They are farther away from the path of the sun. The equator is almost always directly in the pathway on the sun, while the poles aren’t.
The answer is heat. It is the number 1 weather related killer in the U.S.
Christianity came first to the continent of Africa in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. Oral tradition says the first Muslims appeared while the prophet Mohammed was still alive (he died in 632). Thus both religions have been on the continent of Africa for over 1,300 years.
