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RESCUING GOD FROM HIS ABDUCTORS
An inaugural lecture delivered
at the University of.Ibadan
on Thursday, 26 April, 2018
By
JACOB KEHINDE AYANTAYO
Professor of Religious Ethics, Sociology of Religion
and Religious Peace and Conflict Studies
Faculty of Arts
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria
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Ibadan University Press
Publishing House
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria.
© University of Ibadan, 2018
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First Published 2018
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ISBN: 978 - 978 - 8529 - 48 - 4
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The Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Admini-
stration), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Deputy Vice-
Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships),
Registrar, Librarian, Provost of the College of Medicine, Dean
of the Faculty of Arts, Dean ·of the Postgraduate School, Deans
of other Faculties and of Students, Directors of Institutes,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
Preamble
Today marks another time III my life, as I have the
opportunity to thank God publicly (apart from the church
setting) for His goodness in my life and for making the day
another one of testimony regarding my academic foray that
started accidentally on February 14, 1972 and which right
now has got to a remarkable climax with the presentation of
an inaugura11ecture. This is the fifth inaugural lecture in the
history of the Department of Religious Studies, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, and the first in the field of Religious Ethics
and Sociology of Religion. Therefore, I want to use this
opportunity to pay glowing tributes to earlier presenters, three
of whom I want to address as the living ancestors, using the
words of Mbiti, and the fourth as our mentor in the
department, The first in the category was Professor James
Welch, whose lecture, presented on November 17, 1950, was
titled "Religious Studies in an African University". Professor
Bo1aji Idowu, the second one, presented his on February,
1976 with the title "The Obituary of God". The third was
Professor Samuel Oyinloye Abogunrin, who, on July 16,
1998, presented his inaugural lecture, titled "In Search of
Original Jesus". The fourth inaugural lecture was presented
by Professor Deji Ayegboyin on Thursday 9, November
2017, titled "Taxonomy and Revolution in African
Christianity: The Nigerian Experience."
Before, I continue this presentation, I want to appreciate
the Dean, Faculty of Arts and the current management of the
University of Ibadan for allowing this lecture to come to the
limelight particularly as the University is just getting out of
much workload associated with the just suspended protracted
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ITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
industrial strike embarked upon by the non-academic staff of
the University. This is a landmark development in the history
of management in this noble University.
The choice of today's topic is motivated by my age-old
worry about what I consider some unpleasant behaviour
noticed among religious practitioners and religious
organisations in Nigeria, a few of which I have addressed in
my numerous publications and also expressed in the media at
one time or the other. My worry was so much that I jotted 57
topics, hoping that one of them could make a topic for an
inaugural lecture. I want to confess today that this opportunity
the University afforded me to present this lecture will, in a
way, bring some relief to me regarding the moral trauma that
accumulates each time I reflect on every activity taking place
around me, including my church, my wife's and friends'
churches, fellowships, and mosques.
In other words, most of the religious activities cited and
addressed in this lecture are products of my personal
experience and academic inquisitiveness. My worry arose
from the subject matter in my areas of specialisation in
Religious Studies-Sociology of Religion and Religious
Ethics. Sociology of Religion employs empirical tools to
interrogate the interface between religion and society on the
one hand, and society and religion on the other hand.
Religious Ethics critically evaluates moral values, goals,
purpose, moral claims and aspirations underlying religious
activities, beliefs and practices, and judges them to be good, or
bad, depending on their conformity or non-conformity as well
as adherence or otherwise to universally accepted moral
standards. In the process, it asks these pertinent questions:
What is the action in question? Who performed the action?
Why was the action performed? When was the action
performed? How was the action performed? How did it affect
the performer of the action? How did it affect the person(s) to
whom the action is directed? And how did such action affect
the society where the action took place?
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I want to state that it is against the
background of the subject matter of the two fields that today
we are trying to identify and rescue God from His abductors.
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Sir, it is also an opportunity to disabuse the mind of many
people who think and say that the Department of Religious
Studies is mainly an avenue for the production of pastors and
imams. I want to tell this august audience categorically that
Religious Studies is about an intellectual, rational, scholarly
and logical study of religion, as against the dogmatic
approach to it by religious practitioners (Ayantayo 2010:
143). Apart from treating all religious traditions equally while
studying them, it also utilises relevant research tools from
other academic fields, such as philosophy, history, sociology,
anthropology, psychology, and theology. The study of
religion academically, arises out of a broad curiosity of
scholars to know the nature of religion and religious
traditions and their impact on the life of man from cradle to
grave. For this reason, a religious study goes with a
combination of methodological skills, including direct
observation, critical thinking, and cross-cultural
understanding. This is why we have the following areas of
specialisation in our department: African Indigenous
Religion, Christian Theology, Church History and Doctrine,
Comparative Religious Studies, History of Religion, Islamic
Studies, New Religious Movements, New Testament Studies,
Old Testament Studies, Philosophy of Religion, Religious
Dialogue, Religious Ethics, Religious Interaction, Religious
Languages, Sociology of Religion and World Religions. With
this information, it is obvious that the Department of
Religious Studies is not redundant and does not serve as a
subsidiary to any department. Rather, it has a lot to contribute
to human and capital development. Therefore, our
Department is ready to collaborate with cognate departments
to realise the' vision and the mission of the University of
Ibadan in terms of research, innovation and strategic
partnership.
The Concept of Abduction
Thesaurus online dictionary defines abduction as the action of
forcibly taking someone away against his/her will
(http://www.thesaurus.com). The term has legal and many
other dimensions which are not. important for us to expatiate
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on now. In other words, we are using the term in the context
of this lecture as the action of forcibly taking someone away
against his/her will. The word abduction is used figuratively
in this lecture to refer to the action of believers and others
forcibly taking God away against His will. With this premise,
we have some issues to interrogate as matters arising from
this definition. Therefore, this lecture shall discuss the
following: categories of abductors, what goes with abduction,
factors that precipitated the abduction business and its
sustainability, consequences of the abduction, justification or
otherwise for abduction, and toolkits for rescuing God from
His abductors.
'.Categories of Abductors
There are four principal categories identified in this
discussion namely: religious functionaries and religious
followers, Western researchers, contemporary academics, and
religious fundamentalists/radicalists.
(i) Religious Functionaries and Religious Followers
The first category of God's abductors is religious leaders
comprising principal and subsidiary religious functionaries
such as priests, priestesses, Reverends, Imams, Sheikhs,
Amirs, Pastors, Prophets and many other sectarian leaders
with their priesthood titles as well as their followers across
the three major religions in Nigeria (Traditional Religion,
Christianity, and Islam). They abduct God through a process
known as a truth claim, which is a proposition or statement
that a particular person or belief system holds to be true.' The
term is usually a subject of discussion relating to doctrinal
statements of religion even though it is also discussed in
philosophy-in discussions such as logic, metaphysics, and
epistemology. On the basis of this, Christians argue that
Christianity is the only religion and not Islam or Traditional
Religion. Muslims counter the claim by boasting that Islam is
the true religion. The two of them lay claim to some passages
of their scriptures and religious traditions to prove their
arguments. Christians refer to the following passages of the
Bible:
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John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me. ,,,
Acts 4:12: "And there is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under Heaven given among men by
which we must be saved."
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life." .'
1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is one God, and there is one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
John 3:36: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath 0f God remains on him."
John 10:9: "I am the door. ILanyone enters by me, he
will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture."
On the contrary, Muslims often quote the following portions
of the Qur'an:
Surah 3:19: "Truly the religion with Allah is Islam."
Surah 3:85: "And whoever seeks a religion other than
Islam it will never be accepted of him and in the
hereafter he will be one of the losers."
Surah 48:28: "He it is Who has sent His Messenger
with guidance and the religion of truth."
What carne out of this claim is what Mala labels as
particularity thrust, which is the belief held by different
religious practitioners that there is no good thing in other
religions different from the one a person practices. In history,
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this religious mentality has had sinister effects on intra-
religious and interreligious relations in Nigeria. It, among
other things; created a major impediment to genuine dialogue,
as I argued in "Ethics of Interreligious Dialogue" (Ayantayo
2010).
Also arising from the above is the use of abusive words
by Christians and Muslims to disparage each other's religion:
For example, some Muslims label Christianity as a
polytheistic religion because of the Christians' belief in
Trinity-God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In
quick reaction, some Christians interpret the Muslims' usage,
of the word "Servants/Slave of Allah" to mean that Muslims
are truly slaves in the real sense of the word, while Christians
are the children of God, as described in the Bible.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, it is remarkable to note that I
devoted one of my publications to explaining the rationale for
the use of the two phrases by Christians and Muslims. I
concluded that the insinuations by both of them were borne
out of ignorance, which I described as the bane of
interreligious conflict in Nigeria (Ayantayo 2008). I make
bold to say that the 2008 publication is widely cited
extensively by those who conduct research in religious
conflicts in Nigeria.
The use of offensive language in writing and speaking to
describe others' religions is contemptuous and annoying. The
use of derogatory terms is a product of ill-feeling and
negative attitude against the religions of other people. This is
in tandem with the fear of Iwara when he remarkably writes
that:
Language is like the atom bomb: depending on
the use one makes of it, it can cause widespread
devastation, as it can be a source for peace and
harmony. So powerful, in fact, is language that it
has sometimes been claimed that the pen is
mightier than the sword ... This is possible
because language impacts heavily on a wide
range of domains where human beings have
vested interest. For example, language, as public
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behaviour, influences our assessment of the
individual's or group's personality, intelligence,
social status, educational attainment, job
qualification, identity and social survival (lwara
2005: 74).
The use of derogatory words had, in the history of religious
relation in Nigeria, provoked interreligious conflicts in the
name of defending one religion at one time or the other. Our
argument has been that religion is such a sacred thing to
religious practitioners that a religious person is always rea Iy
to defend his/her religion and possibly die for it if the need
anses.
(ii) Western Researchers
The second set of God's abductors are the Western scholars
like Taylor, James and Levy-Bruhl (Parrinder 1977: 7-13)
who labelled African Traditional Religion (ATR) as
paganism (worshipping of false gods or false idols); savagism
(religion of uncivilised and unpolished people, which is
characterised by cruelty, brutality, and ferocity); fetishism (a
form of belief and religious practice in which supernatural
attributes are imputed to material, inanimate objects, known
as fetishes, that is worshipping of fetish things that has to do
with a belief in the magical power of fetishes); heathenism (a
religious system or rites of a heathen nation); idolatry
(worshipping of idols, images or anything which is not God);
and primitivism, animism and polytheism (the doctrine of, or
belief in, a plurality of gods (Parrinder 1977). Further studies
of ATR showed that none of the labels is applicable to it
because the religion is equally monotheistic like Christianity
and Islam, as I strongly argued in my publication entitled
"Ethical Issues in the Academic Bias in the Study of Nigeria
Indigenous Traditional Religions and its Ethical Implications
for Interreligious Conflicts in Nigeria" (Ayantayo 2011).
Therefore, the position of the Western scholars regarding
ATR is nothing but an expression of bias, which is
characterised by prejudice, subjectivity and preconceived
ideas which Parrinder describes as derogatory terms.
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(iii) Contemporary Academics
This comprises a few teachers of Christian Religious
Knowledge (CRK) and Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK),
in primary schools, secondary schools and lecturers of
Religious Studies. in tertiary institutions, respectively, who
confine the right to teaching about the knowledge of religions
(whose centrality is belief in God) to certain individuals of
specific religious persuasions. For instance, there is
insinuation among Christian teachers/lecturers that a
Christian teacher is not qualified to teach IRK or that Muslim
teachers are not qualified to teach CRK. In the University,
some people believe that a Christian lecturer who, although
has obtained a degree in Religious Studies, is not qualified to
teach Islam or that a Muslim lecturer who has a degree in
Religious Studies is not qualified to teach Christianity for the
fear of them displaying prejudice against the religion which is
different from the one they practise. Besides, this category of
intellectuals also discourages Muslim students from learning
Christian Religious Knowledge and Christian students from
learning Islamic Religious Knowledge at primary and
secondary schools. Hence, the door of allowance for the two
sets of students to learn from different religions in their
immediate environment is shut and, consequently, each of
them is confined to the knowledge of an already abducted
God.
