Tradition is a people's long standing way of doing things. A people are identified by their cultural heritage and culture comes from tradition and custom. A habit cultivated over the ages becomes a way of life and therefore a tradition and once institutionalized becomes custom. According to E. B. Taylor, an Anthropologist,
"Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, custom and other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society".
This definition of culture in my opinion does not differ from religious perception. According to His Lordship Bishop Gbuji, in his book, Pastoral on Title-Taking and Traditional Funeral Ceremonies,
"Culture manifests itself in art and architecture, literature, dance and music, It also includes the way of clothing, social and political organization of the people, their religion, ethics, morals, values, laws and their entire philosophy of life. In fact whatever underlines the total personality of a people come under the notion of culture. The church is interested in that totality of the human person."
In Africa, Custom and Tradition, is interwoven into religious beliefs for when you juxtapose the thoughts of Taylor and Bishop Gbuji above with the typical African way of life it becomes obvious that Christianity does not hold much difference. There are however a lot of Christians who do not believe that there can ever be a meeting point between Christianity and Custom and Tradition. His Lordship Bishop Gbuji referred to this attitude where he says and I quote.
"There are some Catholics who to the end of their lives, would condemn ail traditional customs and culture. For them the church and traditional customs are irreconcilable.'
Suffice to say that this stance is more radical and uncompromising among the new generation Churches and is seriously eroding all cultural attributes or endowments of our people.
African perspective of God is based on pantheism which postulates that God exists in everything and is everywhere. This is in agreement with Church teaching because in the Catholic Church, even the elementary penny catechism teaches this same doctrine that "God is everywhere". The question then is where is the conflict in the two forms of religion? I do not see any except that the two are pursuing the same end by different means.
The early Missionaries were seriously handicapped by cultural differences and language barrier in their relationship with their hosts. They carne on the behest of the Colonial authorities whose major interest in Africa was commercial. Africans were therefore coerced to imbibe colonial traditions alongside religious teachings which were foreign to them while being deprived of their dignity.
This explains why these foreigners did not find acceptance with the local oligarchy leading to their embracing the more receptive deviants and less privileged in the Community. Language was also a major barrier and these society rejects who had become friends of these strangers and found sudden relevance in the Community, took advantage of their unexpected rise in status and proximity to power to mislead and deceive their masters to the detriment of the chiefs and Community. They distorted facts, and cleverly exploited their roles as interpreters and middlemen between their new masters and the natives to desecrate all traditional and customary rites and practices.