‘That is not religion, that is the gods’: Ways of conceiving religious practices in rural Ghana

Abstract

The increasing interest within development studies in religion is largely based on notions of 'faith communities' and 'belief systems': that peopleespecially 'religious' people -operate within discrete and coherent systems of belief. An emphasis on belief, however, is not universal, either across religions or across cultures. This paper draws on ethnographic data from a study of churches in rural Ghana to explore whether such frameworks are appropriate for understanding religious practices. Using insights from medical anthropology, it suggests that in this context the basis of 'religious' engagement is not belief as a conscious decision to adhere to a recognisably disputable notion. Rather, theoretical knowledge is preceded by practice, and continuity between the physical and the spiritual means that powers such as spirits are not 'believed in' (or disbelieved) but accepted as indisputable facts. Although people may identify with a particular religion such as Christianity, they live in a landscape of different 'religious' and 'non-religious' powers, with which they engage largely on a pragmatic level, entailing eclecticism, multiplicity and fluidity rather than full adherence to one discrete belief system. Thus, not only are assumed boundaries between religious groups and cosmologies challenged; but categories and oppositions used by development theoreticians and practitioners such as 'religious/secular' are also called into question.

The life a person lives: religion, well-being and development in India

“…However, as Graveling (2010) found in rural Ghana, we also found considerable fluidity in religious identification and influences. As is well recognised in the anthropology literature, when it comes to illness it is common for people to visit healers from religious traditions other than their own.…”

“…Some of these reflect the constructions of religion that are dominant in the development literature: as a set of beliefs and practices which is accepted and followed by a discrete group of people linked by their affiliation to a religious body (Graveling 2010). Thus people identified themselves with a particular community identity (Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, or Christian); discussed specific practices such as worship or charitable giving, or certain beliefs and values; and reflected on particular texts or bodies of teaching.…”

“…Two aspects are considered. First, following Graveling (2010), we question the way that religion -or 'faith' -is understood in predominantly organisational terms. Like Graveling, we find that 'religious behaviour tends to be more eclectic and fluid' than the literature would lead us to expect (Graveling 2010: 34).…”

On Christianity and ethics: Rupture as ethical practice in Ghanaian Pentecostalism

“…His Pentecostalism was also a “practical religion, this‐worldly and minimally Salvationist” (Werbner :186; see also Cannell :144–145). While the church leaders situate “Christianity at an end‐point of moral trajectories,” Kofi's perspective provides ethical content to the ways human and spiritual others do both good and harm to the individual (Klaits :145; see also Graveling ). Placing too much emphasis on discourses of rupture can overdetermine the boundaries between selves and others (Daswani ; Klaits ; Werbner ).…”