Besides this, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, we observe that a
non-Adventist lecturer of Religious Studies in the University
of Ibadan as an example, cannot be allowed to teach in the
Department of Religious Studies, Babcock University Ilishan,
Remo, Ogun State for the fear of him teaching with prejudice.
This is why the University always turns down sabbatical
applications from other universities. But, the paradox in this
is that many of the students who graduated from Babcock
University came to our noble Department of Religious
Studies, University of Ibadan, for postgraduate studies after
which they returned and taught their students what we had
taught them objectively. On a number of times, Professors in
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the Department of Religious Studies, University of Ibadan
were invited as External Assessors for promotion cases in the
Department of Religious Studies, Babcock University. In my
paper with a title: "Imperativeness of Professional Ethics in
Religious Studies Scholarship in Nigeria" (Ayantayo 2009), I
debunked the teaching qualification as unnecessary because,
as Pye notes, the study of religions does not serve the
interests of any religion, it should be distinguished, for
example, from missiology 'and apologetics or a theology of
religion (Pye 2004: 22).
(iv) Religious Fundamentalists and Radicalists
These are the ones who have fixed minds about the teachings
of their religions and are not ready to shift ground by
accepting religious pluralism. They have closed minds and
always remain absolute about their religious truth claims. In
most cases, this group of religious practitioners is ready to
defend their faith including using arms and ammunitions and
eliminating the lives and destroying propertiesv-of people
belonging to faiths different from theirs.
What Abduction Entails
In most cases, the abduction of God goes thus:
(1) Taking God forcibly outside His space (world) and
beyond His will which, manifests in why He created
people male and female, black and white, short and
long, placed them in different geographical
locations and assigned them different respon-
\ sibilities within the contexts of their different
geographical enclaves.
', (.2), Building of fortified walls with limited gateways
around Him thereby confining Him to the new
space He is taken to,
(~) Restricting anybody from getting to Him in the new
place except through the self-claimed channels or
individuals, particularly.the religious functionaries.
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(4) Determination by the abductors of the level of
interaction and relationship the brethren (for
Christianity) and Ummah (for Islam) could have
with Him.
(5) Paying of ransom in form of levies, determined .
offerings, and paying of spiritual charges relating
to the possession and use of sacred objects such as
mantle, water, oil and candles among others before
the brethren or Ummah could enjoy or receive
blessings from Him.
(6) Giving of different interpretations to the person of
God, His attributes, to whom He belongs or does
not belong.
(7) Making the abducted God, like any abductee a
subject of manipulation in the hands of religious
practitioners by virtue of their truth claims.
(8) Negotiating with the abductors who have turned
themselves to 'mini gods' before the believers could
have access to Him. I paid attention to this issue in
one of my publications entitled 'Deification theory
resurrecting in New Religious Movements in
Nigeria'.
(9) Reconstructing a new identity in which the
followers of an abducted God form a resistance to
another group who also abducted God in its own
right.
Factors that Precipitated the Abduction Business and its
Sustainability
As demonstrated in my research, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, one
major factor that makes the abduction of God possible and
why it is sustained is what I defined as religious ignorance.
Religious ignorance in the context of our discussion refers to
lack of knowledge or information about particular religious
beliefs and practices. It could be lack of sufficient knowledge
or information about the religion we practise by another
person belonging to a religious faith different from ours. The
meeting point of the two is lack of sufficient know ledge about
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a particular religion in terms of its cardinal beliefs and
practices at one point or the other. For example, an average
Nigerian ChristianlMuslim does not have sufficient
knowledge of what Christianity or Islam stands for. This
happens because the majority of them either rely on their
pastors, Imams or Sunday school teachers for the little they
know about the religion, as most of them hardly create time to
read the Bible or the Qur' an on their own. The
overdependence on the religious leaders probably heightens
the degree of religious ignorance among Nigerian religious
practitioners. Besides, a few of them are religious converts
who are probably yet to have firm roots in the new religion.
Even the old converts, especially the first generation who got
converted from African traditional religions to either Islam or
Christianity, also still know little about the religions because
some of them were blackmailed to become Christians or
Muslims, not that they willingly changed their religions. This
is evident in some of the words used by Christian and Islamic
missionaries when they had contact with the traditional
religious practitioners. For example, the traditional religious
practitioners were called names such as ajebo (sacrifice eater)
and elebo (sacrifice maker).
Ironically, it is interesting to note that most of the first
generation of Christian converts, especially those in
'-f'l; +\~ut~":ttPf,:· - t· - . '~ieh Christianity got to
. Yorubaland, are practising Christianity today because
Christianity got to their land before Islam, while most of the
Muslims today especially in placeslike Iwo in Osun State are
Muslims today because Islam got to their land before
. Christianity. In other words, most Christians today, especially
the first-generation ones, could have been Muslims if Islam
had been the first of the foreign religions to get to their land,
_ while the early adherents of Islam could have been Christians
~. r- ••• ~;f{jgay if' Christianity had got to their land before Islam .
. , Two issues emerging from the foregoing illustrations, aee;
(Q~. aD) aserage Cfu:iJStian 0:[' MusJ'im harctly knows U{!Tt..cr 5<!J%
@,ff the content and intent of Christianity m:- Islam,
respectively, especially on some doctrinal issues and the
sacred languages of hislher religion. Daring a casual
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discussion with some Muslims regarding the level of their
understanding of Arabic, the language with which they say
their prayers, they confessed to me that they only memorised
it, not that they actually knew the context and the content of
the Arabic words used in their liturgical activities. The same
could be said of some Christians who use some Latin words
in their liturgical activities. Alluding to this experience in
religious circles, Stephen Prothero gives a pertinent
illustration of his personal experience resulting from his
interaction with his students:
In a religious quiz I give my Boston University
students every year, I am told that Paul bound
Isaac and Abraham was blinded on the road to
Damascus. Catholic students are unable to name
even one of the seven sacraments of their faith.
Protestant students think 'God helps those who
help themselves' is a Bible quote story. And
Hindu students cannot tell me even one Hindu
scripture (Prothero 2007: 2).
The above shows the magnitude of ignorance among
religious practitioners on issues related to their religions.
Two, the same sets of people who are ignorant about many
things regarding their religions are the ones who pass
erroneous comments about religions that are different from
theirs. This ignorance is manifested in misquoting the
scriptures; quoting scriptures and interpreting them out of
context, intent and content; quoting the scriptures
contemptuously and giving stereotypical interpretations' of the
scriptures, among others.
Out of the two ways by which Nigerian Christians and
Muslims manifest religious ignorance has to do with the
commenting on religions of others. The expression of
ignorance in this regard is often interpreted as a calculated
attempt to denigrate, malign, belittle and undermine the
religions of other people; hence the degree of bickering,
'\\rrangling,internal strife and backbiting often accompanying
the act. The ignorance expressed in the listed forms do
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generate interreligious conflicts, especially when they pertain
to doctrinal issues such as God and godhead, salvation,
eschatology, angelo logy, worship, prayer and fellowship, the
use of religious language such as Arabic, Greek and Hebrew,
and also the Christians' practice of speaking in tongues,
among others.
Perhaps it is in the light of this that, Unity Movement for
Reforming Society in LahorelPakistan made this special
prayer towards peace and religious tolerance in Lahore!
Pakistan:
Merciful God, You made all of the people of the
world in your own image and placed before us the
pathway of salvation through different Preachers
who claimed to have been Your Saints and
Prophets. But, the contradictions in their
teachings and interpretations of them have
resulted in creating divisions, hatreds and
bloodshed in the world community. Millions of
innocent men, women and children have so far
been brutally killed by the militants of several
religions who have been committing horrifying
crimes against humanity, and millions more
would be butchered by them in the future, if You
do not help us find ways to reunite peacefully
(http://www.religioustolerance.org/wicrade.htm ).
Consequences of Abduction
The abduction of God has resulted in too many things in the
Nigerian public spaces, a few of which are considered below:
(i) Emergence of Insider and Outsider Phenomena
The term insiders is used to describe an individual or group
of'<individuals belonging to a religious group, assembly,
denomination, cluster, association, union or society like the
Anglican Church, the Baptist Church and the Nasrul Lahi-l-
Fatih Society (NASF AT). For example, anyone outside the
four groups mentioned above but belongs to religious groups
such as the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Christ
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Apostolic Church, Sufi Movement and Quareeb are regarded
as outsiders, However, the people so regarded as outsiders see
themselves as insiders in their own religious enclaves and
consider the first group as outsiders because they do not
belong to their group. The terms insider and outsider are used
in inter-denominational, group and sect senses. For instance,
at the intra-religious level, Christians who belong to the
Anglican Church will consider Christians in other Christian
denominations, like the Baptist Church, Christ Apostolic
Church and the Redeemed Christian Church of God, as
outsiders.
Beyond this level, the terms insider and outsider are
equally used for religious differentiation, especially at the
broad religious level in which we make a line of demarcation
among religions of the world, such as African Traditional
Religion (ATR) , Christianity, Islam, Guru Maharaji, Hare
Krishna, Eckankar, Buddhism, Shitoism, Confucianism and
Judaism. For illustration at the interreligious level, Christians
consider Muslims as outsiders, while Muslims also consider
Christians as outsiders. For this reason, members of the
different religious groups are fond of calling one another
several names that have to do with different doctrines, beliefs
and practices. Practitioners of ATR are called initiates/
devotees; the words parishioners, brethren and congregation
~e, used for p:l~~, lVll.il~~ ~ is-.~e5i'11;l
", .•"'~ Islam' to describet_~s: lIa~Htio~df *1R' (irisiders)
are called Awo meaning initiates/devotees; while non-
members (outsiders) are known as Ogberi, that is, novices.
Christians (insiders) could be called brethren, believers or
born-again; while nen-Christians are regarded as unbelievers
(outsiders). In the same vein, Muslims (insiders) are regarded
as Ummah, while non-Muslims (outsiders) are regarded as
unbelievers-Kaflr. .',
In the pub( ,~pact;: ttfe. terms manifest in- the emphasis
several institut~', p1ace on religious identity in which
individual religious practitioner is differentiated on the basis
of what denomination, parish, unit, association, camp, sect,
order, province, or circuits an individual or a group of
::
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,,
individuals belongs to. Hence, we are left with dichotomies
such as "we" versus "they" and "us" versus "them". Often,
this demarcation leads to division, differentiation and
sometimes, alienation, in the Nigerian religious space. The
issue also surfaces as required biographical information to be
provided by Nigerian citizens while filling application forms
of public significance. This is applicable to forms related to '
job-seeking, admission exercise, recruitment into public
service and general documentation on issues connected to
Nigerian nationalities. It is an issue recurring in population
census and demographic documentation. The phenomenon
also is a factor in determining who occupies the Nigerian
political spaces at the ward, local government, state, and
national levels. As demonstrated in a paper titled "Religious
Factors in the Nigerian Public Sphere: Its .Burdens and
Prospects" (Ayantayo 2009), I mentioned that religious
affiliation in Nigeria is a factor determining who occupies a
political space. It is no wonder we hear or read about the
terms "Catholic vote", "Muslim vote", "Baptist vote" or
"Pentecostal vote" at election periods in Nigeria. Such
religious interest, according to Johhstone, gives very explicit
recognition to the correlation that exists between religious
affiliation and commitment, on the one hand, and religious
affiliation and voting behaviour, on the other hand (Johnstone
2001),' In Nigt:";~ religious differentiation in-the political
circle is" spearheaded by religious bodies like the Christian
Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs such that the choice of a candidate is with
reference to Christian/Muslim or Muslim/Christian ticket.
This is common where there are two positions running
concurrently, such as those of President and Vice President,
Governor and Deputy Governor. This practice is evident in
the political history of Nigeria, as shown below:
(1) Nnamdi Azikiwe/Tafawa Balewa (Christian!
Muslim), (1960-1966).
