ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief description of the principal beliefs and practices which characterize traditional religions among the Bantu of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. It shows that in these religions, alongside elements of error incompatible with Christian doctrine, there are elements of truth which can be preserved and incorporated in the Christian religion. Christianity comes not to destroy but rather to transform the institutions of the peoples to whom it brings the message of Christ. To satisfy African needs Christianity must not only integrate all the good elements to be found in the African mentality but equally find means to unite Christian and daily life in such a way that the first inspires the second. Custom exercises a considerable influence on the life of an African. The African is convinced that in the activities and in the events of life he must conform to the order of things as established by the invisible world.
