Abstract
The author attempts to describe and to evaluate secular and religious action and thought in Africa using the concept of “humanization”. This article is part of longer-term work on the evolution of “tentative” secularization of African societies and on the relation between religion and laicity in Africa. He considers the “laicity” clause contained in the majority of the constitutions of African states, the functioning of nondenominational schools, the programmes of moral education in such schools, the misadventures of socialism, Marxism and scientism in different parts of Africa, and the conflicts between church and state in African societies. He draws no conclusions, ending by speculating on the possibility of a secular religiosity in Africa and of an “African political theology” which would harness laicity to the service of a “significant, grown-up faith”.