This idea that secular society is the most efficient might not be as correct as people might think... The predominant faiths in Tanzania i.e Christianity, Islam and Hinduism (in all their different sects) all arise from foreign sources. A systematic engulfing by the advocates of these faiths over the centuries (in the case of islam) and over the last 180 years in the case of Christianity has left us with a feeling as though these things were always around. That is without doubt not the case, nontheless throughout time different civilizations have been influenced by others' faiths and cultures.
Nyerere was Pan-African/catholic/humanist/intellectual/socialist/dictator...
He was Karl Max, the Pope, Voltaire and Lenin... all in one.. Or to be more precise he sampled from all that and not to mention his African Chiefly background.. Since he had such a great influence on the formation of our state, we could say that the religious side of him rubbed off on some of the symbols of the state... kwamfano wimbo wa taifa kuwa na 'Mungu' lakini vile vile he was in consensus na watanzania walio wengi, ambao wamekuwa na 'dini' kwa muda mrefu sasa.. (ntaelezea kwanini dini is in quotation marks in a minute). Sasa wazungu wameamua hawataki dini tena, Europe has become a largely secular society, as opposed to its former alias of 'christendom'... America is a different case of course, kwasababu there religion deeply rooted in a strange way... maana its a mutated form of christianity which was seeded by the so called pilgrims.
This new secularism and new-age thinking ndio inalead to such threads as this one, disputing the non-religious nature of the Tanzanian State.lol
Nianze na watanzania, sisi as a majority, hatuna dini, tuna 'dini' and this is an entirely different phenomenon. Few people actually understand in the correct depth the meaning of their own faith no do they take the time to actually learn in and research into the history of God, their religion and its origins and the current manifestations of those origins which we see kwa Kakobe, Lwakatare, Msikiti wa Mwembechai , Jamat Khan, Krishna-temple of Upanga etc. Zaidi ya tunachofundishwa Sunday school, madras tukiwa watoto, few people have a good sense of what they actually believe. Dini dhaifu, is at times worse than no dini. Religion of convenience.. that is what we have. Mtu ukiona, ukiwa na matatizo, ukiwa umekufa, then u need God, ukiwa na mtihani, ukipata kitu kizuri, maybe a new job.. "Asante Yesu!!" utaskia..lol au "Alhamdulilah"...
Lakini kiukweli tukifuatilia mafundisho ya hizi dini zetu.... in terms of percentage, how much of our lives are really dedicated to them..???
Mimi sioni kama kusema Mungu ibariki Tanzania ni tatizo au the Prayer given before a session of Parliament starts... because it makes us (Tanzanians feel better about ourselves and our improvised spirituality).. As part of our religious convenience farce, we need Eid and Xmas and Easter to remind us of our act ili tusisahau kabisa..lol But let me not put everyone in a single pot, wapo walio more observant of their faiths, lakini sio viongozi wetu maana kwakua wote ni washirikina, The Abrahamic faiths dont really tolerate much of that kwahiyo wao ndio wanakua best served with religious convenience kuliko wengineo.... Tubakie tu na hako kautaratibu chetu..!!! lol