Paper short abstract:

In several African countries religious authorities bring challenges to state laws or legislative proposals seen as threatening/unacceptable to the faith. I discuss cases showing how some recent laws were contested merely on grounds of religious conviction, thereby delegitimizing the political order.

Paper long abstract:

Issues of religion, secularism and state in Africa are well-studied and complex in a multidimensional way. Most studies focused on doctrinal differences and clashes of - mostly - Christianity and Islam with the state, examining rivalries of power and 'primacy' claimed by these registers of religion and state, despite that most African constitutions are 'secular'. This paper highlights a few interesting cases of contestation in three countries (Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia) where religious 'authorities'/institutions brought challenges to state laws or legislative proposals seen by the 'community of the faithful' as threatening or unacceptable. These cases show that some recent laws, directives and codes aiming to regulate religious life vs. the state in contexts such as family, crime or educational establishments were contested merely on grounds of religious conviction. This despite the fact that in all countries the pluriformity of religions and religious sub-communities was evident. Some implications of the resulting clash of particularist narratives and state narrative - claimed as addressing the public/political order as a whole - are discussed. Historical analysis often shows that relations between 'the political' and 'the religious' in Africa were not clear-cut; in fact often separated or relegated to different spheres already in pre-colonial times, invalidating the often-heard contention that the 'problems' of secularism and religion in Africa are merely an heritage of colonialism. I claim in this paper that religious 'lawfare' against state laws as 'not respecting the religious affinities of citizens' is a contentious practice tending to subvert the pluralist religio-political order.