Repositioning Religion For A Sustainable National Economic Development

By

Rev. Sunday Bobai Agang, Ph.D.

Agangbobai@Hotmail.Com

Gawonministries@Yahoo.Com  

ABSTRACT

The primary aim of this paper is to establish the intrinsic role and connection between religion and a sustainable economic development. The paper raises pertinent issues: the potentials of using religion as a veritable tool for socio-economic TRANSFORMATION. It argues that religion has transforming power if there is sincere commitment to religious TRUTH that sets its adherents FREE. The paper argues that under normal circumstances, religion plays a far reaching role in social and economic transformation of society: economic activities are often driven by people who for the most part are controlled by religious attitudes, beliefs, participations, practices, rituals, behaviors, etc. The first part of the paper gives the conceptual analysis of the term “religion,” by looking at the various approaches to the study of religion in connection to economics. It also examines the function and role of religion in facilitating a sustainable economic development spelling out the significance of repositioning religion in Nigeria. The paper posits that there is the need for a model that will ensure the economic transformation of the Nigerian people. The last part of the paper draws some conclusions based on the preceding discussion and making recommendations for the way forward.

INTRODUCTION

 If the reports from our national dailies are to be taken by their face value, then without fear of contradiction, Nigeria awaits economic doom. Looking at the Nigerian economy critically, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Engineer Hamman Tukur revealed that the Nigerian economy was being looted. Tukur gave an example of how “the Excess Crude Account, which represented the country’s major savings [earnings] in the current hard times [economic hardship], had been drawn down [had dropped] from about 27 billion Naira to a mere seven billion Naira.…”[1] Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of our nation in that those involved no longer see it as a moral problem. Something is wrong with our moral upbringing, otherwise how do we explain the situation whereby corrupt people are celebrated. Bamidele Aturu rightly observed that “This country cannot survive if we continue in this state of anomie of lack of morals.”[2] Aturu cited as example “Those accused of stealing who ordinarily ought to either bury their heads in shame or at least keep themselves out of circulation rent crowds to attend their trials in court with full compliments of orchestra bands as if they are giving out their children in marriage.”[3] That is, they have since discovered how to cover their shameful acts of looting the economy of our beloved country and using the poor masses to celebrate their ill-gotten riches.

This paper argues that there are reasons to believe Nigerian economy is being looted by those who have access to it. The traditionalists and others may have an excuse for looting our economy. But Christians do not have any reason for doing the same. As a Christian theologian and ethicist, I have not found any biblical reason for looting the economy of our nation. Something must be fundamentally wrong with Nigerian Christian worldview, if he or she engages in looting. Those who engage in looting the Nigerian economy do not see how their action runs counter to the biblical revelation of God’s economic justice. But can we blame the contemporary Christians in Nigeria for what is really happening? Or do we blame what is happening on the kind of orientation they have had both at the beginning of Christianity and the kind of orientation they are presently given? I would argue that given what is going on in our nation we need to reexamine the foundation in which Christianity was laid in this country. From all indications the Christianity we received at the beginning was a Christianity that placed premium on personal faith and saw religious life as a private affair and those disconnected from public life. It was founded on the Greek dualistic worldview that dichotomized the world between secular and sacred (“matter versus spirit”). Christianity seen as the sacred sphere was logically contrasted with the secular sphere which was a sphere where God supposedly has no business with. Ironically, the same Christians claim that “Jesus is Lord of all of life.” Yet they continue to claim that the secular is a no go area for Jesus Christ.

This dualistic tendency or assumption has led to what Michael Walzer calls thin rather than thick morality and ethics.[4] In this thin ethical and moral vision, the Christians in Nigeria cannot grasp God’s kingdom ethics and perspective of life. God’s Kingdom here refers to God’s reign over all spheres of life, including all aspects of the secular life or sphere. The negative influences of the Greek philosophical dualism have either directly or indirectly led to the politics of exclusion which hinders a sustainable economic development.  This paper therefore calls for a reorientation of our Christian worldview so that Christians in Nigeria will grasp what it means to say Jesus is Lord over all of life. This will collapse the Greek model that has created an exclusive rather than an inclusive community in Nigeria.

1.       The Term Religion in Dispute

The term “religion” is in suspect in Nigeria and elsewhere. In the last Nigerian 2006 census, religion was one of the items eliminated in the list of data usually required in most censuses in this country. Perhaps, this was based on the assumption that religion has contributed to the several religious crises, particularly in Northern Nigeria.

In the West, like in Nigeria, the meaning of religion has long been in contention. Robert McAFee Brown (1973) has observed that this suspicion stems in part from the attack leveled on it by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the latter part of his Letters and Papers from Prison. Following his mentor, Karl Barth, who had attacked religion as something that was “abolished” by Christianity, Bonhoeffer in prison cell speculated about the likelihood that the West was entering into “a time of no religion at all.” Consequently, Bonhoeffer began working on what he called a “nonreligious” interpretation of Christianity. Brown tells us that in Bonhoeffer’s project he equated religion with “metaphysics” and proceeded to define “religion as a dualistic approach to life in which there is another world…far removed from our world. It is in this other world that God is to be found. Because he is a “stopgap”, God is [only] invoked to explain the things about our world that are still a mystery to us, he will become increasingly unnecessary as we understand our world more fully. We thus succeed in pushing him farther and farther out to the “edges” of life and live our lives more and more without recourse to him. He covers our residual ignorance and will lead to the gradual elimination of ‘the god of religion’”.[5]

Brown further points out how “Bonhoeffer also felt that men sought God in inwardness as well, in their own individual hearts or psyches, in a subjective way that did not involve God in the social dimension of human life.” Brown observes how “from this second perspective [of Bonhoeffer’s argument] God becomes “privatized”, and religion becomes a matter of concern only to the individual and God. The neighbor and society can be conveniently overlooked.”[6] This situation which Bonhoeffer described is either directly or indirectly the reality of the Nigerian state; hence the need to clarify the use of the term “religion” in this paper.

