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In the world, people find many ways to express themselves. Some people may call it spirituality, others religion. While they have similar definitions, they are different in the way you practice them. In the end they are all systemic practices. A lot of people in America are close minded when it comes to this topic because of the way society is structured.
People need to understand and accept the differences for educational reasons and because it puts your mind in a place where there is less judgement and more acceptance of who everyone is and what they choose to believe. Spirituality is a universal human experience with room for many perspectives. With this being said a person can have spirituality within religion but this does not mean that you need religion to be spiritual. Spirituality simply includes a sense of connection to something bigger than us. Meanwhile religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
The three types of religious systems are: Animism, Polytheism and Monotheism. Animism is the belief that all things, including plants, animals, and inanimate objects, have a soul or spirit. It is a belief system that sees the world and the universe as fundamentally alive and interconnected. Some examples of animism are the Shinto Japanese religion, Inuit religion, and Australian Aboriginal religions. Polytheism includes any religious system that involves multiple gods. Often, each god is responsible for a different concept, element, or phenomenon. Some examples are the ancient Greek religion, and the Akan religion. Monotheism is any religious belief system that involves only one God. Monotheistic religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism dominate the world today.
I am homeschooled and grew up in an African centered community that practices under the Akan religion The Akan spiritual system or religion is a traditional practice originally from the Akan people of Ghana. Being a polytheistic religion there are many different gods such as Onyame, Onyankapon, and Odomankoma. These three are a part of the abosum which is equivalent to God in the Christian religion, but it is quite different. After the abosum there are deities, motia, then humans.
The only other exposure to religion (Christianity) that I had was from my family who did not practice the Akan spiritual system and my dance studio. I would soon come to find out that my teammates mindset was very different from mine.
I remember being nine years old at dance practice and one of my friends whispered in my ear “There’s someone in my school and she’s not Christian.” I did not really think it was that big of a deal, so I said, “I’m not Christian” and my friend just looked at me weirdly and said, “What are you then?” Slightly set back at her tone I told her, and she just said, “Oh well you’re probably going to hell.” I never really felt like I belonged with them because I did not understand some topics and when my friend said this it just made me confused and insecure about what you grew up practicing. This sometimes happens when people grow up knowing one way to practice religion and not being able to explore diverse ways of living.
Over time I learned to just keep quiet when the topic came up and I wanted to be Christian for a very long time because of the insecurities that I had. By the time I was 11 years old I learnt to just not talk about being Akan because I was so embarrassed it to the point where I grew a strong dislike for it. I just felt like I was too different than everyone else and that I didn’t get as much freedom as my friends. Recently when I turned 12, I started talking to my peers and friends that I grew up with that were also Akan and we would just relate to having African centered parents and experiencing trouble explaining to people what our community was about and what we practiced. Sometimes we would even sing the songs we grew up learning just for fun and that helped me feel so much better.
Very recently on October 2021 I made a new friend who grew up Muslim but was in the same community as me. One night we were on the phone talking about religion and he mentioned the concept of spirituality. At first, I was a little confused but the deeper we went into the conversation the more it resonated with me. I remember at the beginning of the conversation he said, “I’m not religious I’m spiritual.” I do not know why but the idea of not being bound to one religion and being able to express who I am without having one set of rules or ideas stuck with me.
The next morning, I talked to my brother and older cousin about it because they are like role models to me, and I just wanted to get their input. I asked them about their take on religion and my cousin told me that he was atheist while my brother explained how he was religious but only to a certain point. He said, “While I do believe in the Akan religion, I also think that there is more than one way to express spirituality.” This told me that people can either strictly believe in one religion and explore other religions and spiritual practices. There is really no box to put people in unless they make that “box”. Even my cousin said that he did not 100% believe that the afterlife was eternal darkness. That conversation made me so much more open minded. And led me to ask people for their different opinions and do research of my own.
Earlier in my life this topic would have made me insecure and confused. But now that I have grown in my knowledge of spirituality and religion it feels very freeing. It has helped me to open a part of myself that I could not before. I no longer feel any type of way after getting asked if I am Christian or not because no matter what the outcome a person cannot change another person when they already know themselves.
That’s why people around the world should know a lot more about each other’s religions and spiritual practices. Otherwise, the world cannot achieve true peace or understanding that not everyone is or needs to be the same. Opening and learning is good, and it helps to unlock beautiful things in your life. I’m comfortable with my spirituality and because of that I am comfortable with other people expressing theirs.
The Watoto Speak! 