Pastoral Psychology . Oct 24, 2021 . 30 Mins Read . PC - Admin .
Introduction
It is no illusion that sustainable development as a concept and phenomenon is currently in vogue in developing nations, particularly Nigeria. For time immemorial, the system of belief of a people has always been entrenched in their culture and social lives which impacts on their development, growth, sustainability, progress, advancement, improvement, expansion and change as it bothers on social, religious, political, economic, educational , moral, technological and of course every aspect of man’s life generally and specifically as the case may be . On this note, there is always a concern to look out for everything that can advance the expected progress in all the aspect of life. One of such things as far as we are concerned is religious tolerance. The current study examines the connection between sustainable development and religious tolerance.
The concept of Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is commonly defined as development projected to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future generations. The development is all encompassing dovetailing to social development, religious development, political development, economic development, educational development, moral development, and technological development. Emphatically, it hinges on the popular Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The SDGs, according to Mohiuddin is an approach to development which uses resources in a way that allows them (the resources) to continue to exist for others[1]. Pigou traces the history of SD to the period of the development of economics as a discipline with emphasis on whether or not the capacity of the Earth’s limited natural resources would be able to continually support the existence of the increasing human population gained prominence with the Malthusian population theory in the early 1800s[2] .
In recent times, particularly in January, 2016, as a product of the United Nation Summit held in September 2015, the United Nation approved the SDGs as the 2030 Agenda, which are targeted at achieving the following summarised objectives: to eradicate poverty and hunger, guaranteeing a healthy life; to universalize access to basic services such as water, sanitation and sustainable energy; to support the generation of development opportunities through inclusive education and decent work; to foster innovation and resilient infrastructure, creating communities and cities able to produce and consume sustainably; to reduce inequality in the world, especially that concerning gender; to care for the environmental integrity through combatting climate change and protecting the oceans and land ecosystems , and promote collaboration between different social agents to create an environment of peace and ensure responsible consumption and production. All these are captured in what is called 17 SDGs goals which are as follows:
- No Poverty: End Poverty in all its forms everywhere.
- Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
- Good Health and Well-being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
- Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
- Gender Equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Clean Water and Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
- Affordable and Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
- Decent Work and Economic Growth: Promote sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: Building resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation.
- Reduced Inequality: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
- Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe and resilient and sustainable.
- Responsible Consumption and Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
- Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
- Life below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the ocean, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
- Life on Land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat dessertation, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
- Peace and Justice Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
- Partnerships to achieve the Goal: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.[3].
Religious tolerance
We may not be able to understand the meaning of this term, its importance and what it weighs in the public space until we shed light on what religion is, why the need for religious tolerance and the features of religious tolerance that has so much effects on the SDGs. 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”[4]. We need to expand this further by looking at each of these four variables underlying religion. Creed is used in the context of 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 only by an individual alone but also 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 when he avers 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[5].
Thus, central to any religion in the world according to Charles Kegley, is belief in God or gods, the nature and destiny of man, the meaning of history and hope for the future[6]. In spite of the above obvious fact about what religion is or is not, adherents of the three religions in Nigeria as an example are always at loggerheads with one another, which cumulate to both intra and interreligious conflicts globally. There are so many reasons for the conflict, one of which is, doctrinal differences. Such difference is known as a truth claim, a proposition that a particular person or belief system holds to be true. For instance, Christians argue that Christianity is the only religion and not Islamic 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:
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 of God remains on him.”
John 10:9: “I am the door. If anyone 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.”
This claim presupposes 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 practice. In history, this religious mentality has had sinister effects on intra-religious and interreligious relations in Nigeria. It has among other things, created a major impediment to genuine dialogue[7]. With this background, none of the religious practitioners is ready to shift ground for each other as each of them hold dearly to their religion, which they are ready to live for and if the need arises die for it. Incidentally, the religion each person holds on to permeate every aspect of their social, political, economic, technology, education, business lives which are factors in the sustainable developmental goal as we shall discuss sufficiently later.