The term “religion” in this paper refers specifically to the two monotheistic religions—Christianity and Islam and their interactions with the dimension economic development and the Nigerian social realities. Religion as Clendenen rightly defines it is “that aspect of human culture constituting the response of individuals or groups to the prevailing concepts of the supernatural. This includes what people believe about the supernatural and how their beliefs directly affect their actions [and practice] (Clendenen in Dockery 1994: 275). That is to say, religion is part of the social system which gives a society its social and cultural identity, “self-affirmation and self-definition” (Ilesanmi 2003). Monotheistic religion provides a richer and thicker (more substantial and broader) narrative which encourages the entrenchment of economic order, freedom and justice in any given society or community.

The traditional religions, on the other hand, lack this ability because “there were many gods and none possesses unlimited wisdom or power. The activities of one god would often be counteracted by the activities, opposition, or deceit of another. The divine will was thus fragmented so that a person could never be safe and secure from divine displeasure and punishment, since the will of one god may very well conflict with that of another” (Clendenen 1994: 275). In contrast, monotheistic religion provides both political and economic certainty. In worship, economic and political realities are cast in new light. In monotheistic religion God is seen as the God of political, social and economic justice and as One who protects the oppressed from their political and economic injustice. Thus religious, economic and political perceptions are intrinsically and intriguingly connected.

The thrust of this paper is that the religiosity of a people can immensely contribute to the economic development of their society, particularly, when religion is repositioned and allowed to play its positive role of guaranteeing peace, love, justice, hard work, honesty, trust, confidence, hope, courage, etc. These powerful and positive ingredients of a religion are lacking in the Nigeria state, resulting in a lower level of economic development and ethnic, political and religious violence. Nigeria is presently a nation of exclusive economic development. One of the key questions that must be addressed is: how can Christian religious educators help build the concept of an inclusive economic development in Nigeria?

2.       How the Subject of Religion has been Approached

One is aware that many scholarly works have been done on the following areas:

1.      Economic studies of religious beliefs, behavior, and institutions. This approach focuses on explanations for conversion and commitment that emphasize choice and rationality over irrationality and indoctrination. Rational explanations for the success of “extreme,” “fundamentalist,” and “conservative” groups and weakness of more “liberal,” “mainstream” groups.

2.      Religiously-oriented critiques of economic theory and practice. This approach focuses on “Christian economics,” “Biblical Economics,” and “Islamic Economics.” It is further concerned with religiously-oriented critiques of capitalism, socialism, materialism, specific economic practices, etc.

3.      Theoretical and observed differences between different forms of religion. In this approach, the concern is “religion” versus “magic,” and monotheism versus polytheism.  It is further interested in why Christianity displaced Greco-Roman paganism, and why polytheism is less morally constraining than monotheism.

4.      The study of religious “markets”. In this approach, alternatives to traditional “secularization” theory that emphasize the centrality of innovation, entrepreneurship, and competition in the “religious marketplace.” That is, its primary concern is the market-oriented explanations America’s religious vitality versus Europe’s religious decline.

5.      Study of how religious commitment and religious groups influence the well-being of individuals, families, youth, communities, and nations.

6.      Studies of religious trends, the personal and social determinants of religiosity, and the relationship between religious and political/social/economic attitudes.

7.      Policy implications regarding the state regulation of religion, religious liberty, church-state relationships, the treatment of minority and deviant faiths, etc.[7]

This paper’s approach is different. It is basically an examination of how religious variables in Nigeria have contributed to the economic stagnation and nonperformance of the Nigeria state and of how religion could be repositioned for a sustainable economic development.  Nigeria is a country that is, for better or for worse, blessed with diverse religious affiliations. Undoubtedly, three religions have taken root in the Nigerian soil: African Traditional Religions, Christianity and Islam. This makes Nigeria’s religious situation comparable to India where Hinduism, Islam, and the Sikh faith have taken deep root.  Unlike Nigeria, however, in India these three religions have played a significant role in advancing economic, social, and moral developments.[8] John Stuart Mill wrote, “The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.” But the worth of the individual depends on his or her relationship to God, and this involves worship. If individual godliness declines, the morality of the nation declines.^[9]

What is the real problem with Christianity in Nigeria? First, most Nigerian Christians are firmly holding the form of their religion. Yet their public practices, actions and behaviors are complete denial of the transforming power of religion which can bring about holistic human flourishing in society. For example, personal happiness and self-centered pursuits become the goal of life rather than righteousness that results in love, justice, and peace with our neighbors. The Nigerian situation is best described by Warren W. Wiersbe: “happiness, not holiness, is the chief pursuit of most people today, including many professed Christians. They want Jesus to solve their problems and carry their burdens, but they don’t want Him to control their lives and change their character.”[10]

Second, religious extremism has not allowed Nigerian Christians to connect their religious activities with certain crucial aspects of their social life, particularly the economic life. The Nigerian elites take advantage of our religious extremism for their political, economic and social achievements. It is an alarming reality that in Nigeria the elite have for quite sometimes repositioned religion for their political advantage and to the detriment of the socio-economic benefits of the masses.  They have continued to amass wealth which they use to hold the masses in check. Consequently, poverty and unemployment are the lot of our youth. Hence they become easy prey to the political class who uses them as political muggers or weapons of mass destruction.

