A viral video circulating online has triggered an uncomfortable conversation about religion, culture and the way Africans have been taught to view their own traditional heritage.

The video has generated questions among viewers because of a religious ritual involving what appears to be a human skull. While different Christian traditions may have different theological explanations for the use of sacred objects, the larger issue raised by the discussion goes beyond the particular video.

It forces Africa to confront a difficult question:

Why are practices associated with foreign religions sometimes approached with theological explanation and cultural understanding, while African traditional practices are frequently condemned before anyone asks what they mean?

That question deserves serious examination.

When African Traditions Are Judged Before They Are Understood

Imagine an African traditional priest appearing publicly in traditional regalia while holding a human skull as part of a ritual.

Before the priest explains its symbolism, history or spiritual significance, many Nigerians would probably immediately describe the practice as occultism, idolatry, witchcraft or something demonic.

The reaction would likely be immediate.

But when a similar object appears within another religious tradition, some people may immediately begin explaining that it is symbolic, connected to religious history, represents remembrance, or forms part of a theological practice.

That difference in interpretation raises an important issue.

Are we applying the same intellectual standard to every religion?

If symbolism matters when interpreting the practices of one religious tradition, then symbolism should also matter when studying African traditional religions.

If historical context matters for understanding foreign religious customs, then African customs deserve historical context too.

The Problem With Calling Everything African “Demonic”

For generations, many Africans have grown up hearing descriptions of traditional African religious practices as inherently evil.

Traditional shrines were labelled demonic.

Traditional priests were frequently described as occultists.

Traditional medicines were sometimes dismissed entirely as witchcraft.

Traditional symbols were treated as evidence of idolatry.

And indigenous spiritual practices were often presented as proof that Africa was living in darkness before the arrival of Christianity and Islam.

But history is more complicated than that.

African societies had systems of governance, medicine, morality, justice, spirituality, art, philosophy and community organisation long before the arrival of Christianity and Islam.

That does not mean every traditional practice was harmless or that every ancestral custom should automatically be defended.

Some practices deserve criticism.

Some were harmful.

Some may conflict with modern human-rights standards.

But rejecting an entire civilisation's spiritual heritage without understanding it is not scholarship.

Africa Should Be Able to Criticise and Understand Its Own Past

There is an important distinction between understanding a tradition and accepting every part of it.

Africa can study traditional religions without becoming practitioners of those religions.

A Nigerian can learn what an ancestral symbol meant without worshipping it.

A historian can document an African ritual without endorsing it.

A Christian or Muslim can understand indigenous spirituality without abandoning their faith.

That is what intellectual maturity looks like.

The goal should not be to replace Christianity or Islam with traditional African religion.

The goal should be to stop pretending that African history began when foreign religions arrived.

Veneration, Worship and Interpretation

The debate also highlights how religious communities interpret similar practices differently.

Within Catholic Christianity, for example, the distinction between veneration and worship is important to Catholic theology. Catholics maintain that veneration given to saints is fundamentally different from the worship owed to God.

Other Christian traditions reject or strongly criticise such practices and may regard certain forms of religious imagery or devotion as idolatrous.

That disagreement itself demonstrates something important:

Religious practices cannot always be understood simply by looking at an object from the outside.

The meaning assigned to an object depends on the beliefs, history and theology surrounding its use.

The same principle should be applied when studying African traditions.

We Should Stop Measuring Africa With a Foreign Ruler

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing Africa is the tendency to view indigenous culture through standards that were created elsewhere.

A foreign religious object can become a “sacred symbol.”

An African object becomes a “fetish.”

A foreign ritual becomes “ancient spiritual heritage.”

An African ritual becomes “paganism.”

A foreign religious tradition becomes something to study.

An African tradition becomes something to destroy.

That double standard deserves to be challenged.

But challenging it does not require Africans to reject Christianity or Islam.

Millions of Africans sincerely practise those religions and have every right to do so.

The conversation should instead be about choice, knowledge and intellectual freedom.

Africans should be able to embrace Christianity, Islam, traditional African spirituality, secularism or other beliefs without being taught that their ancestors were automatically evil simply because they did not follow the religions that later became dominant.

Our Ancestors Were Human Beings, Not Perfect Saints

There is another important point.

Defending African heritage does not mean turning African ancestors into perfect beings.

They were human beings.

They made mistakes.

They developed societies that contained both admirable traditions and practices that should be questioned.

The same standard should apply to every civilisation.

We can celebrate what was good, criticise what was harmful and preserve what deserves preservation.

That is far healthier than either blindly glorifying the past or completely demonising it.

Africa Needs Curiosity, Not Cultural Shame

The internet has made it increasingly difficult for people to remain unaware of how different cultures practise religion.

Videos, historical documents, academic research and conversations across borders are allowing younger Africans to ask questions previous generations may have been discouraged from asking.

That questioning should not automatically be treated as rebellion against religion.

Sometimes, asking questions is simply an attempt to understand who we are.

Africa does not need to abandon Christianity or Islam.

It does not need to return blindly to every traditional practice either.

What Africa needs is the freedom to study its own history without shame, question inherited narratives without fear and evaluate every tradition using the same intellectual standards.

Because if we demand context when interpreting someone else's sacred tradition, we should be willing to provide context when examining our own.

The question is not whether every African traditional practice was good.

The question is whether Africa should continue teaching its children that everything their ancestors believed was evil before they have even been given the opportunity to understand it.

Perhaps it is time to learn first.

Then judge.

And above all, think for ourselves.

Southern Report sees this conversation as an opportunity to examine African history, religious interpretation and cultural identity with greater openness without insulting Christians, Muslims or traditional believers, and without reducing any entire religious community to the actions of extremists or the practices of a particular group.