Is athiesm an western practice?

[Lilbit]

Were there any athiest in ancient Africa before the European came?

[mwanaafrika]

No doubt there was atheist in ancient Afrika. Thanx to my grandies for teaching me the true history of our mighty race and ancestors. May there souls rest in peace.
Afrikans have been this religious since the whites and Arabs started using religion to enslave and justify slavery. Before that there was a normal UNBRAIN WASHED people in civilised societies (with education systems, Laws, both appointed and elected rulers).
These civilised societues had both religious and unreligious/Atheist peolpe just like today. As a matter of fact it would even be better if we had more atheist than religious people in Afrika today. It would make a great difference, reduce this self inflicted poverty. Most of all reduce the focus on the pie up in the sky, mekka e.t.c. and thus concentrate on the development of our countries and thus our mighty race.

SO ATHEISM AINT NEW, NEITHER IS IT A WESTERN PRACTICE BUT A COMMON PRACTICE THAT HAS EXISTED SINCE THE EXISTENCE OF MAN KIND.


keep it Afrikan.

 BAFRIKA, IFWE FWEBANTU BENE BENE, BONSE ABA ABASHALA BAKUPANGA.

keep it Afrikan.

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Mwanaafrika.

[gman]

I doubt if there were "atheists" as such in ancient Africa, but we'd need to invent a time machine to really find out. (Ayinde and others might disagree with me on that one... but I personally don't know of any way to directly verify what was going on thousands of years ago.)
I don't think "atheists" are necessarily bad people though. Also I think a lot of "atheists" aren't really "atheists" as such, they're people who have a problem with the ridiculousness of fundamentalist religious concepts, and would rather rely on their senses and brains than on blind faith for answers about life. I almost married an "atheist", dated her for four years. (She was raised in a commie household, so she's one of the few Black people who was actually RAISED as an "atheist".) But she was still always fascinated by the spiritual side of things, and last time I talked to her she is into Akan spirituality. So I think nuff times "atheists" are really people who think that christianity, islam etc. as they understand them, are BS. Since other versions of spirituality tend to be little known about, "atheism" might be the first box they think to put themselves in.

[mwanaafrika]

I doubt if there were "atheists" as such in ancient Africa, but we'd need to invent a time machine to really find out. (Ayinde and others might disagree with me on that one... but I personally don't know of any way to directly verify what was going on thousands of years ago.)

I definately disagree with u man.
Atheists existed in ancient Afrika as much as they do now. I do not have to verify that but i can assure you that they did exist as i know it from the best & true source of our history; ACCOUNTS OF THE WAY OF LIFE OF OUR PEOPLE FROM FAMILY ELDERS. In ancient Afrikan history, religion was more personal or family based, with hardly no congregations, just a council of priests permited & supported by the ruler and his/her council of village elders or senators, in a chiefdom/kingdom of an ethnic group.
It's a pity that about half of our history has been deleted, misinterprated and tempered with by the enemy, in the last 500 years. It's that bad that we can not even satifactorily prove issues like this as there is no written record as it was never written down but passed on from generation to generation.
Now just imagine the effect of that system being suddenly corrupted by the enemy, think of it in terms of  a computer being suddenly corrupted by a new deadly virus. Well, our Afro race is the main-frame computer, we the Afro men & women are the programms/software on it thru many computers and the virus is still out there changing like a camereon everyday. 

Keep it Afrikan.


Mwanaafrika.


Aluta Kontinua !