The above situation begs the question which J. Philip Wogaman (1977) once asked: Is economics beyond morality? This is a very important question, particularly now that the global community is experiencing the scourge of financial crisis and economic recession. We see the consequences of following the advice of not “making economic decisions directly on the basis of moral considerations.”[11] Wogaman points out where the problem lies: “To be sure, part of the difficulty has been lack of clarity concerning ‘morality’ and ‘ethic.’ Many people think of these terms very narrowly. Often morality is thought of simply in terms of private virtues such as honesty and sexual decency, and ethics is seen as a matter of rules concerning right and wrong conduct.”[12] Morality and ethics, Wogaman argues, “have to do with our basic values…. If these terms are ‘seen in this light, [we will realize that] all of life is infused with moral questions and problems. Every decision we make, every judgment we render, every action we propose to take…has a moral dimension”[13] and thus a religious dimension.

The above discussion points to why it is critically important to talk about repositioning religion in Nigeria. The primary emphasis is to realize that God’s reign [kingdom] has priority over all institutional forms and individual decision. God’s reign refers to God’s character. Alexander Hill observes, “Christian ethics is the application of Christian values to the decision-making process” and argues that “The foundation of Christian ethics in business is not rules but the changeless character of God…. Christianity operates on the notion that ethics (the study of human character) logically follows theology (the study of God’s character). Behavior consistent with God’s character is ethical.”[14]  Hill identifies three changeless characteristics of God that have direct bearing on ethical decision-making [which] are repeatedly emphasized in the Bible: God is holy, God is love, and God is just.

 Hill argues that Christian ethics requires all three characteristics to be taken into account when decisions are made. Holiness, when [disconnected] from justice and love, drifts into hypocritical legalism. Likewise, justice that loses its anchor in holiness and love produces harsh outcomes. And finally, love when it is orphaned lacks an adequate moral compass.” [15] With this understanding let us now reexamine the role and function of religion in economic development in Nigeria.

3.       The Function and Role of Religion in Facilitating a Sustainable Economic Development

This section examines the function and role of religion in facilitating a sustainable economic development. It seeks to respond to the following questions: (1) do we really need religion, faith and ethics in economic planning? (2) What has happened to religion in that it now requires repositioning? (3) How can religion, faith and ethics help promote good economic attitudes? (4) What have religion, faith and ethics got to do with economic matters?

In defining religion, William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt outline five things which characterize a religion. The final item in the list makes it clear that religion and economics are not separated. For religion gives humans “A sense that man’s relation to the supernatural world is in some way intimately connected with his moral values, with the nature of the goals he is called upon to live for and the rules of conduct he is expected to comply with” (Lessa and Vogt 1979:63).

Therefore, I am surprised that in Nigeria majority of our people have difficulty connecting their religious faith with their everyday life. What that really amounts to is that our religious orientations in Nigeria are defective. This defective Christian foundation has led to a number of problems in our society.

First, the rise of religious confusion: separation of church and society

Bloodshed motivated and masterminded by religious confusion has marred our beloved country for several decades. This is the logical result of the flawed concept and use of religion; the elite use religion for the exclusive purpose of perpetuating domination of the majority. They take advantage of the confusion arising from the issue of the secular nature of the Nigerian state. In his article, “Religion, Class and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria” Ibrahim Gambari observes,

The rise of religious fundamentalism, largely of the Islamic faith but also including some of the Christian sects, constitutes real threats to the delicate balance of forces on the issue of the secular nature of the Nigerian state. Islamic fundamentalists, perhaps emboldened by the establishment of an Islamic Republic in Iran by the cleric Ayatollah Khomeini, intensified their rejection of the idea that religion and politics are separable. Some of their leaders also believe that under the pretext of maintaining the secularism of the Nigerian state, Judeo-Christian values were gaining the upper-hand in Nigeria. It was perhaps in this context that the demands for the extension of Shari’a laws and legal system to cover all areas of Nigeria where Muslims live gained prominence. In any case, the issue of "Shari’a" seriously undermined the proceedings of two Constituent Assemblies (1978 and 1988/89) established to produce the Constitutions for the Second and Third Republics of Nigeria respectively. Both times the Federal Military Government had to step in to arrange compromises which essentially allowed the status quo to continue.[16]

I shall address this manipulation of religion later. But for now, I would argue that the confusion stems from a dualistic conception of religious values and practices. Christians have tended to compartmentalize their religion. Many Christians today have not yet understood the meaning of the doctrine of the separation of church and state, resulting in a thin economic ethics in public life. For most Christians the so-called “secular” sphere is a no go area for Jesus. For these Christians what really matters is to give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

Since this is the case, how do we reposition religion in such a way that it gives the Nigerian people a thick economic, social and political ethics? We need to realize that the faith, ethic and theology of a people are formed by the religious narrative (story) that shapes their moral values and social practices. Part of the Christian narrative is holiness, love and justice. In God’s economy, holiness, love and justice are inseparable. The doctrine of the separation of state and church is a doctrine that was not meant to separate holiness, love and justice from the public arena but to allow their flourishing, resulting in the creation of a humane, domination free and just societies.

