\u201cYou can\u2019t understand Africa without understanding religion,\u201d\u009d said Emmanuel Katongole, a Catholic priest from Uganda. As he led a tour of Kampala, Uganda\u2019s capital, it was soon clear what he meant. Slogans such as \u201cJesus cares\u201d\u009d and \u201cTry Jesus\u201d\u009d adorn taxicabs. Ads for a Catholic bank named Centenary print the letter T as a cross. Businesses have such names as \u201cHoly Light Clinic,\u201d\u009d \u201cBorn Again Bankers\u201d\u009d and \u201cHoly Hair Care.\u201d\u009d \u201cThere is no Western-style division between secular and sacred or public and private here,\u201d\u009d Katongole said.<\/p>\n
But the infusion of religion into everyday life has not made Uganda a peaceful land. \u201cWe have a culture in Uganda of taking power by the point of a gun,\u201d\u009d said Archbishop John Baptist Odama. The archbishop\u2019s see, based in the town of Gulu in the north of the country, has been the scene of a vicious civil war for the past 22 years. The Lord\u2019s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, has waged an antigovernment insurgency, savagely attacking rural villages and abducting children, who are turned into soldiers or sex slaves. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 children have been kidnapped over the years.<\/p>\n