[gman]

Greetings Iyah
Alright... I wonder if it is the definition of "atheism" that is the source of the disagreement here? I tend to think of atheists as people who TOTALLY and EMPHATICALLY deny ALL the "spiritual" or "supernatural" aspects of existence, who say that there is nothing but mechanistic cause and effect, everything is "scientific", and who say that there is DEFINITELY NO SUCH THING AS 'HIGHER' SPIRITUAL FORCES; who state that "THERE IS DEFINITELY NOTHING REMOTELY RESEMBLING GOD", as emphatically as fundamentalist Xtians state "THERE IS DEFINITELY A GOD AND HIS NAME IS JEHOVAH AND HE HAS A SON NAMED JESUS WHO DIED FOR YOUR SINS".
So I guess I see atheism and fundamentalism as two opposite extremes. To judge from the extent to which I see SOME form of spirituality ingrained in the culture of the vast majority of Black African (diasporan or continental) people who I'VE come across, I tend to doubt whether the extreme of atheism was a significant part of traditional African cultures. Then again I could be wrong - after all you have the benefit of  hearing the oral testimonies  that have been passed down, I don't (family stories peter out somewhere in the nineteenth century; I have no idea what area or ethnic group my African ancestors come from, other than it was likely somewhere in West or Central Africa (a big area).
I wonder if you're more talking about SKEPTICS rather than "atheists"? I do think that in every culture there have been people who didn't fully "buy in" to some of the stuff that many members of the culture "bought". Like, someone who knew that the stories of spiritual beings etc. being passed down were not necessarily entirely literally true, although other members of that culture might believe they were. Independent thinkers who questioned what was going on around them and sought the evidence of their own eyes, ears and noses rather than handed-down doctrine: I do think such people have always existed across all or most cultures. But I would call them skeptics rather than atheists; people who might question some of the handed-down traditions about god or the gods or whatnot. I don't know if there were people who TOTALLY EMPHATICALLY CATEGORICALLY DENIED THE EXISTENCE OF ANY KIND OF 'SPIRITUAL FORCES' WHATSOEVER; which is how I would define atheism.
Then again, I could be wrong.
More thoughts on this Mwanaafrika?

[afrikanrebel06]

I doubt if there were "atheists" as such in ancient Africa, but we'd need to invent a time machine to really find out. (Ayinde and others might disagree with me on that one... but I personally don't know of any way to directly verify what was going on thousands of years ago.)

I definately disagree with u man.
Atheists existed in ancient Afrika as much as they do now. I do not have to verify that but i can assure you that they did exist as i know it from the best & true source of our history; ACCOUNTS OF THE WAY OF LIFE OF OUR PEOPLE FROM FAMILY ELDERS. In ancient Afrikan history, religion was more personal or family based, with hardly no congregations, just a council of priests permited & supported by the ruler and his/her council of village elders or senators, in a chiefdom/kingdom of an ethnic group.
It's a pity that about half of our history has been deleted, misinterprated and tempered with by the enemy, in the last 500 years. It's that bad that we can not even satifactorily prove issues like this as there is no written record as it was never written down but passed on from generation to generation.
Now just imagine the effect of that system being suddenly corrupted by the enemy, think of it in terms of  a computer being suddenly corrupted by a new deadly virus. Well, our Afro race is the main-frame computer, we the Afro men & women are the programms/software on it thru many computers and the virus is still out there changing like a camereon everyday. 

Keep it Afrikan.


Mwanaafrika.


Aluta Kontinua !


greetings mwaanaafrika! kala/ba muntu!

well,we are the hue manis,right, this isa good thread,what did the hue manis do, 8.6million years ago? you know

[chiefblackbear]

Hotep


Nobody can ever give proof of an African society within the motherland displaying any sort of atheism. If anyone can, then the culture they are speaking of has nothing to do with BANTUS. With the word Muntu meaning creator and the plural word Bantu meaning creators the Bantus are a people who never left spirituality out of politics, science or any other social matters. Circumcision is a spiritual practice brought to the South of Africa by the Bantu tribe during their migration from North Africa to Zimbabwe. Circumcision is the right of passage into initiation and a monotheist or a priest hood society. Every decisions made in this monotheist society where never made without consulting the deities.   

[c0cc0]

Not necessarily... if you don't believe in God, you don't believe in God. When I went through the phase of not believing in a higher source, I didn't know it was called 'atheism'. I just didn't believe in anything.