(2) Shehu Shagari/ Alex Ekwueme (Muslim/Christian),
1979-1983.
(3) Buhari/ldiagbon (Musliri1!Muslim) (1983-85).
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(4) Babangida/Ebitu Ukiwe, Aikhomu (Muslim/
Christian), 1985-1993.
(5) ShonekaniAbacha (ChristianlMuslim), 26 August
1993 - 17 November 1993.
(6) Abacha/Diya (Muslim/Christian), 1997-1998.
(7) Abudusalami/ Akhigbe (Muslim/Christian) 1998-
1999.
(8) Obasanjo/ Atiku (ChristianlMuslim), 1999-2007.
(9) Yar' Adua/Jonathan (Muslim/Christian) (2007-
2011).
(10) Jonathan/Sambo (ChristianlMuslim), (2011-2015).
(11) Buhari/Qsinbajo (Muslim/Christian) (20 15-to date).
(ii) Contestation for Space
Instead of people living by the virtues of tolerance,
cooperation and love that the pulpit preaches, we have so
..much competition and contestation for space among religious
organisations. This has led to denigration of individual
religious organisations,unhealthy rivalries, bickering and, in
..most cases, intra- and interreligious conflicts (Ayantayo
2002). The contestation has also led to the desecration of the
public space as evident in indiscriminate siting of Churches
and Mosques on every Nigerian streets and residential areas.
This act. ultimately violates town planning protocols and
destroys the aesthetics of the environment through littering of
public spaces like banks, post offices and moto\farks with
religious bill boards and posters. This singular fact, as I
argued in a paper entitled, "A Biblical-Ethical Evaluation of
the Attitudes of Contemporary Churches to the Environment
in Nigeria: An Issue in Sustainable Development Discourse"
(Ayantayo 2009), raises the issue of social and moral
irresponsibility on the part of the religious organisations that
teach the duty towards environmental sustainability. Abuse of
the environment is also evident in the use of drum-sized loud
speakers, during morning, afternoon and evening religious
services taking place in the public spaces. This often results
in air pollution and social noise, which negatively affects the
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neighbourhood of the culpable religious centres, including the
infants and the sick on admission in hospitals who ordinarily
might be expected to be on bed rest. On the menace of noise
pollution in Nigeria, Soni-Ehi observes that:
Residents of big. cities are increasingly going
through partial deafuess. Their sensitive eardrums
are daily being bombarded by a continuous
barrage of environmental noise overflowing from
ear shattering drum-size speakers of markets,
mosques and churches (Soni-Ehi 1984: 2006).
Contestation for space also led to excessive publicity among
Nigerian religious organisations about how to locate their
religious enclaves at the expense of the others and aggressive
evangelism and Dawah for membership drive which often
result in physical clashes as recorded in the history of religious
relations in Nigeria (Ayantayo 2005: 55).
(iii) Indiscriminate Timing of Religious Programmes
Although all religions teach the essence of time and time .
management, many religious centres scheduled their religious
programmes wrongly. For example, some of them have daily
vigil, weekly programmes by 10:00 am, 12:00 noon, 2:00 pm,
4~00 pm, and 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Some prayer mountains
have programmes throughout the day, week, and month for
their members (including civil servants who are members).
Some programmes are associated with season of the day such
as hour, week and month. Notable among them are: 72 hours
(that is, three days) before the Lord, 21 mornings, 21
afternoons and 21 nights with God; and first Monday, first
Tuesday, first Wednesday, first Thursday, first Friday and
first Saturday of the month with God. In most cases, the
church programmes, like prayer, fasting and vigil, are
designed to meet the needs of different categories or classes
of people in" the church such as civil servants; artisans,
politicians, first born male or girl child, widows, widowers,
those that are waiting upon the Lord for the fruit of the
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womb, the unemployed and underemployed graduates,
contractors, those that are seeking travel visas, students that
are about to write promotion examinations, and so on and so
forth. The snag in this system is that the timing has adverse
effects on the work ethics of their religious followers,
especially those who are civil servants (Ayantayo 2012: 53-
68). We are worried that the productive times of the day are
spent in religious centres with little or no evidence to justify
it, as unemployment and underemployment is still high in
Nigeria. The timing is predicated on keeping members of
religious organisations busy so that they will not be lured to
other faith and her abducted God.
(iv) SocialExclusion
Social exclusion, which can be described as a
multidimensional process of progressive social rupture,
detaching groups and individuals from social relations and
institutions and preventing them from full participation in the
normal, normatively prescribed activities of the society, is
one of the consequences of the insider-outsider phenomenon.
Only Christianity and Islam are considered as major religions
in Nigeria, with little attention paid to the others. On many
occasions, practitioners of other faiths are excluded in social
and public matters. In public places, much attention is given
to Islam and Christianity and little or none to African
Traditional Religion as if it does not exist or it is not
important. In other words, African Traditional Religion is
often treated as a subsidiary. In some places where Islam and
African Traditional Religion are prominent, little or no
attention is paid to Christianity in interreligious enterprise,
while little or no attention is also paid to Islam in
communities where Christianity and African Traditional
Religion are much more prominent. The practice of inclusion
and exclusion always brings setback to interreligious dialogue
because, from the moral point of view, the act itself is
suggestive of discrimination, inequality, intolerance and
'<igotry.
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(v) Commercialisation of Religion
Having abducted God and restricted believers in that God
from looking elsewhere, the religious leaders engage in some
activities that look like ransom taking. This is what we label
as commercialisation of religion. For instance, many religious
activities and programmes are designed with a motive to
make economic gain which is the situation Obiora dubs,
"commercialisation of religion". He amplifies it as follows:
the commercialisation of Christianity has led to
corruption, immorality, and other forms of
indiscipline in our Churches today. The church,
which was supposed to be a house of God, has
become a den of robbers, a place for mischief
makers, cheats and immoral activities (Obiora
1998: 73).
This unpleasant development which is contrary to what the
pulpit teaches is also evident in the sales of sacred and cultic
religious objects at high prices in a situation that takes
economic advantage of ailing, spiritually and economically
deprived, frustrated and depressed religious worshippers who
approach the religious centres as alternative places to meet
their ultimate needs which actually took them to the religious
centres. Such objects include anointed water, mantle, oil,
hand band, candle, incense oil, Zemzem water and Jerusalem
water, among oth~rs.
(vi) Lust for Materialism
To keep religious believers stable with the abducted God,
they are enticed by material things, thus leading to lust for
materialism, which is the tendency to value material things
like wealth, money, cars, high profit in business and too much
bodily comfort and place too little or no value on moral,
spiritual and intellectual things (Paul 1979: 670). By
implication, the quest for materialism, which dominates the
life of religious and non-religious practitioners, is in
opposition to moral values such as asceticism, simplicity and
moderation pertaining to lifestyle. It is observed that an
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average religious practitioner, places strong emphasis on
monetary acquisition, commercialisation of every aspect of
life and less value on morality. All these come in the garment
of "Get Rich Quick Syndrome" (GRQS) and a new prosperity
theology which was strongly condemned in one of my
publications entitled, "Prosperity Gospel and Social Morality: .
A Critique" (Ayantayo 2009). Rather than placing high
premium on the state of morality of a person, the attention is
now shifted to the wealth or material possession of
individuals. In the light of this development, Steiner remarks
that the "philosophy of materialism drives some businessmen
to be oriented exclusively to monetary rewards" (Steiner
1975: 213) .
.
(vii), Spiritual Pride
There is' so much display of pride rather than humility among
religious leaders and followers as many of them have
hijacked the Church or Mosque jointly established by them
and their followers. For example, there is a paradigm shift
from collective ownership of a Church or Mosque to private
ownership. This development is one of the manifestations of
Pentecostal Christianity and Islam in which religious centres
belong to individuals and their families, while members are
made mere followers even though these religious centres
were jointly brought into existence with the so-called
founders. It is a pity that today we read about the financial
worth of religious founders and not financial worth of the
Church they lead. This incident is what I described as the
Pass worded Ministries and which one of my publications
(forthcoming) strongly condemned in objective, rational and
logical terms. Worst still, 70% of the airtime of the
"Passworded Ministries" are devoted to boasting about
miracles they have performed at one time or the other. Today,
most of the religious leaders in Islam and Christianity badly
declare of the bigness of their religious centres, auditoriums,
and congregation, coupled with availability of air
conditioners which have little or no significant relationship
with the actual spiritual strength of such congregations.
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(viii) Title Consciousness
Many religious leaders and followers are title-conscious.
They wish to be addressed with both religious and non-
religious titles such as Alhaji and Alhaja which, I got to
know, refer to the names Saudi peoplec call those on a
pilgrimage to Mecca and it means "travelerr".. If this is true,
one wonders why people always want to be called by these
titles when they return home. To us, this is part of the craze
for titles among religious practitioners who the pulpit taught
that good deeds earn someone good names not the ones the
society ascribed to a person. 'Some Christian religious leaders
want titles such as Evangelist, Prophet and Pastor combined.
It is also surprising that most of the religious leaders are not
contented with spiritual titles; they still want to hijack what
obtains in the world like J.P., Chief, Doctor, etc. This is a
thing to be worried about because it is contrary to what the
pulpit teaches about names and titles.
(ix) First Ladyship
We discover that the philosophy of first ladyship which was
ushered in by the Babangida regime (1985 - 1993) has crept
into religious centres. Curious observations have shown that
many of the wives of religious leaders are called the first
ladies of the Churches. For example, some of them are
addressed as Mummy G.O., Mummy Bishop, and Mummy
and Mother-in-Israel, to mention but a few. We see them in
joint photographs taken with their husbands and published in
newspapers, magazines, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and
other social media platforms or posted on billboards, posters
and calendars. While one sees this as having the potential to
enhance women's spiritual involvement and empowerment,
we should not overlook the way the concept has been abused
in Christendom. Its consequence is competition for
recognition between the wives and their husbands, as some of
them usually launch parallel programmes with that of the
Church. In this situation, most religious leaders could hardly
manifest their religious calling without consultation with their
wives (an action which is considered a violation of ministerial
ethics). Worst still, with the pastors and their wives at the
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forefront, the children are left in the hands of housemaids.
This probably explains why many pastors' children have poor
moral orientation occasioned by inadequate parental
upbringing.
(x) False Teaching
Unlik-e in the past, we can hardly find absolute truth in the
teachings from most pulpits in Nigeria today, in terms of
scriptural interpretation and analysis. Instead, you find a lot
of puffing, overgeneralisation, falsification of facts and
interpretations of the Bible/Qur'an out of conexts. This
development is evident in the new prosperity theology which
is characterised by sowing of seed, regular tithing, special
levy and offering-as conditions to receive bountiful
blessings, avoidance of sickness, success in trade and
obtaining of health and financial buoyancy. Quite often, false
teaching has become an albatross of poverty creation and
economic impoverisation of those who succumb to the
theory. What follows this practice is the dwindling economy
of the givers while the ChurchIMosque smiles to the bank
after the offering exercise. We are not saying the practice is
not good or that it does not have efficacy, but we find a hole
in the method of manipulating people to give. There was a
case of a man who stole money from his place of work and
gave the same to his church. The theory no doubt has
negatively influenced people's attitude to the pursuance of
wealth (Ayantayo 2009).
(xi) Exploitation
False teachings lead to the exploitation of religious followers.
The exploitation by religious leaders manifests in social,
political and economic realms of religious followers' lives.
Ordinarily, these leaders ought to protect the interest of their
followers. On economy, religious followers through the
teachings from the pulpits are made to contribute so much
money for religious leaders and centres' use via crusades,
sermons, offerings and sales of books, audio and video
cassettes produced by religious leaders. It is the practice of
prosperity gospellers to organise regular crusades or revivals
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with tags or labels associated with prosperity. We have an
unending list of crusade titles, which we gathered during the
course of our investigation. These include: "Success 2001 ",
"Poverty to Prosperity", "Grass to Grace", "New Millennium
Breakthrough", "It is my turn to Succeed", "Success is my
Portion", "Having more than Enough", "Unlimited
Prosperity", and "Key to a Successful Year". A recent
addition is the one titled, "I will not leave Lagos Empty-
handed Crusade." There are always Biblical quotations to
back the caption of the aforementioned crusade tags. In
essence, the preachers only tell half-truths and half-l:es
Obiora confirms this when he writes that:
Crusade is found to be a forum where well-fed
individuals boost their ego, project false
assumption, dish out intriguing half-truths,
innuendos, understatements, . exaggeration,
inarticulate promises, insinuations, deliberate
generalising or distortion of fact, false
testimonies, and imputation for improper
motives-all geared towards accumulation of
wealth and fatty bank account (Obiora 1998: 73).
