Ancestor Worship. The oldest religion in West Africa is the worship of the ancestors, who were generally regarded as the link between the living and the universal being that existed outside of the realm of human understanding. The separation of earth and heaven, as in modern Christian dogmas, was most definitely foreign to African thinking. It was not unusual for a family compound or household to have a shrine containing a effigy of an ancestor who had passed away. As recognition of this forebear's continuing existence, rites and rituals were often performed daily to appease him or her. Even with the acceptance of foreign religions such as Islam and Christianity, many Africans still consider ancestor worship their central religion. Even today in the southern part of modern Nigeria, it is not unusual for pastors or imams (Muslim prayer...