ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS ECONOMY AND ITS PARTICIPATION RATES IN NIGERIA
Abstract:This paper is a socio-scientific analysis of
religion. Its interest in religious economy stems from the enduring tension
between theory in its abstract and applied forms. While the principles of
religious economy provide a valuable framework for explaining religious change
across space and time, they have also proven to be pliable across the same
lines of analysis. Doing so will promote more interdisciplinary collaboration
and dialogue, and will help militate against the problem of parochialism within
the social scientific study of religion. This research analyzes the rates of
participation in religious economy using Nigeria’s religious free-markets
situation as a case study. The phenomenological and analytical methods were
employed to accomplish the aim of this paper with the support of secondary
data. The research reveals that the
Nigerian religious markets are more as of today, competitive and participatory
than in the 1960s. The paper concludes that adherents should popularize their
religion, or exchange their religion only on the foundation of issues that can
be defined rationally and of rewarding benefits. The paper recommends a state-free religious
market in Nigeria that promotes religious diversity and freedom in order to
maximize religious gains and profits – of which peaceful coexistence is
inclusive.