Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa

In 1900, three-quarters of Africans identified themselves as members of a traditional African folk religion. Christianity and Islam were marginal faiths. Today, however, about 90 percent of Africans say they are either Christian or Muslim, according to this report published by Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

The Pew-Templeton survey of 19 sub-Saharan African nations provides an in-depth portrait of the continent's religious trajectory. “There is no God-forsaking place in Africa,” says Luis Lugo, the Pew Forum’s director, who notes that Africa is, by far, the most religious continent. Roughly 75 percent of respondents said that religion is “very important” in their lives. Even the least religiously observant African nation, Botswana, reports a higher degree of religious engagement than the most religious industrialized country, the United States.
 
Still, there is plenty of tension between the two faiths, particularly along the fault line where the heavily Muslim north meets the heavily Christian south. In some of these nations, more than a third of Christians say that they face hostility from many or most Muslims in their country. And in 17 of the 19 countries, 40 percent or more of the population voiced concern over religious extremism.