Atheism in Ethiopia
By Leo Igwee / Saturday, 18 Jun 2016 05:12PM
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center has revealed that Ethiopia is the world’s most religious nation. According to this survey, nine-eight percent of Ethiopians thinks that religion is the most important part of their life. This development should not surprise anyone because Christianity and Islam are the dominant faiths in Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity accounts for most of the Christian population.
Though belief in God is pervasive, atheists, agnostics or freethinkers exist in Ethiopia and they are beginning to organize under different umbrella groups. Some of the atheist groups are visible online and they have face book pages, with hundreds and thousands of members, where they express themselves and socialize with people of like minds.
Recently I corresponded with two Ethiopian atheists, Yohannes and Girum, and they gave insights into the challenges and prospects of atheism in their country. Yohannes is an active member of one of the online groups. He told me that his becoming an atheist was a gradual process:
“It was rather an evolution over a couple of years. I didn’t identify as an atheist at first, nor did I know what I was becoming, lacking belief in gods, was called atheism. The main drive for my unbelief was the bible itself. I found it to be misogynist, racist, homophobic and backward”.
http://www.maravipost.com/2016/06/18/atheism-in-ethiopia/
https://www.facebook.com/Ethiopian-Atheists-%E1%8A%90%E1%8D%83-%E1%88%85%E1%8B%9D%E1%89%A5-114099588675839/?fref=ts
Sounds familiar.