This unhealthy relationship, therefore informs the call or advocacy for religious tolerance. Religious tolerance presupposes each of different religious practitioners accepting to allow each one of them to practice their religion without fear or favour. That is, it involves each of them accepting one another and also accepting the reality of the exitance of each of the religion. Such tolerance as afore argued somewhere is a by-product of cooperation. It simply suggests accommodation of views, opinion and people of different background/world view. It implies that people are not the same in terms of trait, opinion, religious beliefs and sentiment and thought. This is one of the beauties of nature. Arising from the first argument, we can equally say that every person is talented, and therefore, nobody has monopoly of knowledge and wisdom about anything including religion. This calls for giving allowance for every opinion and even sentiment in social, economic and specifically in religious settings. Doing so implies tolerating other people, thought, and opinion, among others.
Hypothetically, the call for religious tolerance is a clear admittance that religious intolerance can impede Sustainable development. It is possible because religious intolerance in Nigeria has produced some negative consequences that are inimical to process of attaining the goals of sustainable development. For instance, religious intolerance which manifests in the emergence of insider and outsider phenomenon, that is a situation in which individuals belonging to different religious groups, assembly, denomination, cluster, association, union or society like Anglican Church see themselves as insiders and those belonging to Islam and other religious faiths as outsiders, while those considered as outsiders also describe themselves as insiders and the ones not belonging to them as outsiders.
Consequently, in the Nigerian public space, the term manifests in emphasis several institutions placed on religious identity in which individual religious practitioners are differentiated on the basis of what domination, parish, unit, association, camp, sect, order, province or circuit an individual or groups of individuals belong/belongs to. Hence, we are left with dichotomy such as ‘we’, ‘they’ ‘us’ ‘them’. More often than not, this demarcation between two people of different religious faiths often leads to division, differentiation and sometimes alienation in the Nigerian religious space. As earlier demonstrated religious affiliation a Nigerian belongs is a factor determining who occupies a political space. It is no wonder why we hear or read about the terms “Catholic vote”, “Muslim vote”, “Baptist vote” or “Pentecostal vote” in election periods in Nigeria.
The contestation for space has led to denigration of individual religious organisations, unhealthy rivalries, bickering and in most cases intra and interreligious conflicts[8]. This development also promotes social and religious e exclusion, that is 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 insider and outsider phenomena. For instance, experience show that only two religions, that is, Christianity and Islam are considered as major religions in Nigeria with little attention paid to others staring with the Traditional religion. On many occasions’ practitioners of other faiths apart from Christianity and Islam are excluded in social and public matters. In public places much attention is given to Islam and Christianity and little or none to traditional religion as if it does not exist or is not important. In other words, traditional religion is often treated as subsidiary. In some places where Islam and Traditional religions are prominent, little or no attention is paid to Christianity in interreligious enterprise while, little or no attention is also paid to Islam in community where Christianity and Traditional religion are much more prominent.
With this, each religion secured a place for itself and tries as much as possible to prevent interreligious relations among religious practitioners belonging to different faiths and consequently creation of sharp religious identities. Each religious faith introduced a number of programmes to keep members busy some of which results to commercialization of Religion, in fact so many religious activities and programmes are monetised, which is a situation akin to what Obiora dubs - commercialization of religion[9]. This has led to corruption, immorality, and other forms of indiscipline, lust for materialism, spiritual pride and exploitation. Religious leaders exploit their followers in a number of ways, such as: selling many liturgical elements such as water, oil, candle, mantle, Jerusalem and Zem Zem water at exorbitant prices. All these have also created poverty among religious followers.
From the above, we can see that religious practices have implications for SDGs because religious intolerance with its ugly characteristics have the tendencies to impede the achievement of the SDGS. For instance, religious conflicts; a product of religious intolerance, has led to several destruction of lives and properties invariably leading to hunger for those whose means of livelihood (economy) were destroyed in the process, thereby moving them from the level of ‘have’ to ‘have-not’, retardation of economic growth, and impeding Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, which are parts and parcel of SDGS.
