ISSN 2360-7998
Religious Faith and Militancy in Contemporary Nigeria: Interrogating the Links
by
Maiyaki M. Mejida
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Received: 23/1/2023 Aceptad: 26/2/2023 |
Published: 14//4/2023 |
Abstract: The traditions and traditional religion of Pre-Islamic and Pre-Christianity societies in Africa were imbued with a lot of virtues that kept delinquent and other unethical behaviours at bay. The traditions and traditional religious practices guided and guard the societies of the past. In pre-colonial African society, feuding was undertaken as response to an offense or after provocation. The cardinal characteristics of feuding parties undertake the responsibility or obligation to end conflict by peaceful means. With the introduction of alien religions such as Christianity and Islam, the rhythms and rhymes of intra and inter-religious relations became substantially obliterated. This has produced huge negative intra-and inter-ethnic cum inter-religious results among the diverse cultural groups in Nigeria and indeed in most African societies; leading to communal conflicts between and among ethnic and religious groups. The paper, using oral and written sources, shows how this new development has created some overstrained irritable conditions, leading to religious militancy in Nigeria. The paper is of the view that old values and norms should be incorporated into the modern governance system and used to tackle security challenges, obliterate religious militancy so as to enhance harmonious co-existence in contemporary Nigerian society. The study therefore gave an overview of the general concept and causes of religious militancy in Nigeria and, advocated for ethical principles such as the common solidarity of humanity by origin, forgiveness and tolerance that could engender cordiality and understanding rather than sustained hostility and suspicion in Christian-Muslim relation in Nigeria.
Keywords: Contemporary, Faith, Interrogating, Militancy, Nigeria, Religion
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Published by IJAH |
2023. |