Traditionalists, Muslims, and Christians in Africa: Interreligiou ...

A careful look at the teachings of different religions reveals that there are many values they share in common (35). In order to produce a better understanding of and regard for other religions, he proposed that all practitioners ‘must be taught the elements of their own religion as well as those of other faiths in their community’ (36).

In the essay ‘How to Improve the Relationship Between Islam, Christianity and Traditional African Religion’ (2005, 37–38), Abimbola argued that, if they were serious about religious, ethnic, and cultural harmony and peace, it was essential ‘for the leadership of Islam and Christianity in Africa to accept the validity of Traditional African Religion’ (37). In his view, all the faiths of the world are valid. He pleaded with Christians and Muslims to put into practice the tolerance and respect they preach by tolerating and respecting other religious faiths.

Ajayi delivered a paper on ‘Promoting Religious Tolerance and Co-Operation in the West African Region: The Example of Religious Plurality and Tolerance Among the Yoruba of South-Western Nigeria’ (2005, 43–47). The paper examines the example of peaceful coexistence among Traditionalists, Christians, and Muslims in Yoruba land. He attributed the interreligious tolerance and cooperation in Yoruba land to the tolerance inherited from ATR, ‘whose accommodation and tolerance paved the way for Islam and Christianity’ (44). There is no place where ‘tolerance and peaceful coexistence is exhibited more than in the accommodation and mutual coexistence of Traditional Religion, Islam and Christianity in Yoruba land’ (45).

Sociohistory of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is located in West Africa. It is bounded on the northwest and northeast by the Republic of Guinea, on the south by Liberia, and on the west and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. It occupies a total area 27,925 square miles and is fairly circular in shape; the distance from north to south is 210 miles, and from west to east is approximately 204 miles (Alie 1990, 1). There are two main seasons in the country: the dry, from mid-November to April, and the wet, from May to early November.