Young members of religious organisations are made to
serve as errand boys/girls and protocol officers for religious
leaders. Even married men and women among the church
leaders are not spared, as some of them are staff working
assiduously to serve the caprices of their religious leaders. All
these they do with poor on no remuneration. Religious
followers contribute much to the church/mosque buildings
and faith-based universities to which they cannot afford to
send their children, due to their poverty.
(xii) Sexual Immorality and Ritual Performance
Newspapers are replete with so many rumoured and
established cases of· sexual immorality among religious
leaders which happened in religious centres and even very
close to their pulpits. There are also so many cases of rituals
made in religious centres. We heard reports of s?l11ereligious
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leaders who buried cows and even human beings alive in their
religious centres for the purpose of retaining members who
were already won over to stay with the abducted God.
(xiii} Sharp Religious Identities
As each religious functionary is trying to keep the abducted
God away from the reach of others, we notice the emergence
of sharp religious identities in dressing habits, names, social
interactions and relationships among religious practitioners
both in private and public places. There are cases of
Christians changing their traditional religious-based names to
their new faith-based names. An example is a person that
changed his name from Jekayinfa (let's praise Ifa-Yoruba
god of wisdom) to JekayinOluwa (let's praise God). We also
observe that many Muslims hardly have local names, they
bear Arabic names.
Change of name has the tendency to create classes within
the religious community in which we have ."born-again"
Christians and nominal Christians. Some of these are the ones
who, among other requirements, change their names to new
ones. With this, there emerge walls dividing the two classes.
Fundamentally, the development brought about change of
people's identity, that is, change in the religious identity of
past and contemporary Christians in Yoruba religious
community. It is in the light of this that Ruth-Marshall
describes Pentecostal Christianity as an institution, which
brought about a model for the construction of identity
(Fratani 1998: 5). In addition, with the use of Hijab by the
Muslim women and Habits by Catholic brothers and sisters in
public places can make one easily say who belongs to what
religion and who does not.
Is the Thesis of God's Abduction Justifiable?
The answer is 'No,' because, according to Charles Kegley,
central to any religion in the world is belief in God or gods,
the nature and destiny of man, the meaning of history and
hope for the future (Dzurgba 1997). If this is true, it becomes
very important to shed some light on what religion is or is
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not. Philologically, religion is said to have roots in the Latin
word religare, meaning "to bind together," which in a way
must have been derived from its nature-liturgy, worship and
fellowship. We shall dwell on its nature to provide more
information about it, particularly from the angle in which
religion could be seen from different perspectives, precisely
from the direction in which a definer is looking at it. It is no
wonder that scholars have defined it from sociological, moral,
philosophical, theological, anthropological and psychological
perspectives. I suspect that it is in the light of this background
that Austin Cline remarkably writes that:
It might be argued that religion is such a complex
and diverse cultural phenomenon that reducing it
to any single definition will either fail to capture
what it really is or merely misrepresent it. Indeed,
it's been argued by some that there is no such
thing as "religion" per se, just "culture" and the
various cultural manifestations which Western
scholars tend to label "religion" for no objectively
definable reasons. There is some merit to such an
argument, but I think that the above format for
defining religion manages to address the most
serious concerns. This definition recognises the
complexity of religion by emphasising the
importance of multiple basic characteristics rather
than simplifying religion to just one or two. This
definition also recognises the diversity of religion
by not insisting. that all characteristics be met in
order to qualify as a "religion" (Cline 2017: 1).
To avoid being carried away unnecessarily by the
numerous definitions of religion, we shall adopt Kenny's
definition as a working one because of its aptness to our
present discussion. Kenny defines religion as "anything that
relates man to the ultimate values and such a thing embodies
creed, code, cult and communion" (Kenny 1971: 24). We
need to expand this further by looking at each of these four
variables underlying religion. Creed is .used in the context of
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any system of principles or beliefs. Code refers to system,
principles or rules regulating man-to-man or God-and-man
behaviour. Cult refers to a religious group, which points to
the fact that religion is a group thing. It is practised not by an
individual alone but by a group of individuals. Communion,
which is the last of the elements, is used in the context of
worship, prayers sacrament and all activities pertaining to
communication between God and man, and man and man in a
religious setting. Johnstone concurs with Kenny by specifying
that religion is a group phenomenon that is connected with
the sacred and supernatural, involves a body of beliefs, entails
a set of practices, and involves moral prescription (Johnstone
2001). For the purpose of this audience, it is important to go
beyond the abstract understanding of the above variables by
explaining the practical manifestations of the four
characteristics in the three major religions in Nigeria, which
are arranged alphabetically: African Traditional Religion
(ATR), Christianity and Islam.
Belief in God, divinities, ancestors, spirits, magic and
medicines constitute the creed of African Traditional Religion
(ATR). The Christian creed is exemplified in the concept of
Trinity-God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit-which
goes with belief in one baptism, resurrection and divine
judgment. Belief in Allah, angels, and the Holy Book,
prophets, resurrection, judgment and predestination comprise
the Islamic creed.
Proverbs, taboos, fables, wise-sayings and the Ifa corpus,
among others, constitute the code of conduct in ATR. The
codes of conduct in Islam are found in the Qur'an and Hadith,
particularly with reference to the Sharia law. The Ten
Commandments and the Sermon on the Mountain are good
examples of codes in Christianity.
Traditional religious adherents in most cases meet in their
cultic shrines. The congregations or parishioners or, better
put, the Christians stand for the cult in Christianity; the group
usually meets mostly in churches, camps, mountains, plains
and temples. The Ulama or Jammah represents the cult or
religious group in Islam, whose popular places of meeting are.
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the mosque and, of recent, camps, with respect to some new
Islamic religious movements in Nigeria.
In ATR, communion is manifested in what is called Iwure
(prayer) and Sinsin (worship). Christians also commune with
God through prayers, worship, sacrament and many liturgical
activities. Muslims do the same principally with the five
times daily prayers, among others.
In spite of the above obvious fact about what religion is or
is not, adherents of the three religions are always at
loggerheads with one another. One would not have worried if
each of them manifests in concrete terms the codes of their
religions. But, what we noticed is a wide gap between what
religious leaders teach and the way that the majority of
Christians, Muslims and Traditional religious practitioners in
Nigeria behave. This is worrisome because the religious
practitioners behave or act piously in their religious centres
and become abnormal outside. Some of them donate Church
or Mosque buildings and they are so appreciated for the act
that can be regarded as pious but they are condemned in the
public given the fact that they got their wealth through sharp
practices. In other words, many religious practitioners are
pious in the ChurchIMosque but behave like the devil outside.
On Sundays and Fridays, we notice piety in their modes of
worship, dressing and comportment in the church/mosque
such as sharing what they have with their religious fellows in
the Church or Mosque but behave as' cheats in their different
places of work. ,
What makes us worry is that good morality that we see in
public places is high in advanced countries like the US, China
and Finland where religion is not as pronounced as it is in
Nigeria. Such advanced societies to a good level provide the
essentials of life (clothing, shelter, security and food) for their
citizens and grants them hope and assurance here on earth,
and not the one awaiting them in heaven. They obey traffic
lights while Nigerian' religious practitioners disobey traffic
lights even on Sunday and Friday. Many Nigerian religious
practitioners have companies where workers are employed
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but paid salaries that cannot take them home. Most
Pentecostal churches preach prosperity and pay church
workers' salaries that cannot take them out from the shackles
of poverty. The Muslims who believe that Islam is the best
religion are not behaving better than the so-called Christians
and vice versa. In both the Church and the Mosque, we notice
the prevalence of dishonesty, insincerity, lie, irresponsibility,
incest, disobedience, disrespect for elders and constituted
authority and injustice. Others are favouritism, laziness,
idleness, selfishness, promise-breaking, envy, jealousy,
rivalry, nepotism, hatred, impatience, and so on. These
disheartening cases in religious centres in Nigeria are
unending. Thus, we are tempted to conclude that there is a
wide and dangerous disconnection between the pulpit and the
public space. Given the trend of the disconnection between
what the pulpit teaches and what religious practitioners do in
the Nigerian public space. For example, Kelechi Ekezie's
comment on a WhatsApp platform is apt and it reads:
Finland has the most stable economy in the world
today. There are less than twenty churches in
Finland. Switzerland has the second most stable
economy in the world today. Switzerland has less
than thirty churches. Denmark is the third most
stable economy in the world today. Denmark has
about twenty-three churches in it. These countries
are considered largely atheist in nature, yet so
blessed.
Come to Owerri town, SE Nigeria from MCC
junction to Toronto junction, there are 36
Churches. That stretch of about 5 km harbours 36
churches, more churches than the entire
Switzerland. Between Owerri and Mgbidi, I
counted 97 churches and gave up. According to
Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria has over
23,000 registered churches.
We have more churches than schools and
hospitals combined. More pastors than doctors
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and teachers combined. Everyone is born again.
All are covered with Holy Spirit. Yes, none of
those claims reflects in the expected moral
elevation of society. We are still one of the
greediest, laziest, corrupt, deceitful, hypocritical
and hateful set of beings on the planet today, with
all our Christ and Holy Spirit.
Our people need to draw the line between
religiosity and spirituality.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor Sir, as a proof that nobody has the right
to monopolise God or abduct Him and deny people of other
faiths access to Him, permit me to ask the following
rhetorical questions:
(1) How many Christians presently were once Muslims
or how many Muslims presently were formerly
Christians?
(2) If we have such in our midst, we can ask further that
on what ground such people leaved Christianity for
Islam or Islam for Christianity.
(3) How much knowledge does an average Christian or
Muslim have of Christianity, Islam and other world
religions respectively before arriving at a conviction
that his or her religion is the best?
(4) How much knowledge does an average Christian or
Muslim have about Christianity and Islam
respectively before condemning each other's
religion? '
(5) How many people here present had the opportunity
of making a choice at birth among the three major
religions in Nigeria: Traditional Religion,
Christianity, and Islam?
(6) How many here present or reading this lecture note
would have preferred to be Muslims or Christians if
not because they were born by Muslim or Christian
parents?
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(7) How many people here present have ever asked a
question about the religious profile of: doctors or
nurses who attend to their pregnant wives; petroleum
attendants who sell fuel at filling stations;
commercial drivers that convey their children to
schools or their wives or husbands to their markets or
work places; clerical officers who treat their
promotion files; or attendants who serve them food at
restaurants?
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I have proved in some of my
publications that the answers to these questions are no and no.
This, once again indicates that nobody has the right to abduct
God because apparently many people are practicing religion
circumstantiall y.
Toolkits for Rescuing God from His Abductors
As a way of rescuing God from His abductors, we have the
following toolkits for the use of every stakeholder of religions
at the private and public levels.
(i) Accepting the Equality of Religions
There is need for all and sundry to accept the fact that all
religions are equal in terms of the origin of the world, man
and the hereafter. Therefore, religious practitioners must
come to terms that in spite of the differences in religions, they
still have some meeting points which can be advanced to
jointly influence the public space positively. For instance, we
discover that the two major religions (Christianity and Islam)
that are always in contest in Nigeria have some things in
common as discussed below:
(a) Belief in God who is the sole creator and maintainer
of the universe. He is called several names.
(b) Belief in Prophets: Both religions believe in prophets,
who have carried the word of the Lord to earth. Both
Christians and Muslims believe that Noah, Abraham,
Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David,
Solomon, John the Baptist, and Jesus (peace be upon
them) were sent by God as messengers of His word.
