Compare the spread of Christianity to the spread of Islam in Africa south of the Sahara - Essay Example

Compare the spread of Christianity to the spread of Islam in Africa south of the SaharaThe Muslim community has grown in south Africa because the religion requires that emirs, put in power by British forces, open their doors to help anyone in need. Religion has become a financial necessity in an area like Nigeria where 60 million youth are jobless. South Africans tend to vote along religious lines. Muslims will vote for a politician who shares their religious belief and who will expect that those in power should open the door to those in need.

The Pentecostal Christianity spreading in South Africa has been labeled the “religion of prosperity,” promising financial success by virtue of becoming a Christian—without having to hike to the nearest emir and beg for one’s cause.The Muslim community held a different power over non-Muslims, who were also non-Christians, in more remote regions. The Muslim community traditionally forced them into slavery. The alternative was to join up with one religion or the other. For some, Christianity appeared less oppressive than becoming Muslim.

Pentecostalism represents most of the Christian conversion because it is spirit-based and their ecstatic form of worship is easily embraced by South Africans. Initially, jihad in southern Africa took the form of infighting between Muslim communities, at issue over whose religion was the purer. Likewise, the Pentecostal churches frequently split and erect new churches. As new churches crop up, it appears that Christianity is spreading and eradicating the Muslim community. This creates fear, and reprisal, between Muslims and Christians over an illusion.

Griswold, Eliza. The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line between Christianity and Islam. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. Print.