We moved to Ghana when I was almost seven years old. Though I was young, the extent to which casual conversations used a language scattered with biblical clichés was still apparent to me. The universal greeting "How're you doing" frequently followed up with a courteous "By God's grace I'm fine" were adopted from the languages and religions of the descendants of Portuguese traders and Christian missionaries who inhabited southern Ghana.

Inspired by the experiences I had growing up in a developing African country like Ghana, I wrestled with the ideology of the Christian religion and its role in the African society. I must mention that I was first triggered by the question of who exactly God was—one I believe anyone born into any religion is likely to ask. But that is not the focus today. I grew baffled learning that Christianity, one of the youngest belief systems in existence on the western coast of Africa, still claims itself as the only right religion. As I later found out, it was conducive to European nationalism and imperialism during the colonization of Africa, since it justified going out to spread the gospel to those who "needed" to be saved from themselves. Naturally, I became skeptical of the authoritarian nature of the Christian ideology.

Heaven and hell for me signaled concepts too effective at instilling fear and submission into the mental fabric of the people. In a society where suffering is so clear and almost looked past, promising heaven to the good "soul" who lives in poor and miserable conditions for me seems more disempowering than beneficial. This consolation of a heaven that people accept renders them less willing to respect their unfulfilled basic needs in life. Even amidst all the suffering inflicted by diseases, crime and poverty, African Christians are able to kneel down, pray and hope for better days. Questioning Christianity in Ghana is still not done, while practicing other religions, especially the longer-standing indigenous traditional religions, is ironically quickly castigated as "abominable" by the Christian doctrine. I couldn't help but question the system of beliefs that the majority held onto so dearly, which only told them to accommodate their difficult circumstances until a miracle/divine intervention saved them.

In Ghanaian schools, the advent of the Portuguese and colonialism is taught with an intent to praise the gaining of independence. The available textbooks glorify our first President, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence in 1957—the first to do so in sub-Saharan Africa. However, little is said of the lasting effects of colonialism, i.e. neo-colonialism, in the history books available to Africans. It is with remorse I admit that I only fully understood the negative economic, social and political impact this era had on African countries after leaving Ghana. And I received, in contrast to many in Ghana, the so-called best "education" there is to find. This education made it almost possible to see only the "good" of colonialism by the roads and railways said to be built (which were essentially built to transport goods from the farms/mines to the ports for export), the schools built by the missionaries (responsible for transferring religious and western beliefs), the large-scale cash-crop cultivation (that shaped an extractive economy) and the manner in which the British colonizers "carefully" handed power over to the elite western-educated Ghanaians. The "bad" that is mentioned of colonial periods is that of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, unavoidably so because of the physical presence of European-built castles and forts found all along the coastal areas in present-day Ghana that still reek of decayed corpses. How this has come to be is no coincidence, for this history was to be taught in schools affiliated with the Christian churches' goals of "saving" the Africans during the colonial period.

Unfortunately, the level of already sophisticated technology that existed in pre-colonial Africa is unheard of in textbooks. The textbook highlights of our history are the wars between the different ethnic groups. Many facts are omitted from the history of Africa: the iron-smelting technology whose origins are now being discovered as possibly independent of external influences; long-existing international trade that some African societies engaged in and facilitated with India and China; the highly-specialized and scientifically-advanced professionals existing in an economic and social structure; and the running water and plumbing found by the Portuguese in some African towns. Discussion of the sources of current economic problems on national radio unveils the main culprit as corruption. Historically, however, the dangers of the economic institutions set up by the colonizers who demarcated the African countries amongst themselves is simply beyond the scope of the masses' understanding.

Additionally, the transformation of the human geography of societies since colonial times makes it harder for the layman in Africa to attach relevance to all the talk of neo-colonialism. There are residential areas in Ghana where Africans live in worlds more elaborate than the so-called American dream. It becomes hard, therefore, for the African to link modern economic, social and political problems to colonial periods as the white man has disappeared and is replaced by the African. The wide disparity between living conditions is almost accepted by the religious poor people as destiny dictated by the corrupt elite. Christianity, even with its bearings on other pertinent issues in the present, is surprisingly still not the hot debate. In a news report, I recall one Christian church condemning the distribution of condoms to young teenagers, because it was only encouraging promiscuity. I could not be blind to the danger of this essentially adopted "irreprehensible" belief system.

Even more frighteningly, I feel the African lucky enough to access his own history has been limited in the extent to which he/she can reach back into the past because of the conflicting religious beliefs between his/her time and those of Africans of earlier periods. The indigenous religious belief systems that supported these sophisticated societies are now scorned by the Christians. The result is that African Christians have been disallowed, or more so have disallowed themselves, to proudly look back at their own past. Many Africans thus miss out on rising above the inferiority complex they have had since colonial periods. I see little hope of empowerment if this history cannot be appreciated. This type of empowerment is what can eradicate the conditioning of the masses. Will it ever be possible for Africans to take ownership of Christianity and place it in a position that would reflect and acknowledge their ancestry?

My discourse should not be misinterpreted as a call for Africans to disentangle themselves from Christianity—this is a dangerous proposition since the growth of the traditional religions has been stunted for so long. However, I know too many who are unconsciously hesitant to accept the feats of their ancestors because they cannot identify with the condemned indigenous religions. This presents a real problem because Africans who neutrally search into the past and claim what is theirs, are empowered by it—and thus are naturally able to identify with the struggle to restore a sense of pride—today live on the continent.

It is no surprise that a hot topic in Ghana is the government calling on professionals to return and help develop the continent. The youth of Africa struggle to create their African identity because they are mentally paralyzed against accepting this base of knowledge. Africans are essentially, as Professor Ahmed Samatar might agree, lost in trying to find self-authenticity and empowerment through other means. However, if the youth can also accept this history, the African identity will be less abstract as the paradigm is deconstructed in their minds. Indeed, we suffer from the worst consequences of conditioning, where Africans have become their own worst enemies. This is the mental slavery Africans face. The Christian African will need to begin making it his/her own religion that can accommodate his/her own history. We, both Africans and non-Africans who are positioned to access this history, also have a responsibility to disseminate it amongst the Africans who have been handed down such unfair accounts. Being African is a concept unfortunately becoming too closely tied to the colonial ideas of helplessness and desperation. Until Africans can possess Christianity to fit in the African society, it will only be slowing the journey towards empowerment.

In my first months at Macalester, I made sure people knew I was Ghanaian. I would now like people to just see me as African, for it is only this identity that does justice to my history.