Second, religious manipulation: Religious manipulation has become the order of the day in Nigeria. One of the reasons is because certain persons in society feed on the back of victims of religious violence. As such, they hijack and manipulate religion in Nigeria to their own advantage; but to the detriment of the poor whose only hope is their religion. But you may ask which religion gets manipulated? The plain truth is all religions. Jan Boer points out, “No religion is immune to manipulation—and neither are religious leaders, whether they be Christians or Muslims” (Boer 1994:6). Boer observes that this class of people operating under a hidden political agenda expect religion to “produce a people with high personal morality, a great sense of duty and obedience, but certainly not inclined to radical social thinking, let alone action” (Boer 1989:3). 

In sum, a religion that is used as a tool for political manipulation creates structures of social, economic, and political injustice.  It also perpetuates poverty, resulting in long-lasting frustration, hopelessness and wanton destruction of lives and properties in society.

A misguided religious perspective arises from the lack of paying attention to the interactive connection of religion, economy and politics in our national history. The interaction between religion and politics in Nigeria has been well documented. In Religious Pluralism and the Nigerian State (1997), Simeon O. Ilesanmi argues that there is no one single ethnic group that does not have some religious impact in its historic roots in Nigeria.

Ilesanmi’s work stresses the fact that religion in Nigeria plays an enormous role in the formation of moral values and cultural and social identity in all of the original three geopolitical regions of Nigeria (Ilesanmi 1997:119). Ilesanmi’s study is very insightful. It provides us with the tool to look at the past role of religion in this country, particularly, how religion has positively interacted with the polity of Nigeria to the extent of helping government achieve its purpose of being: maintainer of order, guarantor of freedom and insurer of social justice. However, Ilesanmi’s study left out the other vital area of religious interaction: the economy. In Nigeria: The Way Forward, Omafume F. Onoge observes that “The two most lively domains of the Nigerian social formation today are the polity and the economy, both structural institutional and procedural dimensions” (Onoge 1993: xiii). Yet in most cases the interaction between religion and the economy is often ignored. Rather, there is undue emphasis on the vital role that religion has played and is continuing to play in the Nigeria polity.

In short, religion permeates every aspect of human behavior. It is all-embracing because of its natural ability to provide a transcendent moral perspective. It connects finite men and women with the infinite.

4.       The Significance of Repositioning Religion in Nigeria

 The above discussion has shown that something is fundamentally incorrect with our perception of the Christian religion in Nigeria. There is a disconnection between religion and work ethics.  Religious experiences do not translate to real life. This is why religious praxis does not trickle down to other spheres of life. Hence Christians need to be reoriented toward a thicker economic ethics. This thick ethic teaches us that we cannot separate religion from economic development because religion drives people’s behavior and actions in more productive direction. Furthermore, our politicians have used religion to exclude the masses from meaningfully participating in national building. If Christianity is repositioned it will be able to engender the realization of a model: inclusive community. This inclusive community is a community which is controlled by the concept of the Imago Dei. That is, a concept that impresses on all of us the fact that all men and women are created equal and in the image and likeness of God, as such, have human dignity and human rights to life in community with other human beings and the rest of creation. Therefore, nobody should be denied full participation in the economic life and growth of our nation.

In an integrated world economy it has become profoundly clear that just peacemaking and dialogue with other faiths cannot be toyed with. That is, “A peaceful co-existence of various religious groups (or sects) within a country and nations with multiple religious affiliations within the global community at large remains the essential prerequisite for growth and prosperity” (Khan and Bashar 2008:3). The same applies to a nation like Nigeria. Religion has been generally understood as

a system of social coherence commonly understood as a group of beliefs or attitudes concerning an object, persons, unseen or imaginary being, or system of thought considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine or highest truth, and the moral codes, practices, values, institutions, and rituals associated with such belief or system of thought. It is widely believed that religion played an important role in the process of economic development in the very early years of world history.[17] 

Bashar and Khan point out how the world acclaimed economist, Adam Smith (1776) while explaining the role of established clergies in his ‘An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations’ wrote that one of religion’s most important contributions to the economic development process was its value as a moral enforcement mechanisms. Smith argued that, in societies where there was a widespread belief in God, the values of honesty and integrity were more prevalent. In such societies, Smith observed, “Fewer resources would be devoted to determining the veracity of an individual’s or firm’s business ethics—what economics call the credit or default risk associated with lending to an unknown individual.”[18]  In Nigeria there is widespread belief in God. Yet the impact of corruption at all levels of human endeavors is alarming. Hence the point is that it is only when religion is repositioned that it enables full and robust participation in economic development.

