CONSTITUTIONAL MISCONCEPTION OF SECULARISM AND IMPLICATIONS FOR POLITICS AND RELIGION IN NIGERIA

📄 Project Abstract

In different ways, classical social thinkers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries all thought, religion would either disappear or become progressively attenuated with the expansion of modern institutions. The evidence before us in the 21st century is pervasive and clear, that religion still exists, but changed everywhere. Religion remains surprisingly vibrant and socially relevant. This is particularly true in Nigeria, and in much of the rest of the world as well, where religion continues to be a potent factor in the emerging global order and its conflicts. Modernist theories of secularization that predicted the decline of religion in the affairs of the world because they were carriers of tradition, and would enter into decline faced with the inevitable and overwhelming forces of modernization have failed in their predictions. Even some critics of secularism have come to accept that, while religious faith may appear to be floundering in the west due to contigent events and local c...