The Marriage Debate among African Christians in the 21st Century: Tradition, Faith, and Emerging Realities

Africans life revolves around survival of the self and the race. Nothing guarantees this survival better than marriage. In many African communities, marriage which is primary a union with partners of the opposite sex, is a mandatory rite of passage. Members of the society are expected to enter into this union at the appropriate time and whoever fails to adhere to this standard is deemed a disgrace to himself, family and the society. Marriage is an assurance to the family of its continuation and a guarantee to the society that it is getting stronger. The 21st century has witnessed realities like LGBTQ which have challenged the traditional understanding of marriage. For the African, the ideal form of marriage is polygyny but with the coming of the missionaries, it was largely replaced by monogamy and celibacy. The same missionaries who enforced monogamy on the Africans are blessing same sex marriages in churches in their mother countries and there is fear that the same will be exported to Africa just as the Euro-Christian culture was introduced and enforced. The question in the African mind is why they would be coerced to forego polygamy to take up homosexuality. This paper delves into the dilemma African Christians are finding themselves in as they try to lead a righteous life as trained by the missionaries.