ETHNO-RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS AND THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN CENTRAL NIGERIA: A CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH

Résumé

Religion has played crucial but ambiguous roles in the history of humanity. It has been a viable tool for reconciliation and conflict resolution. This paper, “Ethno-Religious Conflicts and the Role of the Church in Central Nigeria: A Challenge to the Church”, enquires into the conditions that precipitate ethno-religious conflicts in Central Nigerian. The author explains that a group’s definition of her membership or citizenship in terms of ownership and habitation of indigenous territories, migratory history and myths of putative ancestral links are formulated and manipulated in order to establish contested territorial claims. It demonstrates that most of the conflicts in Nigeria which arose out of ethno-religious protests have been given religious coloration. Using the Noam Chomsky’s theory of “Hippocratic Principle” and the Jain’s concept of ahimsa, the essay argues that the church in her quest for retributive justice in Central Nigeria should interpret and reinterpret history differently because working for peace and reconciliation is a very long process requiring for patience and long range plans. It, therefore submits that Christians of Central Nigeria have to be reformed first before the vision of reformation of Central Nigeria could be viable. This essay makes a good analysis of ethno-religious conflicts.