Illustration of one new humanity in diversity of values and beliefs
In a world fractured by dogmas and doctrines, the audacious declaration rings out: God is not a Christian. This isn’t a rejection of faith but a liberation from its man-made shackles. Drawing from ancient wisdoms across cultures; Hindu epics, African oral theologies, Islamic insights, and biblical truths, we uncover a divine essence that defies denominational borders. God, the infinite architect of existence, predates and surpasses the constructs we have built in His/ Her name. Christianity itself emerged as a human invention long after Christ’s ascension, a framework meant to guide but too often used to divide. Yet, in this exploration, we must confront the weaponization of concepts like “sin,” reframe atonement, and embrace a cosmic mission of reconciliation that unites all humanity under one banner—not of superiority, but of shared divinity.
To grasp that God is not confined to Christianity, we must venture into the vast library of human spirituality. The Mahabharata, an epic penned 5,000 years before the New Testament and eleven times the length of the Bible (including its Deuterocanonical books), unfolds under the shade of a banyan tree where characters grapple with profound theological questions. Here, gods intermingle with mortals, echoing the polytheistic insights of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; thinkers who heavily influenced Christian scholars like Saint Thomas Aquinas. These ancient Greeks pondered “gods,” not a singular God, yet their philosophies seeped into modern Christian theology, reminding us that divine inquiry is a universal pursuit.
Turn to Africa, and we encounter the theology of Orunmila among the Yoruba, an unwritten yet potent wisdom that speaks of cosmic order and destiny. Islamic theology, with its emphasis on tawhid (the oneness of God), parallels yet enriches these narratives. There are not one but many theologies, each a thread in the grand design. Therefore, humility is essential: “If one comes from that standpoint, one must therefore be very humble.” God doesn’t reside in silos; He permeates all. This pluralism isn’t relativism but a recognition that divine truth manifests diversely, from the Gita’s karma to the Quran’s mercy.
Yet, humanity’s greatest folly lies in bottling this boundless God into denominations; Catholic, Anglican, SDA, Methodist. These labels, confine the divine to “a very small space to which He does not belong.” In Africa, this manifests as a debilitating force: billboards scream crusades, self-proclaimed prophets peddle “fake miracles,” and apostles conjure illusions. The continent, scarred by slavery (18 million souls dragged to the Arab world, 12 million to the Americas and Caribbean), colonialism, and apartheid, often justified by twisted biblical verses from the Dutch Reformed Church, we now grapple with a theology that prioritizes feeling good over becoming good.
Now, we must pivot to a deeper truth: Sin is not merely a catalog of personal failings but a structural edifice, a weapon wielded by religion to control and condemn. Many invoke Romans 1:30, decrying “invented sins like LGBTQ,” but this misses the mark. Creation itself testifies otherwise; same-sex bonds flourish in nature, from hermaphroditic flowers and insects to animals like bonobos and penguins. We do not “persuade” anyone to become gay or heterosexual; nature, as God’s handiwork, dictates orientation. To label this sin is to ignore the divine diversity woven into existence.
Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:56 “The sting of death is sin“, reveal sin as foundational, not superficial. It’s the iceberg’s submerged mass: visible acts (the tip) amplified by structural and cultural forces. Christ Himself expands this in Matthew 5:28: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery… already.” John 8:7: “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone” is a famous quote from Jesus. Sin transcends deeds; it’s inherent inadequacy, the violence and chaos of the eons. Genesis 1:2 depicts a formless, void earth shrouded in darkness; primordial disorder in Hebrew; “Tohu Va Bohu“. Revelation’s “woman riding the beast” Revelation 17; symbolizes intoxicating power structures: empires, religious hierarchies, principalities drunk on dominance, making peoples complicit in injustice.
Borrowing from Johan Galtung’s violence triangle, sin operates on three levels: direct (visible harms), structural (systemic inequalities), and cultural (norms justifying them). Religious and political systems embody this; empires othering groups, scapegoating the vulnerable. Without grasping sin’s depth, we falter in God’s ancient mission: reconciling all things to Himself (Colossians 1:20). This isn’t about vertical piety alone (God and man which is the frontier of the so called God’s Generals of evangelicalism) but horizontal harmony, as Ephesians 2:15 proclaims: “One new humanity,” neither Jew nor Gentile. Christians often fixate on the divine human bond, neglecting this “stunning call to break horizontal barriers.” In Christ, polarizations dissolve: Jew and Gentile, Hindu and Kemet (ancient Egyptian), Christian and Muslim, all reconciled. Yet, keep it at the ethnos level; religion becomes secondary, artificial identities fade. No group claims superiority; no othering or scapegoating. This unity is my plea: “We worship one God regardless of your denomination.” Africa’s divisions; religious and ethnic stem from these man made niches. Thrash them, and Africa unites under the sun.
Rethinking Atonement: Humanity’s Thirst for Blood
This redefinition reshapes atonement. Christ didn’t die because God craved blood; He died because we did. Our structural sin, violence, scapegoating the “other” nailed Him to the cross. As Psalm 51:16 declares, “Thou desirest not sacrifice… a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart.” God rejects bloodlust; it’s our empires, our religions, that demand it. Christ’s death exposes this: the innocent lamb slain by power’s intoxication, calling us to repentance not through rituals but through dismantling injustice.
Toward a United Horizon: Rallying for Peacebuilding
Ultimately, this is a clarion call to peacebuilding in its fullest sense, moving beyond superficial ceasefires to cultivate holistic, just peace that dismantles the very roots of division and violence. By recognizing God as unbound by any single tradition, we reject the cultural violence that legitimizes exclusion and superiority. By reframing sin as structural and cultural rather than a tool for moral policing, we confront the hidden mechanisms; empires, hierarchies, and norms that perpetuate injustice and othering. This awareness empowers us to address direct harms while transforming the systems and beliefs that sustain them, echoing Johan Galtung’s vision where true peace emerges only when structural inequalities and cultural justifications for violence are uprooted. In embracing natural diversity, horizontal reconciliation, and a shared divine humanity, we are rallied not to passive tolerance but to active collaboration: building bridges across faiths, ethnicities, and identities; healing historical wounds from slavery and colonialism; and co-creating communities where no one is scapegoated. Africa and the world—stands at a pivotal moment. Let us answer this call by embodying the one new humanity, working tirelessly as peacemakers to realize God’s mission of reconciling all things, so that division gives way to unity, violence to shalom, and fractured faiths to a shared, liberating future.
Read more about the Author: Philip Kakungulu
References:
https://www.galtung-institut.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Cultural-Violence-Galtung.pdf (related follow-up on cultural violence from 1990).
https://inkovema.de/en/blog/violence-triangle/
Wikipedia summary for quick reference (well-sourced to Galtung’s works):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Galtung (section on the Conflict Triangle).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/190987/scientists-explore-evolution-animal-homosexuality/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior
– Recent synthesis: National Wildlife Federation on same-sex behavior in animals (2023), noting it’s observed in over 1,500 species.
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2023/Summer/Conservation/Same-Sex-Behavior-Animals-Science
https://www.gotquestions.org/one-new-man.html
https://www.bibleref.com/Ephesians/2/Ephesians-2-15.html
https://network.crcna.org/topic/justice-inclusion/racial-reconciliation/ephesians-2-creating-one-new-humanity
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