TIV RELIGION. The Tiv, who live in the central Benue valley of Nigeria, have a name for God, Aondo (sky), but are not much interested in him because they say that he is not much interested in them. God, in their view, created the earth and everything within it—including the forces of evil. Then he walked away—the Tiv do not ask where God went.

The Tiv are concerned with health (and with death, the ultimate manifestation of poor health), with fertility of crops, animals, and themselves, and with social harmony. To be healthy, to have plenty, and to live in harmony are natural states. Although the Tiv have some lore about spirits, no spirits manipulate the forces that interfere with these desirable states; Tiv respect their ancestors, but no ancestors manipulate the forces. Rather, the acts and devices of living human beings activate the...