During the conflict, religion was many different things to many different people. Various threads of religious traditions were subsumed in the fighting.
One snapshot of this occurrence is captured in the video linked here. Some fighters from the NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) explained the meaning behind acts of cannibalism that they engaged in at the front.
*I think that the drug usage among fighters probably contributed to this practice.
[1] Ellis, Stephen. 2001. "Mystical weapons: some evidence from the Liberian war." Journal of Religion in Africa 31, no. 2: 222-236. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 19, 2010).
It never ceases to stun and depress me how depraved the atrocities become when countries are totally consumed by endless war. I worry so about the reconstruction for Liberia - over 50% of the male population is between 15 and 25, they have never been educated, and all have been child or young soldiers...pretty bleek.
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