So also, the contestation for space among religious practitioners, a product of religious intolerance, has led to desecration of public space. This is evident in the indiscriminate siting of Churches and Mosques in every Nigerian streets including residential areas which ultimately violate town planning protocols and destroy the aesthetic of the environment and littering of the public spaces like banks, post offices and motor parks with bill boards and posters. In effect, this phenomenon is likely to affects the part of the SDGs agenda that have bearing with sustainable cities and communities, climate action, life below water and life on land. This singular fact as argued somewhere raises question of social and moral irresponsibility on the part of the religious organisations that is supposed to spear head advocacy for environmental sustainability as contained in religious scripture and traditions.
With religious intolerance in Nigeria as an example, almost all the existing institutions are managed with bias for religious differentiation. A good example is the selection of leaders based on religious bias. Religiosity is condemnably made a factor (and nor political manifesto or moral credential of a candidate) in the selection or election of a candidate into a political position particularly at the presidency, governorship and local government levels of governance. For instance, from the Nigerian independence to date, we have had Christian /Muslim tickets and Muslim/Christian Tickets. This practice is evident in the political history of Nigeria, as shown below:
- Nnamdi Azikiwe/Tafawa Balewa (Christian/ Muslim), (1960-1966).
- Shehu Shagari/Alex Ekwueme (Muslim/Christian), 1979-1983.
- Buhari/Idiagbon (Muslim/Muslim) (1983-85).
- Babangida/Ebitu Ukiwe, Aikhomu (Muslim/ Christian), 1985-1993.
- Shonekan/Abacha (Christian/Muslim), 26 August 1993 – 17 November 1993.
- Abacha/Diya (Muslim/Christian), 1997-1998.
- Abudusalami/Akhigbe (Muslim/Christian) 1998-1999.
- Obasanjo/Atiku (Christian/Muslim), 1999-2007.
- Yar’Adua/Jonathan (Muslim/Christian) (2007-2011).
- Jonathan/Sambo (Christian/Muslim), (2011-2015).
- Buhari/Osinbajo (Muslim/Christian) (2015-to date)[10].
One of the effects of this practice is lack of genuine cooperation among religious practitioners who are expected (in principle and also in practice and also significantly with refence to the expectation of SDGs ) to cooperate( Partnerships to achieve the Goal) with one another to ensure the prevalence of Peace and Justice, Strong Institutions, have common resolution to take hunger to zero level, advance good health and well-being, jointly promote institution of quality education, reduce or eradicate gender equality jointly advance community effort fo production of clean water and sanitation and affordable and clean energy, promote decent work and economic growth and industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduce inequality and take the lead in responsible consumption and production , which religious scriptures and religious traditions made provisions for. What we are saying is that cooperation among religious practitioners, which is synonymous with the word ‘partner ‘used in the SDGS, and which implies colleagueship, co-partnership and tie - up relationship is sacrosanct. This is the truth because where there is cooperative spirit, there is always growth of fraternity, solidarity, fellow-feeling, voluntary association, coalition, federation, united fronts, common front, mutual assistance and reciprocity. It also propels the spirit of give – take mutual concession, compromise and comradeship.
The rise of social and religious exclusion of some people especially women and children in religious participation and exclusion of other religious faiths aside Christianity and Islam is producing injustice and inequality. The development narrows the extent at which practitioners of other religions aside from the celebrated Christianity and Islam can be put on their toes towards decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequality, sustainable cities and communities and responsible consumption and production. This is because they have been excluded from the existing governmental template for political socialisation. On the long run, the practice of inclusion and exclusion. Outsiders and insider’s phenomenon always bring set back to interreligious dialogue because from moral point of view the act itself is suggestive of discrimination, inequality, intolerance and bigotry.
