Religion and Interest in Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa

Condemned and Condoned: Polygynous Marriage in Christian Africa

“…As far as admitting a polygynous man to church, it was the Catholic Church, with its long‐standing, even if generally flaccid, opposition to polygyny—and also, importantly, with a very low rate of in‐conversion (Agadjanian, )—that stood out. Following the perspective of the congregation's organizational vitality and linking it to the importance of church extralocal connections for church societal engagement (e.g., Manglos & Weinreb, ), I conjecture that local Catholic congregations' financial security may be cushioned by transfers from the Church's national and even global networks. Yet even among Catholic congregation leaders, fully three quarters would allow a polygynous man to become a member of the church, a share that was only slightly lower than in other denominations (Section B of Table ).…”

Practices of Citizenship in East Africa

“…This distinction is based on the argument that negotiations over shared issues in religion do not comprise democratic deliberation, nor are they based on ideas of equal rights; rather, they are dictated by divine doctrine, dogmas and authoritarian rules within hierarchical social systems (Habermas 2006;Sapir & Statman 2012;Elshtain 2009). However, religion is a significant public space in Africa in which ideals pertaining to the "good citizen" are cultivated and citizens are mobilized to undertake practical initiatives for contributing to the common good, while activeness in religious groups increases participants' civic consciousness in general Bompani & Frahm-Arp 2010;Englund 2011;Jones 2012;Manglos & Weinreb 2013). As a result of this somewhat artificial distinction between citizenship and religion, the practical designs of education for active citizenship and human rights often encounter what Ahmed (2012, 728) calls a "liberal dilemma", which entails the tendency to presuppose a certain kind of individual autonomy that rests on Western "truths considered to be self-evident and universal".…”

“A good believer is a good citizen”

“…This distinction is based on the argument that negotiations over shared issues in religion do not comprise democratic deliberation, nor are they based on ideas of equal rights; rather, they are dictated by divine doctrine, dogmas and authoritarian rules within hierarchical social systems (Habermas 2006;Sapir & Statman 2012;Elshtain 2009). However, religion is a significant public space in Africa in which ideals pertaining to the "good citizen" are cultivated and citizens are mobilized to undertake practical initiatives for contributing to the common good, while activeness in religious groups increases participants' civic consciousness in general (Bompani & Valois 2017;Bompani & Frahm-Arp 2010;Englund 2011;Jones 2012;Manglos & Weinreb 2013). As a result of this somewhat artificial distinction between citizenship and religion, the practical designs of education for active citizenship and human rights often encounter what Ahmed (2012, 728) calls a "liberal dilemma", which entails the tendency to presuppose a certain kind of individual autonomy that rests on Western "truths considered to be self-evident and universal".…”