Smith’s hypothesis is that “the participation in religious sects could convey a useful “reputational signal” to potential employers, lenders and customers implying a reduction in risk of doing business with any individual. Extending the same argument to the community or group level, the implication of this hypothesis is that membership in “good” sects could provide additional means of establishing trust and sanctioning miscreants in business transactions leading to reduction in uncertainty and improvement of efficiency.” [19] Khan and Bashar also observe that Smith applied his well known laissez faire II philosophy to religion. Without showing any preference for any particular religion, he advocated an ‘open market’ and ‘freedom of speech’ for all religious groups so that rational discussion about  different religious beliefs and practices can create an environment of “good temper and moderation,” essential for sustained growth and development.”[20]

Khan and Bashar outlined what religion is capable of doing. Their delineation fits what I think when I talk about repositioning religion. For example, in their analysis of the findings of Collier (1998), particularly his characterization of religion as a social capital, Khan and Bashar distilled certain features of a repositioned religion as follows:

(1) Religion is categorized as civil social capital, which contributes to the building of networks among population. Khan and Bashar note, however, spiritual capital or religious capital is special in the sense that it may produce externalities and spillover effects on government social capital as well.

(2) Religion also affects productivity through certain personal traits, such as work ethics, thrift, honesty, and openness to people. These traits, in turn, may make people more or less economically productive. For most religions, hard work is a norm. Work is a duty to God and one should put diligent effort in his work. To the believers, work not only helps them to stay away from a sensual, immoral life but also is the best means for glorifying God. Thus, from religious point of view, one must avoid idle conversation, unproductive recreation, or oversleep to have maximum time for work. Being idle and unprofitable is often stressed as “evils.” When internalize, this view is likely to increase productivity.

(3) Religion can enhance economic growth and development by promoting a positive attitude toward honesty. Since the concept of “truthful living’ is a major emphasis in religious practice, it induces people to bring a sincere attitude in all interactions and dealings. Religion may increase levels of trust and reduce levels of corruption and criminal activity. It may also encourage frugality, which would stimulate saving, investments and therefore economic growth. Besides, religion may lead to better health level by discouraging sinful activities as drugs, overeating, gambling, alcohol, etc. for instance, alcohol and gambling are strictly forbidden in Islam, Christianity and other religions.

(4) Religious rituals also play a significant role in economic activities. They promote in-group trust and cooperation that help overcome collective-action problems. Greater trust fostered by religion encourages repeated interactions which can lead to more cooperative behavior within single network. This helps an economy to be more open in terms of trade, investments and skilled migration.

(5) Religion exerts positive impact on human capital by enhancing educational level. Individuals are encouraged to be literate so as to be able to read scriptures and religious teachings. In many faith systems, one definition of God is knowledge and wisdom. Believers are expected to read, listen and reflect on the word that epitomizes knowledge and wisdom. Education and knowledge play an important role in securing employment. In many developing countries, education is seen as a social norm that is required for social networking which can again promote economic growth through collective bargaining.[21] Yet these positive ingredients of religious life of a people have not been part of our experience in Nigeria. The reason is not farfetched.[22]

First, the current situation: The complexity of Nigeria’s society is making it difficult to do justice to an analysis of its situation. The following however should be noted:

 (1) The saga of youth unemployment is seriously in need of attention in Nigeria. This has resulted in many youths taking to commercial motorcycling, which spells doom for the future of Nigeria. In any given society youth’s unemployment poses the greatest threat to human security of life and property. Naturally the youth are the socio-economic, socio-religious and socio-political life wire of their God-given society. Thus, any society that has a dream for a great future with hope, peace, love and justice must focus on the skills that enable its youth to be job creators rather than job seekers.

 Though the youths are potentially the economic engine of our future generation, Nigeria is a nation where youth’s unemployment is generally believed to be above 60% of the population. The global economic recession, financial crisis and economic meltdown have heightened the fear of high rate of youth unemployment and the resultant increase rate of crimes in Nigeria.

Our graduate youth continue to be jobs seekers instead of jobs creators due to a defective educational structure which does not offer them the entrepreneurship skills needed to enable them create jobs for themselves and for others.  Nigeria inherited an educational structure that was aimed at keeping us under colonial domination. That is, it was geared toward maintaining the status quo. So it adopted the banking method of education (where the teacher deposits knowledge to a blank slate, the student) instead of the dialog method, (where the teacher sees himself or herself as a facilitator of learning), which makes learning a collaborative experience between teacher and students and thus is able to pull out the student’s potentials in a more meaningful and positive way.

(2) In Nigeria, and in fact in much of Africa, religion is the hope of our people. As Barrister Bob James tells us, in Northern Nigeria, “for most people, their religious convictions are their most cherished assets. For them, it is a matter of life and death” (James 1997:21). Thus it has been said, and rightly so, that Nigerians and Africans are very religious. Ironically, we tend to leave religion in the periphery in our discussion of crucial matters. In other words, we do not always make a deliberate attempt to include religious perspectives in our discussion of desperate life-affecting matters, such as the issue of socioeconomic or sociopolitical transformation of our people. This negligence of religion in the scheme of things, particularly in our public life, emerges from the assumption that religion is a private matter and must therefore be confined to the home, the church or the mosque.

Therefore this topic, repositioning religion as a strategy for a sustainable economic transformation of our country is advocating the need for our pastors and priests to collapse the dualism that now exist in our conception of Christianity. This will necessitate the emphasis on God’s kingdom perspective and ethics. We need an economic vision that is inclusive not exclusive. The Christian church in Nigeria has the tool to reposition religion: the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nelleke Bosshardt has rightly observed that, “The Gospel is the great resource, inspiration and grace for transformation from which both the roots for change can grow deeply and the fruitful tree can grow over time and be a source of health for many!”  (Email note to me September 2007).

