Moru? Lui? A Word about Tribes, Religion, and Language

A word about semantics. I didn’t know this going in. The Diocese of Lui is in a specific geographic region. In Africa – or at least this section of Africa – all life is tribal. The people who live in the geographic region served by the Diocese of Lui are people of the Moru tribe. They have their own language and culture. And – thanks to the efforts of many hard-working people – they have a Moru translation of the Bible and a Moru translation of the Book of Common Prayer (1662 Church of England version).

During the past some years, as the civil war displaced so many people in southern Sudan, the Moru shared their land with people of the Dinka tribe. The Dinka were also Christians. In an effort to minister to all the people living in the diocese, the Cathedral offered three services each Sunday: one in Moru language, one in Dinka language, and one in English language. To my surprise, when we were there, the English-language service was predominantly African in attendance; I gather that’s because so many of the Moru are eager to learn English as a second language.

I have not found any definitive information about how many of the Moru people are Christian. But my perception – having spent time in Lui – is that it’s a majority. By contrast, the information I found before our trip suggested that in southern Sudan, Christianity comprises about 25% of the population. According to those sources, 75% of the population still practices “animist” (native) religions.