One recent Sunday morning, as soon as the choir in this island town’s Catholic church sings its last “Hallelujah,” a stream of parishioners spills out through the doors in a blur of marigold and violet head wraps and boubou gowns. Friends Louise Niaroum Sarr and Marie-Philomene Lette stop to chat, fanning themselves under a glaring sun.

Soon, the Islamic call to prayer will echo through town, sending devotees into quiet corners outside shops and cafés to kneel on velvet rugs and pray. But that doesn’t ruffle any feathers here in Fadiouth.

“I raised my kids Catholic, but some have converted to Islam,” says Ms. Niaroum Sarr, squinting in the morning light. “There’s only one God.”

Why We Wrote This

When it comes to religious tolerance, this town in Senegal goes beyond “live and let live.”

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