Jesus Christ’s political engagement showed how in his society the Pharisees use their traditional understanding of Judaism’s holiness code to exclude many people. Among those excluded were the tax-collectors, the prostitutes, the sinners, etc. Two things are very clear from Jesus’ table fellowship in the Gospels, particularly the Gospel of Mark and Luke.

First, Jesus’ table fellowship with these categories of people was a political statement that demonstrated his stance on the Pharisees’ wrong interpretation of the holiness code, which resulted in the exclusion of the prostitutes, the tax-collectors and sinners from full participation in society.

Second, Jesus ate with these categories of people not because he sanctioned their sins but because he first of all recognized the image of God in them and their potentials for transformation. For Jesus, they were sick and were in need of healing. That healing was only possible in an inclusive community that guarantees hope for the future for all and sundry because everybody feels belonging in spite of their differences.

Thus Jesus’ table fellowship provides a redemptive model for the church today. The task of repositioning religion in Nigeria will require that all pastors, priests, and religious instructors in all our churches and national institutions stop preaching a compartmentalized, dichotomized or dualistic worldview of Christianity and religion in general, which is nothing but a wholesale transportation of the influence of Greek philosophical worldview on Western Christianity to Africa.  The present looting of the economy can only be curbed when Nigerian Christians grasp the concept of God’s rule over all of life and the inclusive nature of our Christian community vis-à-vis economic development. As it is now Nigeria is operating as an exclusive development state (where the economy is only in the hands of the few).  Surely, religion, particularly the Christian faith, can become a tool for deliverance when it is understood in all its truth. But when it is misunderstood it becomes “a weapon of mass destruction” as the Nigerian situation illustrates.

Third, our context in retrospective: In the past two or more decades we have witnessed not only the polarization of religion but the distortion of religion. Since then religion has often been used as an instrument of divide and rule, resulting in religion becoming a weapon of massive social and economic destructions.

This shows that something is fundamentally wrong with our country. This is the most populous and the most religious black nation in the world. Yet Nigeria has generally been described as an economically dysfunctional state (Lewis 1998).  In their book Stabilizing Nigeria: Incentive, Sanctions and Support for Civil Society, Peter M. Lewis et al describe Nigeria as a failed state. In his article “Nigeria: a Dysfunctional State”, Lewis particularly observed that, “Nigeria’s travails, while hardly unique within the developing world, are surely exceptional in their scope and persistence.”[23] Lewis summarizes the economic growth of Nigeria as follows:

Nigeria’s aggregate economic growth from 1961 through 1998 averaged 3.6 percent, while the country achieved merely 2.2 percent average growth in the period from 1981 through 1998, significantly below the annual rate of population increase (about 2.9 percent). These trends, especially in a context of increasing income inequality, yielded a substantial increase in poverty. From 1961 through 1998, per capita GDP increased by a scant 0.7 percent annually, providing for little advance in living standards.”^[24]

You may choose to disagree with Lewis’s statistics; the fact still remains that in spite of Nigeria’s enormous resources the country has profoundly failed as a state and as an economy. Or else, how can you explain the fact that of all the nations that gained independence from the colonialists in the late 1950s and 1960s, Nigeria had the potentials of becoming the economic hub of Africa yet has allowed that opportunity slipped through her fingers?

The situation Lewis described demonstrates how repositioning religion in Nigeria is long overdue. This paper contends that the wrong use of religion by the elite has contributed to Nigeria’s economic woes. Consequently, Lewis states how, “Nigeria today, more than ever, faces developmental challenges in the economic, political, and social dimensions….” Lewis observes that economic stagnation often arises from a generalized crisis of governance and poor economic performance contributes to the infirmities of the state. Lewis argues that in most cases “the weakness of central political authority, and the insecurity of rulers, exacerbate social tensions and undermine capital formation.”[25] This picture of our nation can change if religion is repositioned.

 Niels Kastfelt has very well given us more insight into our contemporary context. Kastfelt points out,

Over the last decade the issue of religion and politics has been in the headlines in Nigeria, as well as in the international media. And regrettably so, since the people of Nigeria have experienced a long series of violent and bloody confrontations between religious groups.... [C]ausing the death of thousands of innocent Nigerians (Kastfelt 1994: ix).

Similarly, Samuel Huntington (1998) argues that the major world conflicts today are increasingly religiously and culturally based.

These two studies have demonstrated that religion has become a critical matter in our contemporary world. This is why religion needs repositioning in Nigeria in particular and in Africa at large.

A misplaced religious perspective makes people see and treat others as less than human beings. Consequently, they deprive their fellow men and women of the basic goods of life by reducing their self-respect and their sense of dignity to nothingness.

This paper is pushing for a thicker (more substantial) religious perspective that would allow for human flourishing and the harnessing of a social and economic lifestyle. This lifestyle will foster God’s reverence in every aspect of our communal polity. Consequently, it will ensure truthful dealing with one another, trust and dependence on each other. It will largely, encourage respect for the God-given human dignity and human rights of each other, and also bring about the pursue of the common good, love, justice and peaceful coexistence.

How can Nigeria become one of the 20 largest economies of the world in 2020 if her politicians and religious groups continue to treat others as if they are things rather than persons (King 1959: 20)? Religion kills when it becomes an instrument of manipulation and a way of maintaining the status quo.

