Religion In Cameroon

Cameroon is predominantly made up of two Universal religions:

Christianity and Islam. The constitution allows the freedom of conscience
and religious worship making Cameroon a religion-tolerant country.
Christianity is the biggest group of followers followed by Islam and then a
small percentage of the nation still has an African folk religion with many of
them accepting parts of Christianity and Islam. Muslims believe that Islam
was revealed over 1400 years ago in Mecca, Arabia. Christians believe
Christianity began in Jerusalem when Jesus Christ began teaching (Sawe).

Cameroons religions do not necessarily affect the culture as much as

you would think. People are pretty tolerant towards the other religions and
accepting others beliefs. Social development was effected by colonialism
when Christian missionaries came from different colonizers like the English.
The missionaries arrived in Cameroon during the early nineteenth century
during which they established missions, schools, health and other facilities to
benefit local communities. The religion was introduced by the Fulani as they
migrated from Nigeria and Mali. The Fulani used force to convert the local
people to Islam leading to conflicts with the local people. The Muslims
organized themselves into groups called lamidats which were headed by a
very powerful leader called lamido. Today Muslims belong to the Qadriya
brotherhood. There are some Quranic schools established in the country
(Cameroon).

The sacred places for Christianity are Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Sephoria,

The River Jordan and Syria. The sacred places for Islam are Mecca, Kaaba, Al-
Aqsa Mosque. For Muslims, a pilgrimage to Mecca is a source of honor.
Among animists, holy places often include sacred trees or groves, unusual
rock formations, and the burial places of ancestors. There are no necessarily
sacred places in Cameroon for these religions with the exceptions of a few
Mosques and Cathedrals.

Government wise as mentioned before the constitution allows the

freedom of conscience and religious worship making Cameroon a religion-
tolerant country”. However, for a religious group (apart from African
traditional religions) to be legally functional, it has to be registered by the
state after meeting the basic requirements such a having a considerable
congregation. Other than that religion and government is separate (Sawe).

While researching religion in Cameroon I was very surprised with

what I found. I did not imagine Christianity was the main religion but the
majority of the country is. While Islam was forced on many people in the
North, religion has maintained peaceful as of recent times with many
coexisting in peace. The government has done a good job staying out of
religion and letting people be. The people of Cameroon have many different
 beliefs and love to worship and I believe it is another beautiful thing that
many will enjoy in Cameroon.

Cites

Sawe, B. (2017). Religious Beliefs In Cameroon. Retrieved February 28, 2018, from
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/religious-beliefs-in-cameroon.html

Religious Beliefs and Spirituality in Cameroon. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2018, from
http://www.studycountry.com/guide/CM-religion.htm

Cameroon. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2018, from http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-

Co/Cameroon.html