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(c) Each of them has a scripture, the Bible for the
Christianity and the Qur'an for Islam; and the two
books share much in common and are considered
sacred texts.
(d) The two religions believe in Jesus' miraculous birth
from the Virgin Mary (Qur'an 19:16-26, Isaiah 7:14).
Where they differ is the divinity of Jesus Christ as
God's son.
(e) The two religions also believe in the existence of
Satan with its devilish act.
(f) Both also believe in the last day.
(g) The two also believe in ParadiselHeaven and Hell.
(h) They also teach ethics, what is called the Golden
Rule, which is cardinal in the interface between the
pulpit and the public space. For instance, Matthew
7: 12 teaches that "All things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do you even so to them
for this is the law and the prophets" and Sunnah in
Islam teaches that "No one of you is a believer until
he desires for his brother that which he desires for
himself." Interestingly, the maxim is not limited to
the two religions; it also features in other world
religions as exemplified below (Crawford 1989:
296):
"Do to the doer in order to cause him to
.!,-, for thee". That is thanking him for
what he may do; that is parrying
something before it is shot.
"Is there one maxim which ought to be
acted upon throughout one's whole life?
Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness
"do not do unto others what you would
not have them do unto you."
"This is the sum of all true righteousness
- treat others, as thou wouldst thyself be
treated." (Hinduism).
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"A man is good only when he is willing
not to do to another what is not good for
himself' (Zoroastrianism, Mareus Busch-
Major Religions of the World) .
. "This is the sum of duty do naught unto
others which would cause you to pay if
done to you" (Brahmanism, Mahabharata
5: 1417).
"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself
would find hurtful" Buddhism-
Udanayarga 5: 18..
"Regard your neighbour's gain as your
own gain, and your neighbour's loss as
your own loss" (Taoism: T'ai-Sharg Ken-
yingp'ien).
"What is hateful to you; do not to your
fellow man. That is the entire law: all the
rest is commentary" - Judaism, Talmud,
Shabbit, 319 (Rost 1986).
"Whenever a person breaks a stick in the
forest, let him consider what i would feel
if it were himself' (that was this broken)
(Yoruba proverb).
Perhaps it is in the light of the equality of religion that
Nigerian constitution gives allowance to what is known as
freedom of religion. Specifically, Section 38/1 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states that:
Every: person shall be entitled' to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion, including freedom to change his
religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community
with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and
propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice
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and observance. By so doing there should not be compulsion
in religion, hence the need for religious leaders to be careful
of their proselytisation enterprise.
(ii) Understanding the Cultural Background of
Religions
It is imperative that religious practitioners come to terms with
the fact that religion is a product of culture of where it came
from, as Islam and Christianity came from the Eastern World
and Traditional Religion from the African continent. Our
argument is grounded ori Iwe's definition of culture as a way
of life that reflects people's distinctive genius and spirit, their
fundamental character or ethos, their value orientation,
worldview, institutions and achievements in the various fields
of human endeavour-legal and literary, artistic and
scientific, religious, philosophical and technological (lwe
1985). From this it is obvious that religion is a product of
culture and for this reason we have argued further that
religion is a systematic reflection and interpretation of what
people see around them and which ultimately translates to
religious conviction and religious beliefs. The religious
thinking of a people is reflected in what they say about God.
For instance, the people in the riverside areas who
experienced large expanse of water everyday are likely to
conclude that God is a God of water. In the same vein,
somebody in the forest area is likely to feel that God is a God
of forest who sustains the forest during the dry season. Jesus
talks about mustard seed as a tiny seed. I believe Christ would
have used tobacco seed to buttress His point if he was a
Nigerian. The cutting of condemned criminals' hands.
according to Islamic law was only meaningful in a seemingly
homogeneous society of the then time, when the act could
result in stigmatisation. Today, the injunction cannot hold
water in modem heterogeneous society where one can lose
one's hand to industrial injuries. Besides, prayer points are
laced in African culture and evidence abounds that all the
principal beliefs of African Tradition Religion manifest
consciously in the practical liturgy of many Muslims and
Christian religious organisations.
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Another important thing to note at this juncture is the fact
that religion is man-made. It is based on man's projections.
For instance, nobody has ever seen God, yet religious people
believe that He exists. Nevertheless, what people see around
them such as the sun, water and the moon, among others,
informed their religious convictions about the existence of
God, who is regarded as the architect of these things. This
goes with the impression that religion is also experiential.
People conceived the idea of religion and become a member
of a religious organisation probably on the basis of what they
experience at one time or the other.
Religious experience could come in form of vision, voice,
corporate, numinous, book and conversion. The place of
religious experience is very sacrosanct in religion to the
extent that Rudolph Otto argues that there is no religion
which does not have God as its innermost core and without it
no religion would be worthy of the name (Dzurgba 1987). To
us, religious experience informs religious expression.
Religious expression in most cases is the outward
manifestation of religious practices. This goes with the fact
that religious scriptures and traditions were inspired but also
they have human hands in terms of their documentation and
interpretation. For this reason, religious scriptures and
traditions should be understood in terms of their context,
content, original intents, history and application vis-a-vis the
• challenge of modem time.
(iii) Identifying and Accepting Religious Pluralism
This has to do with accepting that there are many other
religions in the society aside from the one being practised by
an individual or a group of individuals. In other words, it is a
situation in which a Christian will come to an understanding
that, apart from Christianity (his religion), there are still
others such as Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam,
Zoroastrianism, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism
and African Traditional Religion.
In the case of Christianity, we read about Melchizedek in
Genesis 14:18, and the Wisemen (Matthew 2:1-13) as
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examples of people who believed in God even though they
were not part of the covenant people. "Then Peter opened his
mouth and said: 'In truth I perceive that God shows no
partiality, but in every nation whoever fears Him and works
righteousness is accepted by Him" (Acts 10:34-35). Jesus,
speaking to a Samaritan woman said: You worship what you
do not know; we worship what we know (John 4:22). These
passages can be interpreted to mean that Christianity is aware
of the existence of other religions which it does not condemn
but rather suggests tolerance of them. It is important to note
also that Jesus Christ talked much about Judaism from which
Christianity evolved. In fact, Jesus was a Jew and practised
Judaism. Up till today, Judaism still exists alongside her sister
religion-Christianity-in the East. Perhaps it is the
recognition of this fact that the doctrine of inc1usivism is held
by Roman Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists, who assert
that while Christianity is the one true faith, other faiths are at
least partially true, and therefore are valid ways of reaching
salvation until the Gospels can be preached to them
(http://www.philosopherkings.co.uk/ Inclusivism. html).
The Qur'an, like the Bible, is also not silent about
religious inc1usivism, especially when we consider the'
following Qur'anic passages:
"Indeed, those who believed and those who were
Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet
Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed
in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness -
will have their reward with their Lord, and no
fear will there be concerning them, nor will they
grieve." (Surah: 2:62).
Say (0 Muhammad "We believe in Allah and in
what has been sent down to us, and what was sent
down to Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'il (Ishmael),
lshaq (Isaac), Ya'qfib (Jacob) and Al-Asbat [the
offspring of the twelve sons of Ya'qfib (Jacob)]
and what was given to Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus)
and the Prophets from their Lord." We make no
f'o. distinction between one 'another among them and
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to Him (Allah) we have submitted (in Islam)
(Surah: 3:84).
Among the people of the Book there are some
who have iman in Allah and in what has been
sent down to you and what was sent down to
them, and who are humble before Allah. They do
not sell Allah's Signs for a paltry price. Such
people will have their reward with their Lord.
And Allah is swift at reckoning (Surah: 3: 199).
Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and
fair admonition, and argue with them in the
kindest way. Your Lord knows best who is
misguided from His way. And He knows best
who are guided (Surah: 16: 125).
Only argue with the People of the Book in the
kindest way - except in the case of those of them
who do wrong - saying, 'We have iman in what
has been sent down to us and what was sent down
to you. Our God and your God are one and we
submit to Him' (Surah: 29:46) .
...They are not [all] the same; among the People
of the Scripture is a community standing [in
obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during
periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer].
They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and they
enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and
hasten to good deeds. And those are among the
righteous. And whatever good they do - never
will it be removed from them. And Allah is
knowing of the righteous (Surah: 3: 113-115).
Corroborating the Islamic position on religious pluralism, Ali
Asani asserts that:
... the people of the book is the umbrella term in
the Qur'an to refer to communities or people who
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have received revelation in the form of the
scripture. It is commonly used to refer to the
Jews, Christians and Muslims. The pluralistic
nature of this term is evident in the use of the
noun Book in the singular rather than the plural to
emphasise that the Jews, Christians and Muslims
follow one book not various conflicting
scriptures. The Old and New Testaments and The
Qur' an are seen as being plural, earthly
manifestations of the one heavenly scripture in
which God has inscribed the divine word (Ali
2015).
What we are putting across at this juncture is that
inclusivism may also imply that all beliefs are equally valid
within a believer's particular context. This is a reality that
every believer needs to accept particularly going by the
diversity in life in terms of religion, tribe, culture and race.
Thus, in the words of Matt Costella, .
Religious pluralism is a response to the religious
diversity inherent in 21st century Western culture
entailing the belief that one's own beliefs about
God are sufficient but not universally applicable.
In other words, it is the belief that "God is greater
than anyone view of God." Therefore, salvation,
divine revelation, etc. are manifest and applicable
to all people in diverse ways. It rejects any claim
of exclusivity in regard to salvation (Costella
2017).
(iv) Promotion of Objective Religious Education/Studies
There is an urgent need to promote religious education in
public and private spaces in Nigeria. By religious education,
we mean holistic education of the mind, intelligence,
intellect, position and attitude of religious practitioners
regarding their understanding and, expected attitude and
disposition to religions different from the ones they practise.
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It is our view that the Departments of Religious Studies in
Nigerian universities should take the lead in this effort geared
towards promotion of religious understanding. This should be
done theoretically and practically. Theoretically, the courses
could appropriate the following issues: basic tenets of the
world religions, comparative religion, religious rights and
freedom, religious secularism, and respect and mutual respect
in religions. In doing so, the teachers need to appropriate
Bruce Lincoln's view that reverence is a religious and not a
scholarly virtue (Lincoln 2000: 118). Because of the
sensitivity of this matter, it is our suggestion that a scholar of
Religious Studies living in a pluralistic religious world should
equip himlherself with at least four factual statements and
somewhat teaching principles outlined by Michael Pye as
follows:
(a) The study of religions
(Religionswissenschaft- that is scientific
study of religion) is not concerned with the
search for religious truth, but rather with the
description. and scientific mvestigation of
religious phenomenon from a "meta-level"
that is from the standpoint of independent
reflection. This does not imply a claim to be
superior to religious truth in any way.
(b) It cannot be the task of the study of religions,
therefore, to substantiate or disprove truths,
which may be contained in religious
doctrine.
(c) One's own personal religious experience is
not a prerequisite for working on the study of
religions and neither is there any obligation
to maintain an anti-religious attitude (as in
the traditions critical of religion deriving
from Feuerbach, Durkheim and others).
(d) Since the study of religions does not serve
the interests of any religion, it should be
distinguished, for example, from missiology
and apologetics or a theology of religion
(Pye 2004: 22).
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On account of the above, we recommend that the teaching
of religious studies should be differentiated from
sermonising, and should not be done with bias and prejudice
for or against the religion the lecturer practises or does not
practise. Therefore, Religious Studies lecturers should not
superimpose their faith directly or indirectly on students or
academic audience but rather must impact the truths and not
half-truths or distorted information concerning what they
teach the students; and every comment made on religion
should be done within the spirit of respect and reverence for
the religion(s) in question. In addition, teaching should be an
avenue for motivating students to learn in a manner that is
relevant, meaningful, and memorable so as to bridge the gap
between theory and practice. It is also important that
Religious Studies is made a compulsory subject/course for all
students in Nigeria from the primary school to the university.