In sum, the hope for a sustainable transformation of the Nigerian economy must not ignore the vital role of religion as one of the cardinal dimensions of the Nigerian social landscape. The paper is arguing for an enabled moral agency in our quest for economic transformation. A disabled moral agency will only leads to economic oppression, political manipulation, resulting in the destruction of human flourishing. Our pastors, priests, and religious instructors must provide our nation with an enabled moral agency which is built on God’s kingdom mandate, perspective and vision. The kingdom of God is about God’s rule over all of life. So in God’s economy there is nothing like secular and sacred. Both are his domain: “Everything comes from God, everything exists by his power and everything is intended for his glory” (Romans 11:36 NLT). Our business as Christians is to enable that understanding in our country by reminding those who are no longer living for his purposes and glory that they are without excuse.

Thus an authentic understanding of religion is desperately needed in Nigeria. It must be categorically pointed out that an unadulterated religious perspective encourages the creation of an inclusive community where people are encouraged to trust and depend on each other. Such a stance will result in respecting the God-given human dignity and human rights of each other. It will undoubtedly enable each person to meaningfully exercise their social responsibility and obligation to each other.  In other words, a healthy religious perspective provides a narrative that is necessary for the creation of not only a community of moral character, moral conscience and moral conviction but also a community of social resilience. Such socially healthy community facilitates active commitment and also participation in economic activities, resulting in a well informed radical social thinking and action. In sum, a true and pure religion fosters a community where there is recognition that God has given us the mandate and the responsibility of making the world habitable for all of life: humans and the rest of creation through good stewardship of the environment.

5.       The Challenge of Creating a Needed Model in Africa

African countries are searching for a paradigm that would deliver their peoples from the spiral cobweb of religious violence which causes enormous economic destruction of lives and properties. Would the Nigerian people be willing to provide this model? This essay is simply arguing that the Nigerian people needs to show the rest of this continent what it means to respect our rights to religious, social, economic and political freedom. But do we have the capacity to provide such a paradigm? I think we do. For as a people we have shared values and shared understanding which if harnessed could enable us to foster an inclusive community.

Speaking from a Christian perspective, Jesus Christ should be our model of Christian faith and practice. In his life and ministry on earth Jesus embodied (exemplified) God’s love and God’s shalom (peace) community. For example, those who were outcast (the tax collectors and prostitutes), were delivered from a community where they were excluded to an inclusive community which fostered its members hope for the future. An inclusive community offers hope for future generations because it is characterized by truth-telling and dialogue with its neighbors. It shuns deception and corruption in all forms of interpersonal relationships. And for the sake of love, justice and peace it is willing to go beyond its comfort zones.  As Boer rightly puts it,

The Christian religion is not designed to aid only its adherents; it is meant to benefit all citizens. [Therefore], if the Christian religion is going to encourage the liberation of the poor, the benefits should not be restricted to Christians, for millions of peasants adhering to either Traditional Religion or Islam are equally oppressed and equally in need of emancipation. Any attempt on the part of Christians to restrict the benefits of Christ in the area of liberation and rights will eventually backfire and lead to the accusation that, while they seek their own emancipation for freedom they will end up in new forms of oppression (Boer 1989: 6).

 Finally, the Christian faith is not a private faith or a faith confined to the home. Rather it is also a public faith. We are not only saints but also citizens. Thus the Christian faith engages the Public Square or arena on the basis of God’s changeless character of holiness (righteousness), love and justice. All these attributes of God are attributes that God shares with all humans. They are relational in nature. Thus they are inseparable. These moral and character virtues become the shared values and virtues that control the Christian public interaction.

6.       Summary and Recommendation

Religion is the most important of all the many ways in which Nigerian citizens “get involved” in the life of their community and society. Therefore our religious life must equally impact our social, cultural, political and economic life. But how can our religion really promote economic transformation?

(1) We must let religion play its powerful influence not only on individual character and action but also on our communal life as a people. One of those powerful influences is that money isn’t everything. In Be Skillful, Warren W. Wiersbe tells of how Paul summarized the Christian philosophy of wealth when he wrote: “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need” (Eph. 4:28, NKJV). One of the underlying issues in this verse is to make sure that whatever we do we do it with the interest of others at heart.

Wiersbe tells us that according to Paul, you can get wealth in three ways: by stealing it, earning it, or receiving it as a gift, which would include getting it as an inheritance. Stealing is wrong (Ex. 20:15), labor is honorable (Ex. 20:9) and, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Wiersbe points out how in the Book of Proverbs, King Solomon tells us a great deal about these three kinds of people—the thieves, the workers, and the poor who need our help. (Among the thieves, Wiersbe is including “the sluggard,” the lazy person who never works but expects others to take care of him. That’s being a thief, isn’t it?) However, wealthy as he was (1 Kings 4; 10), King Solomon emphasized that God’s wisdom is more important than money. “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding than silver!” (Prov. 16:16; see 2:1–5; 3:13–15; 8:10–21) This is Solomon’s version of Matthew 6:33; he’s reminding us that while it is good to have the things money can buy, be sure you don’t lose the things money cannot buy.^[26]

(2) We must be willing to recognize the fact that religion is the foundation for a just economic transformation. Religion provides the needed ingredients for sustainable business ventures in the world: love, justice and peace. Pure monotheistic religion helps persons in their pursuit of profit to abstain from unscrupulous activities that are in many cases detrimental to human flourishing. Religion, if wholly understood in all its truth, encourages justice, love and peace in all human relationships.