The imperativeness of religious tolerance for Sustainable development
Based on our discussion so far, it is obvious that religious tolerance is a needed vehicle to drive the SDGS. To do so, we needed to appeal to religious practitioners and all stakeholders in religions whose actions and inactions have produced religious intolerance which is inimical to sustains development. But one logical question one may be tempted to ask is what would be the basis for religious tolerance in view of the particularist trust which inform religious inclusivism, religious exclusivism and a situation where each religious practitioner claims the supremacy, authenticity and truthfulness of and about his/her religion over the others. The answer to this is not far- fetched.
In the first instance, tolerance generally and religious tolerance specifically is not alien to religions with reference to traditional religions, Christianity and Islam being the major celebrated religions in Nigeria. In the Traditional Religious setting, tolerance is recommended as a course of action because of its potentials in promoting cordial relationship in market, street, and every public place. This is evident in proverbs and wise sayings. A proverb says: “Oju orun to eye fo lai fi ara kan ara”, that is, the sky is spacious enough to accommodate birds without colluding with one another.
Islam also admonishes not only to tolerate Islam Brethren but also non-Muslims and their religions (Surah 41: 34 – 35). This devalues the much contest for religious space in the Nigerian public sphere and the much radical evangelism or proselytization which are common practices among Christians and Muslims. The Qur’an specifically says: “Let there be no compulsion in religion (Surah 2: 256). Given this, religious compulsion is incompatible with Islam because religion depends upon faith and freewill, and these would be meaningless, if imposed (Surah 109: 1- 6). Thus, a way to tolerate non-Muslims, the Qur’an recommends avoidance of vulgar language (Surah 6: 108); tolerable mode of greetings (Surah 19: 46 – 47; 25: 63; 28: 55; 43: 88 – 89); invitation of mates or colleagues to discussion (Surah 3: 64), and what to do in case of deadlock (Surah 5: 3)[11].
Tolerance as a factor enhancing cordial, human and social relation is also not alien in Christianity because the practice is exemplified in concept of live and let live, in which both the rich and the poor are entitled to co-exist. For example, religious tolerance is implicitly recommended in Lk. 9: 49, 50 and Mk. 9: 38 – 39. However, Christians are instructed not to tolerate wrong, which could be tantamount to compromise.
In addition, there is provision for religious pluralism in all religions with emphasis on the three major religions in Nigeria earlier stated. Religious pluralism is the acceptance that there are so many religions in the World given the fact that religion is a product of culture of a people. Every people have a religion that has its root in the culture. Thus, in essence apart from Christianity as an example, there are still others such as Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism and African Traditional Religion. This reality is evident in Christianity going by a cursory look at the stories of Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18, and the Wisemen (Matthew 2:1-13) as examples of people who believed in God even though they were not part of the covenant people, and Acts 10:34-35 which reads : “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’. Jesus also spoke to a Samaritan woman that: You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know (John 4:22).
Exegetically, all 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. Jesus Christ talked much about Judaism from which Christianity evolved. In fact, Jesus was a Jew and practise Judaism. Up till today, Judaism still exists alongside her sister religion-Christianity-in the East. This development must have informed the Roman Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists doctrine of inclusivism which 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[12].
Pluralism also occupies significant verses of the Qur’an a few of which are identified below:
“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 (O Muhammad “We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down to Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma’ili (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 distinction between one another among them and to Him (Allah) we have submitted (in Islam) (Surah: 3:84).
At this juncture, we opine that an understanding of the Biblical and Qur’anic passages about religious pluralism will make preaching or advocacy for religious tolerance a working one. It 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, Matt Costella, words is apposite:
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 any one 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).
