Christians, Muslims almost equal in numbers in Africa

Proximity a flash point for conflict
By Julia Duin
Friday, April 16, 2010

A continent once known more for witchcraft than worship has become a stronghold - and a flash point - for the world's two largest religions, the Pew Forum said in a survey released Thursday.
With more than 90 percent of the region's population saying faith is "very important" in their lives, it's also on one of the major fault lines of religious conflict.

Northern Africa is heavily Muslim and southern Africa is mostly Christian but where the two religions meet in a 4,000-mile belt from Somalia to Senegal has often turned violent, especially in Nigeria, where hundreds of Muslims and Christians have died since January fighting each other.

At least 45 percent of the Christians surveyed in Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda and Chad - which topped the list at 70 percent - consider Muslims to be violent. Far smaller percentages of Muslims see Christians as violent - Djibouti had the largest percentage at 40 percent, followed by Kenya and Uganda in the low 30s. the rest