(3) Through worshiping God religion ushers the worshipers into a way of life that encompasses economic perspectives. As Robert Bellah et al observes,

Worship also reiterates the obligations that the community has undertaken, including the biblical insistence on justice and righteousness, and on love of God and neighbor, as well as the promises God has made that make it possible for the community to hope for the future.... through reminding the people of their relationship to God, it establishes patterns of character and virtue that should operate in economic and political life as well as in the context of worship (Bellah 1985: 227).

Therefore, in order to reposition religion for a sustainable economic transformation we must be willing to relate biblical faith and practice to the whole of our contemporary life—cultural, social, political, and economic—not just to personal and family morality (Bellah 1985: 237).

(4) Religion helps us to realize that hoarded wealth breeds frustration because the victims always feel humiliated. This humiliation is the key to all kinds of violence. As the author of the bestseller book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman argues, “It is when people or nations are humiliated that they really lash out and engage in extreme violence” (Friedman, 2005: 400).

(5) True and pure religion promotes peace which is an important ingredient in economic matters. Harold Coward and Gordon S. Smith have correctly pointed out that  “[T]he failure to recognize the place of religion in the dynamics of economy and peacemaking has too often resulted in misunderstandings, inappropriate and sometime disastrous policies and actions, and most importantly, missed opportunities” (Coward and Smith 2004: 280).

(6) We must therefore realize that repositioning religion for the economic transformation of Nigeria is the responsibility of all and sundry. For example, Coward and Smith argue that the “Responsibility for discerning and developing appropriate and effective roles for religion and religious actors belongs jointly to political, religious, and nongovernmental organizations and their leaders” (Coward and Smith, 2004:280). Coward and Smith believe that “Expanding the community to which religious principles and virtues are applied is critical to the achievement of world peace” (Coward and Smith 2004:281).

Repositioning religion for a sustainable economic transformation in Nigeria would entail encouraging interfaith and interdenominational interactions. Interfaith and interdenominational activities offer opportunities to collaborate, share the work of economic development that results in peace building. “Teaming up with other religious and nonreligious actors (entrepreneurs) also models the behaviors required to promote peace” (Coward and Smith 2004: 290-291). Interfaith initiatives also offer opportunities for the personal and interpersonal transformation required to build peace” which is a necessary ingredient in economic transformation (Coward and Smith 2004: 291).

Conclusion

There are many compelling reasons for repositioning religion for sustainable economic transformation. (1) Religion has been used to divide the nation for political self-interest and the desire for power. (2) False understanding of religion in Nigeria. Buddhism and Hinduism are predominantly the religions of China and Indian respectively. Their economy is thriving today because it is connected to the whole package of religious philosophy that sees work as worship. (3) We inherited the Graeco-Roman concept of dualism: secular versus sacred, matter versus spirit. Christian religion has been compartmentalized. Consequently, the proliferation of churches has not brought about the desired economic transformation of the Nigeria state. (4) Nigeria’s vision 20 2020 can only work when religion is repositioned. In other words, Yar’Adua’s vision 20 2020 is a laudable goal and is worth pursuing. However, the critical concern must be the plight of the poor who are already economically disadvantaged. In other words, how is this policy going to benefit the 80% of the Nigerian people who are already below the poverty level? How can the government assure its citizenry that the gap between the rich and the poor will be bridged? If the gap must be bridged the elite must discontinue their current attitude of focusing on personal aggrandizement and the need of the poor second. That is, as a fundamental principle in their pursuit of the doctrine of good governance and public policy, the elite and all public officials in Nigeria must have priority for the poor and the oppressed. God has priority for the poor and the vulnerable in society. That is why He has entrusted them with the stewardship of the oppressed.

The abuse of God-given stewardship has led Government to deceptive tendencies. For example, Government tells the poor and the vulnerable in society what it thinks they want to hear. But the poor and oppressed know that in most cases government officials are only bend on fulfilling their goal of maintaining the status quo—maintenance of their hold on political and economic power—and not the interest of the poor. That attitude encourages injustice, resulting in general uncertainty which negatively hinders economic freedom, justice and the rule of law and due process which are required for the growth and sustenance of internal economy of the Nigerian state.

Therefore we need a true and an unadulterated religion: monotheistic religion. A monotheistic religion, as a creator of moral values, has the capacity to encourage social and economic order, freedom and justice. Hence this paper is pushing for the need to re-instill value system, particularly, character virtues such as honesty, truth-telling, trust, hard work, selfless service, moral rectitude, integrity, God-fearing, compassion, love and justice. This paper also wants the Nigerian people to grasp the symbiotic relationship between faith and economy.

In conclusion, one would like to draw the attention of our political leaders to the crucial role which religion plays in many people’s lives in this country. They need to understand how religion permeates belief and behavior and factor religion into their thinking, economic policies, and actions. “Political leaders should give careful thought to integrating religion as a force for economic peace into political and civic life, and then try to develop constructive roles for religion and  its adherents in making and executing policy” (Coward and Smith 2004:292).

Finally, we cannot divorce religion from economic and political life and consideration. This paper therefore draws its reader’s attention to the potentials of using religion as a veritable tool for socio-economic TRANSFORMATION. It strongly argues that religion has transforming power if there is sincere commitment to the TRUTH that sets its adherents free! For the sake of ensuring the economic survival of all Nigerians, “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord” (Lamentation 3:40).

References Cited