[returnofzyx]

It's not really self deception. It's more of faith with a whole lot of ignorance. Ignorance of the old ways. How to go about it. So they get easily scammed by fake priests. Most african indigenous spiritual practices have been bastardized by the influx of islam and christianity. Most people believe in the old gods and are right to do so; but generational knowledge transfer is dwindling because of societal pressure. It's not really fashionable to be a traditionalist in Nigeria.

[IceMetalPunk]

"Most people believe in the old gods and are right to do so." I would strongly disagree, but then again, you would follow that by disagreeing with my disagreement :) As long as everything is allowed to be subjective opinion, anything goes.

And so I ask: what objective evidence is there that it is "right" to believe in the "old gods"? What makes the old traditions more accurate than the new ones? What evidence is there that any of them work, beyond stories and anecdotes at best?

[Dylan16807]

Could the old practices do any of this cool stuff either? Did they claim to?