Igbo Religion

The Growth When It Falls Before the Europeans conquered Nigeria, Igbo society was primitive. A big part of that was the lack of a structured community. Prior to the dispersion of Christianity, many Igbo people worshipped numerous gods for various commodities and activities. As of today, some Igbo people still worship multiple gods, while others practiced Christianity as it became for widespread throughout the 20th century. Religion played a pivotal role in Igbo society. They had multiple gods to look up to. In accordance to igboguide.org, it states that, “ Igboland’s traditional religion is based on the belief that there is one creator, God, also called Chineke or Chukwu. The creator can be approached through numerous other deities and spirits

They are the one who decide the fate of the newly departed and the newly born. New World Encyclopedia explains,”...minor deities have the capacity to perform good or evil depending on the circumstances. They punish social offenses and those who unwittingly infringe upon the privileges of the gods.”2 Many Igbo people hardly questioned the decisions of the gods no matter how hard or complicated the decision may be because they know the consequences of interfering during the process. As life progresses, many obstacles tests a person’s sense of life. In the book the author writes, “A man’s life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.” (121). Moreover, this represents that life is predetermined from birth to

That all came to a close when Christianity became more widespread and socially accepted by the Igbo people. According to the website they state, “The early work of Christian missions and the emergency church confronted the challenges posed by some very powerful social factors...which have contributed in shaping and defining the nature of the Nigerian Church”3 As a result of the spread of Christianity, the once polytheistic nature of Nigeria became monotheistic causing many Igbo people to convert and adapt. The missionaries started to building more churches to teach the word of the Lord, and they built schools to teach the Igbo people to read, speak, and write the missionaries’ native tongue. Chinua Achebe writes, “...Mr.Brown learned a good deal about the religion of the clan...so he built a school...begging people to send their children to his school...he argued and prophesied that the leaders of the land in the future would be men and women who had learned to read and write.”(181). This was a big deal for the Igbo people because it would make communication easier. As for Nigeria as a whole, it transformed it into a more sophisticated