(v) Accepting the Limitations of Religious Scriptures and
Traditions
There is a need for religious practitioners to understand that
their religious scriptures and traditions have some limitations
in terms of their intents, contents and contexts especially
when they are considered in the light of contemporary social,
environmental, political and technological issues. Several
researches have indicated that despite the fact that religious
scriptures are inspired, they were documented by man.
Besides, the scriptures have historical backgrounds as they
technically manifest the environments from which they
evolved. Mostly, ,the targeted reapers and audience of the
scriptures were people of homogeneous community. Now that
we are living in heterogeneous communities, most of the
teachings of the scriptures do not envisage the moral and
social problems of today. For example, the 'cutting' of hands
which was to serve as a deterrent to potential criminals was
only meaningful in homogeneous society where 'cutting' of
hands went with stigmatisation unlike today where many
things can lead to cutting off of someone's hand particularly
those handling industrial machines. The tradition that male
and female should Rot sit together was only meaningful in
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homogeneous society unlike now that both genders have to sit
together in public places including in the aircraft. Also, to our
mind, the Biblical 'turning the other cheek' which stands for
pacifism may not hold much water in the world of terrorism
that calls for self defense. Again, the Biblical injunction
stating that "the Lord is my Shepherd" and the Christian
tradition of hospitality are no longer absolutely valid as there
is need for one to be security conscious.
(vi) Adopting Parts of Human Body Thesis
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, as a sociologist of religion, I have
established in a few of my publications that an individual
standing or sitting at a place at one time or the other has many
parts that can be likened to parts of human body. For
example, he/she has eyes, nose, head, legs; hands and mouth
among others. In social setting, the thesis manifests in forms
of multiple role responsibilities associated with an individual
as a being who lives interdependently. In relating this to our
discussion, an individual person for example, who is known
and recognised as a religious leader in the Church or Mosque
also has different identities in his/her house where he/she is
called a husband or wife by his/her husband/wife or wives,
father or mother by his/her children, a son or daughter by
his/her father or mother, a brother by his relations and so on
and so forth. The implication of this is that religion should be
taken as a private matter and its toga should be limited to
religious centres and not public places. Therefore, wearing of
religious garment in public arena outside religious domain is
a complete aberration and should be discouraged.
(vii) Monetisation of Religion in Public Places
The undue use of the environment cost-free by religious
organisations calls for a rethink. I suggest that religious
organisations should pay taxes, and siting of their centres
should be at a cost. Placing of bill boards and posters on the
streets and walls should be at cost no matter how small. On
this, government agencies dealing with the environment
should checkmate the undue use of the environment by
religious centres in accordance with the law.
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Manifestations of God's Release from His Abductors
If the above recommendations make sense to all of us sitting
here now or reading this lecture, it means God will be
released from the den of His abductors and by so doing my
dream of many years as a scholar of Religious ethics and
Sociology of Religion and who has been thirsty and hungry
for a right living (as reflected in my academic and general
publications) shall come to reality and I will be happy for it.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, I have a dream, borrowing the
words of Martin Luther, that when God is rescued from His
abductors:
(1) The wolf and the lamb (Religious practitioners in
Nigeria) will feed together, and the lion will eat straw
like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They
will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy
mountain - Isaiah 65: 25.
(2) Nigerians will not be discriminated against in public
places on the basis of their avowed religious identity
or profession.
(3) The spate of killings in the name of religions will be
replaced with care for the lives of people in other
faiths in the atmosphere of freedom and justice.
(4) As it was in the past, recommendation letters coming
from religious centres to foreign embassies will be
accepted without questioning their credibility in
contents and intent.
(5) All religious practitioners not minding their identities
will be able to join hands in building a new Nigeria
where peace and justice shall reign and serve their
fatherland with love and strength and faith.
(6) Though religion,. tribe and tongue may differ,
Nigerians will stand in brotherhood/sisterhood and
proudly serve the country and humanity diligently
without fear or favour.
(7) Quarrels and fights will cease among religious
practitioners- As for such (of the unbelievers) as do
not fight against you on account of (your) faith, and
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neither drive you forth from your homelands, God
does not forbid you to show them kindness and to
behave towards them with full equity: for, verily,
God loves those who act equitably (Quran 60: 8).
Conclusion
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, permit me to conclude this lecture
with the words of the founder of the Baha'i Faith which states
that:
Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and
disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give
birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each
heart. If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred
and division, it was better to be without it, and to
withdraw from such a religion would be a truly
religious act. For it is clear that the purpose of a
remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only
aggravate the complaint it had better be left alone.
Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity
is no religion (http://www.religioustolerance.org/
peace tree. htm).
Therefore, quoting Mahatma Ghandi, the need of the moment
is not one religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the
devotees of the different religions. With this maxim put in
place in both private and public lives of Nigerians, I believe
that God will be rescued from His abductors and He will be
God of all and not of one.
My Contribution to Scholarship
For the purpose of emphasis, I would like to say that I have
contributed my quota to the overall development of man and
society through a number of my academic and non-academic
publications, open lectures, commissioned papers and lectures
as an academic and resource person in the educational, media
and religious institutions from the ambit of Religious Ethics,
Research in Religious Studies and Sociology of Religion
(with bias for Religious Peace and Conflict Studies) which
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are two out of the eleven areas of specialisation in Religious
Studies in my department.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, I want to draw your attention to
the fact that a large number of my publications have
established the fact that religion qua religion is a
misconstrued academic discipline which, by its origin and
history, is susceptible to multidisciplinary definitions. In
addition, because of this fundamental factor, religion has been
a catalyst for discrimination, differentiation, intra- and
interreligious conflict, environmental pollution, poverty
creation, destruction of lives and property, bad attitudes to
life and several abuses with both religious followers and
leaders emerging as perpetrators. All the issues mentioned
above are the major· findings of my research about the
interface between religion and society, precisely on issues
such as Christianity and the morality of environmental
pollution,matters arising from unhealthy religious relations in
Nigeria, a sociological examination of interreligious conflicts
in Africa, religious communication in Nigeria as a challenge
to environmental management, ignorance as the bane of
interreligious crisis in Nigeria, the religious factor in the
Nigerian public sphere and its burdens and prospects. Others
include the phenomenon of change of name and identity in
Yoruba religious community, rethinking the religious and
moral questions in the Niger Delta discourse, the use of
God's/gods' names in sales promotion in Ibadan markets,
underscoring the challenges of choosing between violence
and passivism in contemporary Nigeria, and understanding
the socio-religious background of the ethnic man as a
possible tool for advancing etlmic harmony and workable
federal character in Nigeria .
. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, as someone who applied objectivity
as a principle to research, I was also able to show that
religion, particularly in Nigeria, has advanced social order,
cooperation and developmental projects, and engendered
political development and sustainability, poverty alleviation,
cordial interpersonal relationship, business ethics, good
leadership, gender balance, women emancipation, and
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productive religious dialogue. Others also include national
and moral integration, promotion of work ethics, resolution of
industrial conflicts and morally laced business practices.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, another set of my publications
in the area of Sociology of Religion condemned the inaction
of religious organisations in Nigeria and negative religious
activities such as contestation for space, unhealthy rivalries,
religious conflicts, fraud, cheating of church members and
taking undue advantage of church followers, environmental
pollution, religious manipulations, poverty creation through
ill-timing of religious programmes, wrong religious
orientation, interreligious conflicts, corruption, inordinate
ambition, greed and avarice, worshipping of money and
covetousness, among others.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, my contribution to research
methods in religious studies is noble as copies of two of my
publications entitled "Fundamentals of Religious Ethics"
(Ayantayo 2009) and "Rudiments of Research and Research
in Religious Studies" (Ayantayo 2015) are recommended for
students in the Department of Religious Studies in Nigerian,
Ghanaian universities and a few universities in West Africa.
The same could be said of my other publications like, "The
Ethics of Remembering, Memorising and Documentation of
Ifa Divination System among the Yoruba People of Nigeria"
(Ayantayo 2006), "Imperativeness of Professional Ethics in
Religious Studies Scholarship in Nigeria" (Ayantayo 2009),
"Ethical issues in the academic bias in the Study of Nigeria
Indigenous Traditional Religions and Its Ethical Implications
for Interreligious Conflicts in Nigeria" (Ayantayo 2011), and
"Ethical Issues in Peace and Conflict Research" (Ayantayo
2014) are well used and cited regularly by researchers in
Religious Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies. In the
publications, I demonstrated the need for objectivity in
research in religious studies and also advanced an argument
that the teaching of and research in Religious Studies should
not be directed towards proselytisation or defense of
religions. Rather it should be geared towards exploring the
relevance of religion in enhancing the totality of human
development.
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My contribution to general studies in the University of
Ibadan is worthy of note. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, it is
worthy of note that I co-authored a chapter in GES 102:
African Culture and Civilisation, a book which focuses on
Religion and African Culture. Within and outside the
University, I have also affected the mind of many people
positively by a number of public speaking on the issues of
morality and the need for moral consciousness everywhere
we find ourselves. Sir, without flattering myself, I have got
many responses in form of text messages and phone calls
from those who read orhad contacts with some of my general
books which are a must read for everyone who wants to live a
moral problem-free life. Notable among them are: Child
Rights in Literary Genres and Religious Scriptures (Ayantayo
2011), Moral Tonic for Teenagers (Ayantayo 2012),
Proverbial Capsules for Right Living (Ayantayo 2013), 21
Habits that Damage Life and Relationship (Ayantayo 2014),
Etiquette for Personal and Public Life (Ayantayo 2015), and
Character Speaks (Ayantayo 2017).
Arising from my publications, I was selected among those
who drew the curriculum for Peace and Conflict Studies
programmes of the University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin
and University of Legon, Ghana. On this I pay glowing
tributes to Professor Olawale Albert (the pioneer Director,
Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies), my mentor and a
very outstanding academic. He was the one who initiated me
into Peace and Conflict Studies in 2006, having seen and
been convinced of my academic prowess during conferences
the two of us attended in Ghana and Cameroon .
.My Contribution to the University Administration
I have served in various capacities on general and special
University assignments. I was a departmental and Faculty
representative on the Board of Institute of African Studies,
Member of University Senate (2011-2013, 2014 to date). I
also served as Sub-Dean (General), Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan (2013 to 2005). During this period, I
personally lobbied the Faculty Finance Committee, to release
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money for tarring the Faculty of Arts car park because the
then Dean, Professor Adeigbo who is now of blessed
memory, was very ascetic. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I want to
draw your attention to the fact that as Sub-Dean, I planted the
canopy trees presently at the Faculty of Arts annex and I was
also the one who brought normalcy to the parking
arrangement of the annex.
Remarkably, I served as the acting Head of Department of
Religious Studies (2011-2013). One of the many good things
I did was the design of our Department's logo in 2011, which
was unanimously approved by academic members of staff of
my department. Sir, this was the first of its kind since the
inception of our noble department in 1948. The logo indicates
major religions the department studies which include but are
not limited to: African Indigenous Religion, Asian Indigenous
Religion, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and New Religious
Movements. Not only the above, my tenure facilitated the
employment of 5 academic staff at a stretch which is also
another giant stride in the Department. As a substantive Head,
I have also prepared a Departmental Newsletter awaiting
publication, which is going to be the first of its kind in the
Department. I also facilitated financial grants from Pastor
Adeboye, Global General Overseer; of the Redeemed
Christian Church of God with which a Toyota Camry ('big
daddy') car was purchased. This was another milestone and
the first of its kind. On all these, I want to say thank you to
the members of academic and non-academic staff' of my
Department as well as the University administration for their
support.
Mentorship
My philosophy since the time I was promoted to the Senior
Lecturer grade in 2003 and later to Professor 2009
(announced in 2014) is that younger colleagues should. be
mentored both in publication, conference attendance and
leadership, knowing fully well that tomorrow belongs to
them. To God be the glory, I have mentored quite a number
of Ph.D students that I supervised, two of whom are now my
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colleagues as members of academic staff in whom I am well
pleased. Others are doing well as heads, provost and rectors
of institutions and presidents of church conferences and
assembly pastors both in Nigeria and abroad.
