Crediting God: Sovereignty and Religion in the Age of Global Capitalism

5. Religion and the Public Sphere in Senegal: The Evolution of a Project of Modernity

c h a p t e r 5 Religion and the Public Sphere in Senegal: The Evolution of a Project of Modernity Souleymane Bachir Diagne Those who led Senegal to independence and established the institutions of the new state, notably Léopold Sédar Senghor and Mamadou Dia, intended it to be based on the philosophical foundation of a socialism that would be both African and spiritualist. And they also meant it to be secular . African socialism, spirituality, secularism, those were the concepts that were to guide the state toward modernity and development. Socialism had transformed Russia into a world power; it was at work in China and elsewhere to bring progress to the lives of the ‘‘damned of the earth.’’ It was logical to think that in its African guise it would offer the promise of a new kind of development. But spirituality? Especially when combined with secularism, a term that is intimately linked to its particular French history in which it connotes anticlericalism, pronounced and haughty opposition to any manifestation of religion in the public sphere? That is why the very Catholic Senghor and Dia, the pious Muslim, both fundamentally convinced of the necessity of a secular state, believed just as firmly that religious fervor was a cultural energy essential for achieving modernization and development. And that is why they charged themselves and their fellow nation builders, the institutions, the party and especially political discourse with the mission of realizing the ideal of a nation 102 103 Religion and the Public Sphere in Senegal uplifted by the spirit, committed to secularism and thus, ultimately prosperous . Some excellent studies on the role of religion in the public sphere in Senegal have shown how the connection between politics and Islamic brotherhoods functioned from the time when the French colonial administration understood that its authority would necessarily be conditioned by special forms of compromise with the domain of the marabouts. If one sees the postcolonial Senegalese state as the heir of the colonial administration in this regard and reduces the question exclusively to the way in which Senghor and his successors secured the political support of the marabouts in order to attain and remain in power, one omits an essential dimension: the philosophy that, at the moment of independence, defined the role of religion, considered the driving force in the modernization and development of a secular Senegalese nation. What was this philosophy? What was its evolution? Is it significant today for Senegal’s future? Spiritual Socialism for a Modern Secular State In 1960, the same year of independence for a majority of African countries, at a time when public discourse was directed toward nation building and development, Léopold Sédar Senghor, thinking it urgent to insist on the role of religions in this construction, published an article in several newspapers calling for ‘‘Islamo-Christian cooperation.’’1 If Senghor mentioned only these two religions, inherited from Abraham, it was because, as he said, ‘‘Negro-African animism is dying out,’’2 and it was then up to Islam and Christianity to pour their spirit, that is to say their life and their heart, into forging a socialist model of modernity, given—and this point is crucial to the definition of Senghor’s spiritualist socialism—that in so doing these two religions simply would have been true to their own telos once this was well understood: The aim of Islamism and of Christianity . . . is to fulfill the will of God. For in order to fulfill this will, which is to gain heaven, we must achieve brotherhood among men through justice for all men here on earth. Indeed, what is this justice if not equality of opportunity given from the beginning to all men regardless of race or condition; and, along with work, the equitable distribution of national revenue among citizens, of world revenue among nations and finally, the equitable distribution of knowledge among all men and all nations?3 104 Souleymane Bachir Diagne We can readily see in this passage an essential aspect of the doctrine that charges man, the lieutenant (caliph) of God on earth in Quranic terms, with the task of transforming the world. Gaining heaven does not mean turning one’s back on earth, for that would be abdicating the responsibility that defines man and gives him a role in the organization of creation. The Quran speaks of the mandate that no...