Focusing on the case of Tanzania, this study highlights the role of religious institutions in building national unity and consolidating democracy in the multi-religious contexts of Sub-Saharan Africa. In recent years cooperation along inter- and intra-religious lines has been strongly encouraged as a way of coping with tensions evident in the society. The case of the Inter-Religious Council for Peace Tanzania (IRCPT) is analysed from a power-oriented perspective as well as in light of present-day civil society relations and the historical religio-political context. The study explores inter-faith cooperation in Tanzania in relation to the ujamaa ideology, civil religion, western development discourses and neopatrimonial practices. It shows how religious institutions are connected to political power and involved in ongoing informal political struggles over both resources and institutions that to a greater or lesser ex-tent affect and determine their inter- and intra-religious relation-ships. In short, the study argues that if the effects of present-day interfaith initiatives are to be adequately assessed, inter-religious cooperation, which is promoted as a facilitator of development, needs to be properly contextualised in its political setting