The greatest offense of the God’s Not Dead series may be its failure to imagine for its audience what a truly radical belief in a living God would look like. Sìmiànshén (四面神, “Four-Faced God”), but also a metaphor for “Ubiquitous God”: The recent cult has its origin in the Thai transmission of the Hindu god Brahma, but it is important to note that it is also an epithet of the indigenous Chinese god Huangdi who, as the deity of the centre of the cosmos, is described in the Shizi as “Yellow Emperor with Four Faces” (黃帝四面, Huángdì Sìmiàn). According to Taoist philosophy, chi is found throughout the cosmos, and it is the animating force and sustaining principle behind all living things. The Court found that this program violated the Establishment Clause because the tax-supported public school buildings were being used for the teaching of religious doctrines, which constituted direct government assistance to religion. On the contrary, scholars have found that this practice has existed for centuries, acts as a source of moral training for children, and is actually in decline. They associate this practice with parents’ inabilities to raise their children, economic strain, or uncontrolled fertility.

This faction does not represent a majority of Mourides and a Pew Report on Senegalese religion revealed that 92% of Senegalese do not associate the word “violent” with Muslims. In creating a brotherhood, each founder often has the objective of uniting all Muslims. The founder of the brotherhood is its first caliph-general, and his position is inherited by succeeders. The founder of the Mourides, Cheikh Amadou Bamba was arrested twice by the colonial administration. These Reformists were responding to French colonial repression of Islamic culture in Senegal. The Mourides were founded by Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba (1850-1927) who strongly rejected the French colonial powers, and this position attracted many political leaders who lost their positions due to French occupation. Kratos is soon attacked by a mysterious stranger with godlike powers, and who cannot feel anything physically. Many Mourides were former political authorities who lost their positions as the French took over, and were searching for a new source of power. Other Muslims chose to cooperate with the French, and even gain positions of power within the French government.

In Senegal, 95% of Muslims belong to a Sufi brotherhood, more than any Muslim population in the world. In the cities, especially the Four Communes the French created, Muslim Sufi marabouts, religious authorities, were involved in Senegalese politics. Secondary to the caliph-generals are shaykhs or marabouts, who act as intermediaries and provide instruction for their murids, or aspirants. The marabouts, leaders and sources of guidance in Sufi brotherhoods, became alternative sources of authority in dissidence from the French. The French felt threatened and targeted the leaders of these movements. Some argue that the marabouts collaborated with the French out of best interests for Senegal, because they felt they had no other choice. Marabouts rely on donations from their followers, called murids or taalibes. In turn, marabouts work with their followers, often arranging marriages or resolving disputes. Followers perform the harsh work of tending to the caliph’s peanut or grain fields, and “the most ambitious or lucky ones” assist the caliph with his private or public affairs with the hope of receiving spiritual teachings. These children may engage in harsh work in the countryside, or beg for donations in urban areas.

Traditionally, parents often sent their children to live with their marabout and become taalibes. They also organize religious activities, such as trips to see their marabout. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that the limits of Locke’s toleration are coextensive with Protestantism; atheists and Catholics cannot be trusted to take part in society peacefully because the former do not see themselves as bound by divine law and the latter are beholden to a foreign sovereign (the Pope). As Mbacke states, the administration’s “ultimate aim was to dominate minds” in order to take over the nation, and they saw Islam as standing in their way. Telling the truth is good manners and great up to a point, but remember, a little mystery goes a long way too. John 15:13 (NLT) – There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Do you love beautiful architecture? This form of bias pervades multiple facets of life, including employment, housing, education, healthcare and the criminal justice system. During one’s life, a Muslim is required to make the pilgrimage to Mecca during the 12th month of the lunar calendar. Every year, thousands of Senegal make a pilgrimage to Touba for a religious festival held by the Mourides to honor Cheikh Bamba.