National and International Engagements
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, it is remarkable that I served as
External Examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate
courses as well as professorial assessor to University of
Ilorin, Ilorin; Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye;
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Lagos State
University, Ojo, Lagos; Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo;
Babcock University, Ilishan Remo; University of Benin,
Benin; and Benue State University, Makurdi.
By virtue of my outstanding academic performance in the
field of Ethics, I was invited along with a few colleagues in
Nigerian universities and other professionals by the
Independent Policy Group, Abuja in 2003 into a committee
that formulated Ethical Values for the Development of
Nigeria. The project was sponsored by George Soros, UNDP,
Ford Foundation and Africare. At one time or the other, I had
participated in National assignments. For instance, in 2014,
2015, and 2016 I served as one of the Returning Officer for
governorship elections in Osun, Oyo and Ondo states
respectively.
Also in 2015, I was the Returning Officer for Presidential
Election in Oyo State. In 2017, I was a member of NUC
accreditation panel that visited Calvary Seminary,
PortHacourt, Rivers State. Through my attendance of
international conferences, I was able to contribute immensely
from religious, ethical and sociological perspectives to global
debates pertaining to leadership, followership, children,
women, ethnicity, racism, environment, sustainable
development, peace and conflict, global warming, church,
mosques, shrine, chieftaincy, justices, communication,
cultural heritage and law. This was done through presentation
of lead papers, conference papers and seminars at
international fora in Ghana, Cameroon, Nairobi, Botswana,
South Africa, USA, and Germany, to mention but a few.
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ITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
Acknowledgements
Let me start with my Creator, God, whom I will appreciate
now and forever because He has been good to me from
infancy to the present moment and I trust He will forever be
with me from now until death. He has done well for me by
taking me from obscurity to limelight. May the name of my .
God be adored, eulogised and admonished for ever and ever.
As a personal policy, I always want to show my gratitude
to everybody whose path crosses mine at every point in time;
through interaction, they have helped me in one way or the
other. However, writing acknowledgements that will meet my
policy is difficult for someone like me who has many friends
including 'omo girl', 'omo boy', 'omo man', 'omo woman',
small boy, small girl, medium-size girl and medium-size boy.
However, I will try my best but with sincere apologies to
anyone whose name I have omitted.
Since charity begins from home, I want to express my
gratitude to my late father Chief Ayantayo Owolabi, who died
forty years ago, and my mother, Princess Oyetundun Felicia
Agbeke Ayantayo (lya Oba). It is remarkable that my father
graciously succumbed to the pressure of sending me to school
on February 14, 1972-a decision that was not popular in my
village at that particular time in history. On this note, I
appreciate Mr. Ighodalo Owolabi of blessed memory who did
the 'pressure job' without which I would have probably
joined the league of farmers in my village. In the same vein, I
appreciate the support I received from my siblings and their
families the likes of Late Ayantayo Ayanbuola, Mrs.
Ayangbenle Popoola, Mrs. Ayanrinke Adewumi, Mrs.
Modupeoluwa Titiloye, Mrs. Ayangbensola Onaadepo, Mrs.
Ayanladun Emiloye Awoyinka, Late Mr. Ayantayo
Ayanwoye, Mrs. Modupeola Fadipe, Mrs. Ayanbolanle
Ibuoye, Mr. Ayantayo Ayandapo Taiwo and Mr. Ayantayo
Ayanyemi Sunday (Snr). Remarkably, I pay tribute to late
Oba Professor Ololade Folayan, the Akesin of Ora Igbomina;
he was the architect of my intellectual life for taking me to
the University of Ife after my secondary school education. He
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sponsored my University education. I am very grateful to Dr.
and Mrs. Tunde Folayan, Olori Esther and Tolani Folayan
and other Folayans.
Individuals who offered me one help or the other during
my academic foray from .the primary school level to the
university level also deserve my gratitude. For this reason, I
am very grateful to Late Ibitoye (Baba Idi Isin) who in 1974
taught me how to plant maize in his school farm. Mr.
Oloyede Bolawaye, my primary 4 class teacher who taught
me to be thrifty and Mr. Ige, who introduced me to context
questions in Christian Religious Knowledge and which
informed my love for the Bible and also led to my choice of
Religious Studies as an academic career. In Obafemi
Awolowo University, I remain grateful to my lecturers,
notable among who are Professors Olupona, Adelowo,
Igenoza, Manus, Nkoka, Layiwola, Onibere and Babalola. I
also appreciate the support I received from the present
academic staff of the university during my sabbatical
appointment in 2017, particularly Professors Ogungbile,
Opeloye, Owoeye and Adeniyi, as well as Drs. Gbadegesin,
Bateye, Makinde, Olanisebe, Olaniyi, Adelakun and Oladosu.
My 'thank you' also goes to my past, present, senior, junior
colleagues in the Department of Religious Studies, University
of Ibadan, who comprise Late Professors Abogunrin, Akao,
Kenny, Akintunde, Late Bishop Adewale, Late Associate
Professor Babs Mala, and Late Dr. Gideon Oshitelu. Others
include Professors Nabofa, Dzurgba (my lecturer, supervisor
and facilitator of, my employment as a lecturer in the
Department of Religious Studies), Ayegboyin, Fatokun,
Dada, Associate Professor Adekunbi Labeodan, Chief
Olajide, Drs. Olukunle, Obijole, Familusi, Mepaiyeda,
Berekiah, Okanlawon, Adebo, Olaleye, Sewakpo, Oke and
Ms Gbadamosi. I am also grateful to Mrs. Olubunmi Oladipo,
Mrs. Onche Virginia, Mrs. Abiola Ojo, Elder Akindele, Mr.
Ekundayo Adetoyinbo and Mr. Trevor Asana.
I am indebted to all Professors, other academic staff, the
past and present Heads of Departments in the Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan. I want to single out Professor Tayo
Adesina, who facilitated a paper 'The Yoruba Traditional
49
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Economy in Ethical Perspective' published in The Nigerian
Journal of Economic History in 2000, Professor Remi-Raji,
former Dean of Arts, who facilitated my promotion into
professorship in 2014 (backdated to 2009), Professor
Dasylva, current Dean of Arts, who offered productive advice
regarding this inaugural lecture, Dr. Sunday of English
Department, Professors Lamidi, Adeleke, Adejumo,
Onayemi, Oladosu, Ayeleru, Oyeleye, Kehinde, Oyesile,
Offor, and Oyewo (my bosom brother and friend), Drs.
Bankale, Monica, Adebowale, Olasope, and numerous others.
Some colleagues, and bosses outside the Faculty of Arts
also deserve appreciation particularly Professors Aremu
(Director, Distance Learning Centre) and Aderinto (DVC
Academic - who stood by me when my professorial
promotion had delays). Professor Olawale Albert (whom I
humbly call Afenifere), the present Director, Institute of
Peace and Strategic Studies is acknowledged, being a
quintessential senior colleague who introduced me into
Peace and Conflicts Studies in 2004 (an area I was able to do
some research exploitation), and has continued to mentor me
in this direction even when I am already a Professor. Still at
the University of Ibadan, I am very grateful to our
indefatigable Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abel Idowu
Olayinka, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Deputy
Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Strategic
Partnership), Registrar, Librarian, Provost of the College of
Medicine, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dean of the
Postgraduate School, Deans of other Faculties and of
Students and Directors of Institutes. It is their making that we
have this inaugural lecture delivered today.
Mentioning names of my friends and colleagues in several
universities in Nigeria is not out of point. Therefore, I
remember my bosom friends, colleagues and senior
colleagues such as Professors Diji Aina, pioneer VC,
Adeleke University, Ede and presently VC, Caleb University
(we have been together since the time we meet at Oduduwa
College in 1983), Omotoye and Olademo (UNILORIN),
Oguntoyinbo-Atere (Adeleke University, Ede), Afolorunso
Dairo (RUN, Ede), Alana (AAU) , Asaju (VC, ACU),
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Danfulani (UNUOS), Isirame (Ekpoma), Latona (LASU),
Obong (UNICAL), Oduwole (OOU), Ojo (MacPherson), Ojo
(VC, Bowen), Ajibade (OAU), Aluko (ACU) , Uchegbue
(UNICAL), Wotogbe (UNIPORT), and Quadri (ILORIN).
At the Church level, I· am thankful to those who have
influenced my spiritual life consciously or otherwise. A few
of them are Pastor Oni, my Sunday School teacher who
taught us the monumental topic "Managing God's Goods in
2000"-which, among other things, shows that everything
belongs to God and that having anything at our disposal
presupposes that we are obliged to manage it for God. In this
regard, I pay tribute to the writer of the particular Sunday
school pamphlet-Pastor Olagunju, the present President,
Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide. I also acknowledge all
the church associations I belong to, such as Sunday school,
Church Warden, and Ibukun and Aanu Oluwa societies. My
interaction with them added some values to my spiritual life.
On this account, I want to thank Pastors Abisoye, Erinwusi,
Faloye, Oloyede, Olowe, Ali and the Evangelists. The
Chaplaincy of the Chapel of Resurrection, University of
Ibadan, deserves my commendation as they opened their
offices in the process of writing this lecture and mentioning
the names of Very Revd Oyelade (Chaplain) and Venerable
Olade1e Victor (Assistant Chaplain 1) is apt.
My neighbours also need to be valued in this context
particularly the Aho-Agbeja Landlord and Tenant Association
and Aho-Agbeja Christian Fellowship. A few individuals in
the neighbourhood. are appreciated for their goodness to me:
the likes of Mr. Oladele, Deacon and Deaconess Adetoki, Mr.
and Mrs. Oladejo Ajayi, Mr. Yemi and Mrs. Molara Ajayi,
Grandma Gbemisola, Mr. and Mrs. Ahmed, Mr. and Mrs.
Salimoh, Evangelist Adeyemi, Ade Royal, Mrs. Fagbeja, Mr.
Yomi and Mrs. Prisca Balogun, Mr. and Mrs. Muili, Daddy
and Mummy Mariam, Mr. Okanlawon, Mummy Fasuru,
Daddy Odedoyin, Pastor and Mrs. Daniel, Mrs. Olusegun,
Elder and Mrs. Uponi, Alhaji Oyebode and, finally, my
chairman, Dr. Busari among others whose names escaped my
mind.
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The next groups of people to be appreciated are my past
and present Ph.D students that I supervised both in the
University of Ibadan and some theological seminaries in
Nigeria. They are many but I can quickly remember those of
them who are my colleagues now by virtue of being lecturers
in different institutions across the country. They are Drs
Familusi (UI) , Essien (UNIYO) , Okeke (lSU), Omojuwa
(UNILAG), Oke (FCE, Abeokuta), Oke (VI), Oti (RCBC),
George (CALEB University), Aghawenu (BTS, Eku) , Bolaji
(BTS, Oyo), Ishola, (NBTS, Ogbomoso), Maton (TCNN,
Bukuru) and Asha (BTS, Agbowa). Others are into church
activities. These include Panpe, Oladejo, Iwhighwu, Oladiran,
Ademuyiwa, Olajide, Oyeniyi, Adamu, Akano, Babalola,
Olaleye, Ajao, Asaolu, Oladapo, Olaniyan, Dare and
Durojaye. These people celebrated the goodness of God in
my life when I marked my 50th birthday in 2015. On this
note, I want to thank the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo
State (BCOS), Ibadan for airing a 30 minutes programme in
respect of the birthday. .
Remarkably, I shall remain grateful to members of the
Board of Trustees and the Advisory Board of Esther
Folorunso Ayantayo Foundation (EFA-F) for their unusual
support to the course of pFA-F annual programme. They are
Dr. Ayantayo Temitayo (BoT Secretary), Mrs. Gloria
Ayantayo (Treasurer), Ayantayo Temitope (Financial
Secretary), Professor Diji Aina (General Logistics), Dr. 0.0.
Familusi (publications), Mrs. Roselyn Subair (Events
Planning), Torni Ayantayo (Finance and Fundraising), Mr.
Femi Adefila (Media and Publicity), Dr. Kayode George
(Project Implementation), Pastor Ranti Olowe (Spiritual
Matters) Dr. Oke, Olusegun Peter (Legal matters), Dr. Mrs.
