Religious Motivation, Political Involvement, and Cultural Pluralism: The Nigerian Experience

Abstract

his paper examines religious motivation and political involvement and how cultural pluralism can be the ideological foundation that can mediate the conflicts or tension that may arise from the contestations of various religions in a political process. Religious motivation is a mechanism used to mobilize members or adherents to influence government policies and laws. It is also used to pressurize government officials to meet the demands of public interests. In recent times, it is being used to also train religious adherents for political engagement. The article examines the possibility of employing this ideology in the Nigerian context. This does so by analyzing the Nigerian experience in terms of the political-religious-ethnic diversity and why cultural pluralism is the fitted ideology to mediating the various religio-political and ethnic interests that tend to create tension in the polity. In a pluralistic society such as Nigeria that has various religions and ethnic groups, there is a risk of always contestations and tension. If this is not managed under a well-thought-out ideology, it may lead to conflict and social instability. Therefore, the paper argues that cultural pluralism as an ideological orientation can foster mutual understanding and respect among religions in a society with diverse religious and ethnic groups as Nigeria. The paper employed the method of critical analysis.