republic. The crime rate is two times higher. Rape is 48% higher.
Or consider Japan (57% atheist) and South Africa (15% atheist). Since South Africa is far more religious with far more professing Christians, one concludes that the morals must be much higher in South Africa. But as with the Czech Republic and Uganda, the opposite is true. In South Africa, rape is 132 times higher than in Japan. Crime is 7 times higher. Drugs are 43 times higher. Though the number of police is 72% higher than in Japan, the murder rate is 32 times higher in South Africa.
Practical Atheists in Africa
Our conclusion is that while confessing atheists are few in Africa, practical atheists are many.
A practical atheist says with his lips that he believes in God but his actions deny his existence. God doesn’t guide his decisions about marriage, money, clothing, school, friends, and education. He lives as if there is no God. Romans 1:21 describes the practical atheist. “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks.”
Stephen Charnock, the great Puritan pastor and author of The Existence and Attributes of God argues that all sin is a result of practical atheism. When we sin, we act as though God doesn’t exist. God is holy but at the moment we sin, we don’t really believe a holy God exists. God is all-satisfying, but when we indulge in lust, we don’t really believe that.
Jesus said that the only way we can really know if a person (or a country) is Christian is by their fruit. He says in Matthew 7:17-20:
“So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”
If character—not claims—are the benchmark for Christianity, how does Africa stack up?
We thank God for the marvellous work He is doing in Africa. The gospel is going forth, churches are being planted and souls are being won. But the proof is in the pudding. The character of African nations often does not line up with their profession. Often, their fruit is far more rotten than that of most irreligious countries.
If a nation claims Christ but acts like the devil, that nation is not Christian, no matter how many claim Christianity.
And depending on how the question is phrased, African’s don’t even claim to believe in Jesus.
When I ask: How do you know you are Christian? or forms of that question which get at the heart of what a person believes, I rarely hear anything about Christ. Even once I give hints such as, “What did you forget?”, I have not once had someone speak of Jesus.
that christians themselves can’t agree on what a “christian” is, shows the problem with this question. The sects of christianity hate each other and are quite sure each other are wrong. That’s why they are constantly trying to convert christians of one type to their version.
Unsurprisngly, not a single one of these self-professed christains can do what their jesus promise per the bible, so they all seem to be nothing but frauds.