WILLIAM JAMES PRAGMATISM AS AN ANTIDOTE TO RELIGIOUS CRISIS IN NIGERIA

Résumé

Our world has always been ravaged by one form of crisis or the other, ranging from religious, political, economical, social, psychological, and educational and so on. But in all these, religion plays an important and indispensable role in the life of man who is the chief pilot of all other activities of life. However, when the heart (or soul) of man is divided from the main purpose of his creation, crisis sets in, and most times engulfs the rest of the other areas of his lives. For William James, man is always in search of the truth and this truth is the true meaning and purpose of life; when achieved, there is peace but when eluded, there is crisis. This research work employed the method of analysis where we critically examined the different crisis moments fueled by religion in Nigeria. Our findings show that the root of these entire religious crises in Nigeria is lack of tolerance and dishonesty in the highest order especially from the Muslim brotherhood who wants to dominate the whole country and the entire world with Islam. In conclusion, I recommend that William James Theory of Truth summarized in his pragmatism be adopted by the two major religions in Nigeria, Christianity and Islam, for a peaceful coexistence of all.