Chadian Religion

Religious mask

People in the Lake Chad region tell the story of Loa and Sou, who were not natural beings, and their creation of the world.  Loa takes residence in the sky and Sou is enveloped by the earth.  Sou has many exploits, such as capturing the star women with the aid of a talking stump.  More stories explain how the features of the world came to be, often by the use of animal figures - a monkey keeps watch over the mother of humanity, a dog is granted division of the world so he could have a place to defecate, a bird attempts to kill all the people, and a warthog and monkey foil his murderous plans. [1] 

As Islam entered the Chadian area, the stories began to link themselves with Islamic traditions.  For instance, a city founded by the Sou people, Goulfeil, was said to be fortified by the ritual protection of a copy of the Koran.  Due to a break in those traditional rites, the city was conquered by Muslims.  [2] Perhaps similarly, Christian motifs enter the stories as well. One people group tells a story of a new king ordering the deaths of the newborn male children of his predecessors.  One of the wives conceals her son and later sends him to his uncle in a different region to keep him alive.  He later returns with an army to retake the throne. [3] Does this echo the Judeo-Christian story of Moses?

Church in N'djamena

Historians have pieced together their own version of Chadian religious history, mainly centering around Islam and Christianity.  Islam was the first of the two to reach the Chadians, probably spreading from the east in the 14th century. [4] Christianity came with the colonizing Europeans, being formerly introduced by the American Baptists in 1920.  By 1980, it is estimated that there were 80,000 Christians in southern Chad.  Roman Catholics began coming in 1929, but did not reach any sort of popularity until the 1940's.  It is speculated that Catholicism's slow growth was related to its encouragement of celibacy, which directly opposed the traditional polygamy. [5] 

Traditional African Religion, a form of animism, has continued to this day.  Ceremonies involve drum rhythms and dances, with specific practices and rituals producing trances where one finds a purity of thought, knowledge, and foresight.  Their main gods are worshiped through the meeting of lesser gods and the spirits of ancestors. [6] 

Children copying verses of the Koran

Today, like most of Africa, Chad is a predominately Muslim country.  It is estimated that half of Chad's population is Muslim and one-third is Christian.  The remaining Chadians consider themselves followers of traditional religions related to animism or as having no religion at all. [7] Most Muslims live in northern and eastern Chad while most Christians and animists are found in the south. [8] However, what forms of Christianity and Islam exist are not the recognizable conventional forms.  Chadians mixed their new faiths with the traditions of their old faiths, producing an odd mixture with animism.  For example, the Pew Research Center surveyed the area from 2008-2009 and estimated that, of the Muslim population, 95% believe in God and Muhammad.  However, they also found that 47% of these Muslims believed in sorcery and witchcraft, 50% believed in the evil eye, and 68% used religious healers.  Even more curious, 55% of Muslim Chadians believe that there is only one interpretation of Islam. [9]


Of the Christian sects, most Chadians are Roman Catholic.  Jehovah's Witnesses are also present, having arrived in 1960. [10]

Church in Goundi

For about the last decade, there has been a stable balance between Muslims and Christians in the country.  The government maintains free practice of religion, but tension remains between the two religions as well as between fundamentalist and moderate Muslims.  Both Islamic and Christian holidays are celebrated as public holidays.  There is evidence that Muslim conversion is increasing in areas that had been Christian or animist.  The government also funds Hajj, which is the pilgrimage to Mecca, for government officials.  There are reports that Arab donors from the Middle East are funding Islamic schools in Chad, which are popular choices due to the inferiority of government education.  Missionaries and religious groups, foreign and local, must register with the Ministry of the Interior's Department of Religious Affairs, which have taken place without discrimination since 2004. [11]


[1] African Myths of Origin, Stephen Paterson Belcher, Print.  Section 57.
[2] African Myths of Origin, Stephen Paterson Belcher, Print.  Section 57.
[3] African Myths of Origin, Stephen Paterson Belcher, Print.  Sections 57.
[4] "Islam in Chad", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Chad
[5] "Christianity in Chad", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Chad
[6] "Traditional African Religion", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_African_religion#Classification_and_statistics
[7] "Chad - International Religious Freedom Report 2006", http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2006/71293.htm
[8] "Chad: Religion", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad#Religion
[9] "The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity", http://www.pewforum.org/files/2012/08/the-worlds-muslims-full-report.pdf
[10] "Chad - International Religious Freedom Report 2006", http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2006/71293.htm
[11] "Chad - International Religious Freedom Report 2006", http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2006/71293.htm