A. Bolaji (Vocational matters) and Folasade Folayan
(Administrative Officer), EFA-F office, Ora Igbomina. For
the purpose of information, the EFA-F is registered
philanthropic, non-religious, non-partisan and non-profit
making organisation established in 2010 to sustain the
philanthropic ideals of my late wife, Esther Folorunso
Ayantayo, who slept in the Lord on August 17, 2010
(www.efafoundationorg.ng).Itis wholly committed to
52
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providing financial assistance to widows and orphans,
engaging the youth in vocational training and educating
children and adults the way of God through periodic guidance
and counselling. At this juncture, I want to appreciate the
Adefila family and by extension the Olanipekun royal
dynasty in Ora for standing by me before, during and after the
death of their daughter and my wife who was and is so loved
that we pour our minds in the wordings of her cenotaph
which in part reads: ... she was a beloved wife, a super mom,
a darling daughter, an amiable sister, an excellent counsellor
and teacher, a brilliant' Ph.D student, humility and
transparency personified, an embodiment of human kindness
and a servant of God.
It is in the spirit of the above eulogy that we cannot thank
them enough for the support I received constantly from my
mothers-in-law, Princess Modupeola Olayoonu Adefila,
Princess Taye Ademokun, Princess Kehinde Adeyemo,
Otunba Ademola and Yeye Otunba Gbonjubola Adefila, Mr.
Femi Adefila (CEO, Rave FM, Oshogbo), Prince Femi
Olanipekun, Mrs. Iyabo Adesina, Mr. and Mrs. Ajayi and late
Mrs. Iretioluwa Ajayi.
Coming back home (which is the base of all my activities)
I want to express my gratitude to my amiable children
belonging to first and second generations. In the first
generation, we have our pride Dr. Temitayo Ayantayo
(Medical), Miss Temitope Ayantayo (M.A. Student, IPSS)
and Mr. Temidayo Tolulope Ayantayo (Law Student, V.I.).
They supported my early and present academic career along
with their quintessential mother-Esther, who was and is our
model; an individual in whom the Biblical prophecy that
sweetness is the remembrance of the righteous is manifested.
Esther was the woman whose name has impacted financially,
vocationally and medically into the lives of widows,
---widowers, orphans, the sick, aged and less-privileged in Ora
Igbomina and its environs. In the same vein, I am
appreciative of my children belonging to the second
generation. They uniquely and miraculously came as triplets,
hence I describe them as my divine 50th birthday gift. They
are Titilayo, Titilope and Titiniyin Ayantayo. While, the first
53
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generation left home for school, the triplets are always there
to play and sometimes disturb me in my library. Their
disturbance is always helpful because it always comes at a
time I ought to have paused and walked around having had
my eyes glued to my laptop for over one hour at a stretch
against medical advice. With this background, I am using this.
opportunity to show my gratitude to my dear wife, a lover of
humanity, the best cook in the world, the most beautiful
woman, current and fashionable, special mother (Iya Theta),
ever loving wife, a lecturer, sociologist of religion and a good
match. I mean the indefatigable Mrs. Gloria Njideka
Ayantayo. I pray that God will compensate her for being a
good mother of six children. By extension, I appreciate my
numerous children who at one time or the other lived and are
still living with us. Notable among them are Olaitan Falade,
Pastor Adetoyese Folayan, Prince Ademakinwa Folayan,
Prince Femi Idowu, Rachae1 Ayantayo, Blessing Ayantayo,
Kizzito Anyaegbu, Olasunkanmi Fadipe, Popoola Seun and
Yetunde Bamigboye.
Finally, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, I thank all members of
the audience here present, not only because of their
attendance, but for the reason that (I believe) they will make
use of the information in this lecture and join people of equal
minds in creating a new Nigerian society. That is, where
religious rancor will be avoided, religious practitioners will
live by the ethos of the religions they profess and owe dearly,
piously and holily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and so on
and so forth. Once again, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I thank you
for counting me worthy to present this Inaugural Lecture, the
first of its kind in the Faculty of Arts in year 2018.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Sir, please permit me to round off
this lecture as we depart. from here for other engagements, by
leaning on the words of Rumi who echoes the mind of God
which I believe is important for God's abductors to note:
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Muslim.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, not of the land,
nor of the sea,
I am not of Nature's mint, nor of the circling heavens.
5
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I ..rn not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire:
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of
existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of
Saqsin:
I am not of the Kingdom of Iraq, nor of the country of
Khorasan.
I am not of this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise
nor of Hell;
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and nor of
Rizwan,
My place is Placeless, my trace is Traceless;
It is neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the
Beloved.
I have put duality away.
I have seen that the two worlds are one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call (Rumi
1898: 125)
With this, I humbly submit that God is for everybody and
does not belong to anybody. He is the First, He is the Last, He
is the Outward, and He is the Inward. On this note, I say to
God be the glory for His faithfulness which stands for ever.
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BIODATAOF
PROFESSOR JACOB KEHINDE AYANTAYO
Professor Jacob Kehinde Ayantayo was born on 8th April,
1965 to Chief Ayantayo Owo1abi and Mrs. Felicia Oyetundun
Agbeke, at Ile Oloyan Compound, Ora-Igbomina, Ifedayo
local government, Osun State, Nigeria. He started his primary
school education at St. Stephen's Anglican School on
February 14, 1972 and finished in 1977. There was delay in
the release of Common Entrance examination result in that
year and hence, he had a six-month study at Modem School,
Ila-Orangun, from where 'he proceeded to Ora Commercial
Grammar School and completed his secondary education in
1982. After this, he was taken to Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife by his cousin (of blessed memory)-Oba
Professor Joseph Ololade Folayan, Ilufemiloye Awuluwarae
I-a quintessential biochemist and later the Akesin of Ora
(1990-2000).
At Ife, he got admitted into Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife, for
Advanced Level studies between 1983 and 1985. This he
completed with a fairly good grade that qualified him to get
direct admission into the Department of Religious Studies,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1985. He passed
with Second Class honours, Upper division and went for the
NYSC service in 1988. Between 1989 and 1990, he went for
his Master of Arts degree in the Department of Religious
Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, where he also
graduated with a grade that qualified him to proceed for a
Ph.D research programme. He immediately enrolled for his
Ph.D in Social Ethics in the Department of Religious Studies,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan and completed the programme
in 2000. He topped up the above qualifications with a
foundational course in Peace and Conflicts Studies in 2004.
Professor Ayantayo started his career engagements with
his first appointment as a class teacher between 18 February,
1991 and 30 July 1993 from where he resigned to take an
appointment as a Lecturer III in 1993 at the Osun State
College of Education, Ila-Orangun. He taught in this school
for only two years and left for an appointment as Assistant
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Lecturer in the University of Ibadan, Ibadan on 21 April,
1995. As a sound scholar, Professor J.K. Ayantayo rose from
the grade of Assistant Lecturer to Lecturer II on October 1
1997; Lecturer I, October 1 2000; Senior Lecturer, October 1
2003; and finally a Professor on October 1 2009.
Professor Ayantayo has to his credit I monograph, 8
books and 70 articles in learned journals in local and
international publication outlets. He has also supervised not
less than 25 B.A. Long essays, 50 M.A. dissertations and 35
Ph.D Theses at universities and Theological seminaries. On
administrative matters, Professor Ayantayo served as Sub-
Dean General, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan
(2003-2005); Acting Head, Department of Religious Studies,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan (2011-2013); Head of
Department, Religious Studies (2017 till date); and Member
of Senate, University of Ibadan, Ibadan (2011-2013 and 2014
to date). He was also the Editor of Orita: Ibadan Journal of
Religious Studies (2010-2011) and currently General Editor,
Journal of African Society for the Study of Sociology and
Ethics of Religions.
He has served and is still serving as an External
Examiner to the Departments of Religious Studies, University
of Ilorin, Ilorin; Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye;
University of Benin, Benin; Lagos State University, Ojo,
Lagos; and Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo. He was
appointed External Assessor on promotion cases in Ekiti State
University, Ado Ekiti; Babcock University, Ilishan Remo;
Caleb University, Ogun State; University of Nigeria, Nsukka;
University of Legon, Ghana; Nigeria Theological Seminary,
Ogbomoso and the Federal Colleges of Education in Okeene
and Ikere.
Professor J.K. Ayantayo is a member of many secular and
religious societies. As a Christian, he belongs to Church
Warden Unit and Aanu Oluwa Society in the Christ Apostolic
Church, Oke- Ife, Agbowo, Ibadan, where he is also a member
of advisory committee for the Youth Fellowship. At the
academic level, Professor Ayantayo is a member of learned
societies such as West African Association of Theological
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Institutions (WAATI), Nigerian Association for Christian
Studies (NACS), Project for Christian-Muslim Relation in
Africa (PROCUMURA), National Association for the
Promotion of Studies in Arts and Social Science, Nigerian
Association for the Study and Teaching of Religious and the
Natural Sciences (NASTRNS) and Ecumenical Association
of Third World Theologian (EATWOT). Others in this
category include African Association for the Study of
Religions (AASR), International Association for the Study of
Economics and Religion (lASER), West Africa Network for
Peace (WANEP), American Academy of Religion (AAR) and
International Society for African Philosophy and Studies. It is
important to note that he is the founder and pioneer president
of African Society for the Study of Sociology and Ethics of
Religions herein referred to as (ASSOSER).
As unrelenting scholar, Professor Ayantayo had at one
time or the other attended and presented papers at
International Conferences in places like University of Legon,
Ghana, All African Conference of Churches, Nairobi;
University of Botswana, Botswana, South Africa; California
State University, Sacramento, USA; Universitat Bayreuth,
Bayreuth, Germany; and Mount Febe, Cameroon. He has also
attended many local conferences in at least 15 states in
Nigeria. Not only these, he also participated in a colloquium
on issues related to Tsunami Disaster and the Okija Shrine
Episode. Professor Ayantayo is also a known name in
broadcasting houses in Oyo and Osun States as a discussant
on many social issues but with bias for the question of
morality and religious organisation in Nigeria.
Outside the University, Professor Ayantayo has
contributed to the development of humanity through the
establishment of Esther Folorunso Ayantayo Foundation
(EFA-F), which is a non-governmental and non-pro fit-
making organisation, established on 27 August, 2010 to
sustain the philanthropic ideals of his late wife (Princess
(Mrs.) Esther Folorunso Ayaritayo). The foundation envisions
to remember the forgotten and better their lot with the aims of
providing entrepreneurship skills and financial assistance to
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the forgotten-widows, widowers, the physically challenged,
orphans, the aged and the sick; organising annual lectures for
the public towards inculcating societal values and building a
community of people worthy in character; engaging the
widows/widowers, children and youth in periodic guidance
and counselling towards career and capacity building.
Professor Ayantayo is happily married and the marriage is
blessed with three male and three female children belonging
to two generations with each having three children. His
philosophy of life is that there is no need to nurse pain or
celebrate joy, for the two are temporary but the best thing to
do is forging ahead towards a better future which will
ultimately water down the bad past.
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NATIONAL ANTHEM
Arise, 0 compatriots
Nigeria's call obey
To serve our fatherland
With love and strength and faith
The labour of our heroes' past
Shall never be in vain
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom
Peace and unity
o God of creation
Direct our noble cause
Guide thou our leaders right
Help our youths the truth to know
In love and honesty to grow
And living just and true
Great lofty heights attain
To build a nation where peace
And justice shall reign
UNIVERSITY OF mADAN ANTHEM
Unibadan, fountainhead
Of true learning, deep and sound
Soothing spring for all who thirst
Bounds of knowledge to advance
Pledge to serve our cherished goals!
Self-reliance, unity
That our nation may with pride
Help to build a world that is truly free
Unibadan, first and best
Raise true minds for a noble cause
Social justice, equal chance
Greatness won with honest toil
Guide our people this to know
Wisdom's best to service turned
Help enshrine the right to learn
For a mind that knows is a mind that's free
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