RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND ITS EFFECTS ON NATIONAL INTEGRATION: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Religious Pluralism has been perceived variously by different people. It is the standpoint of some that it has a lot of positive effects on the world while it breeds negative results on the contrary for others. Nigeria is one of the nations of the world that has religions in plural. These faiths are Christianity, African Traditional Religion and Islam. Each of them has devout adherents that are very devoted to their beliefs and observances. Religion has wielded great influences on Nigeria as a nation, some positively and others negatively. This work tries to X-ray what pluralism is in general, its positive and negative influences on the nation. The work discovered that pluralism can be of immense help if utilized very well for the good of Nigeria and therefore advises all citizens and inhabitants of the nation, starting from the leaders to the led to promote religious freedom which pluralism has to offer and eschew violence which has thrown the Nigerian nation into chaos and crises, irreplaceable losses and retrogression. Socio-historical approach was employed in the research.