Sometimes great disputes occurred between the two religions. Once a member of the Christian church, Okoli, was thought to have killed and eaten the royal python of Mbanta. Since there was no set punishment for such a crime the head rulers of the village decided to let the gods make the punishment but also to ban the Christian converts from the life and privileges of the village. At one point someone said, If a man kills the sacred python in the secrecy of his hut, the matter lies between him and the god (Achebe, pg.139) In this the man is stating that the god will make the punishment for the man and that the village should not interfere. A short while after they had decided on the matter Okoli died and the village felt fulfilled because there gods had found vengeance and killed the evil man.
Another conflict that occurred between the two cultures was the differences between the systems of government. The great variations caused problems between the British and the Africans. Often when a member of the village broke a rule they would make sacrifices and various donations to the god or gods that they had betrayed. Each defiance required a different amount of homage paid to the gods. For example, once Okonkwo had broken the vows of the week of peace in his village when . . . his youngest wife, who went to plait her hair at her friendhouse and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal (Achebe, pg. 24). In this quote Achebe was showing that there was little tolerance when it came to the village women. When she did return he beat her quite heavily and afterwards he was then forced to make great sacrifices in the name of the god he had betrayed. The British had a much different view of government and justice. They brought with them a court system and put men of the village on trial for various crimes they had committed. Once a man was hung for killing a British missionary and some villagers were kept in a prison of sorts for lesser crimes they had committed.