Toolkits for advancing g Religious tolerance for viable Sustainable development
There are so many ways to advancing g Religious tolerance for viable Sustainable development. We shall deal with cogent ones because as we know, religion is a powerful social instrument with capacity to advance development if it is well harnessed. The social import of religion is evident in the moral values it promotes as can be seen in religious scriptures and traditions on matters related to SDGS. We are suggesting the following:
1. Invocation of Religious ethical values
All religions teach ethical values and their scripture and traditions emphasise such. This study proposes the invocation of such values to implement the SDGs. A few of such values are love, cooperation and justice which have direct bearing for religious tolerance and consequently possible implementation of the SDGS. Religions teaches love which in a way has capacity for promoting: ‘No Poverty’ and ‘Zero Hunger’. Poverty and Hunger had no place in traditional religious settings because of the mentality that everyone is a brother’s /sister's keeper. This makes Africans to incorporate strangers and give them hospitality in the wider sense; land to settle on, food to eat, and at times, cloth to wear, and shelter to live in. Okafor aptly summarizes this phenomenon as follows:
In traditional African culture, whenever there is food to be taken, everyone present is invited to participate even if the food was prepared for fewer numbers of people without envisaging the nature of visitors. It would be a height of incredible bad memory for one to eat anything, however small, without sharing it with anyone else present, or at least expressing the intention to do so[13].
In the same vein both Christianity and Islam have welfare schemes for poverty alleviation across the country. This practice is anchored on love. For example, In Islam love implies spending one’s substance for one’s kin, orphans, the needy and beggars (Qur’an 2: 177). In Christianity Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast. It is not proud; it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil and rejoices with the truth. It always hopes, always preserves. It never fails. I Cor. 3: 4 – 8.
The three major religions in Nigeria teach cooperation, which are expressed in Yoruba proverbs are:
Agbajo owo ni a fi i so aya: A closed fist is used for beating the chest (i.e. the characteristic action in boasting. The proverb implies that unity is strength)
Ajeje owo kan ko gberu de orí: A single hand cannot lift a load to the head. It means that certain things require the assistance of a second person.
Ka rin ki a po yiye ni i ye ni: To walk in procession gives dignity.
Otun we osi, osi we otun ni owo fi n mo: The right hand washing the left, and the left hand washing the right makes both hands clean.
Owo pupo ni i pa Esu: Many hands are employed to destroy locust
In Islam too, Muslims have obligation to cooperate with one another in righteousness and piety (Qur’an 5: 3) and they should not conspire together for wrong doings (58: 9 – 10). The same echoes in Christianity where cooperation suggests unity, which is presented for community of the faithful – Rom. 12: 5; I Cor. 1: 10; I Cor. 10: 17; 2 Cor. 13: 11; Gal. 3: 28; Eph. 4: 3;, 13; Phil. 1: 27 and I Peter 3: 8.In addition, cooperation is encouraged not only among Christians, but also between Christians and non-Christians on issues that concern the welfare of mankind.
To the best of our knowledge, invocation of the concept of cooperation would facilitate the implementation of some of the SDGs agenda such as: good health and well-being, quality education, provision of clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, and partnerships to achieve the goal[14].
In the same vein, the emphasis the three religions placed on Justice will equally go a long way to promote Gender Equality, Reduced Inequality and building of Peace and Justice, and Strong Institutions. For instance, in the Traditional Religious locale, justice is a recommended course of action, as expressed in proverbs such as Aparo kan koga ju okan lo. It means that every bird of a particular species is of the same height, none of them is taller than the rest. Another one says, Ba wo ni inaki s’ori ti Obo ko se. It means whatever we can say about the head of a chimpanzee is the same we would say about a baboon. This means the head of the two have equal shape and, therefore they should be treated the same way; or what is due to each of them should be given to each in the world of animals.
Islam also recommends application of justice in man-man relationship. Allah commands justice and fairness (Surah 10: 90). It adds: “We surely sent our messages with clear proofs and revealed with them books and the standard, so that people may deal with justice (Surah 57: 25) …let not the hatred of others make you do the wrong and depart from justice. Justice is considered next to piety (Surah 5: 8). The Islamic concept of justice is demonstrated in recognition of the rights of individuals, such as child, woman, man, husband, wife, the needy, parents and children. The same also echoes in the Islamic concept of political and economic obligations for the state and citizens- (Surah 4: 58; 4: 135, 5: 8).
Christianity views justice as the basis for cordial social relations, be it in business, economy, politics and religion. Justice is demonstrated by the impartiality of God as evident in Job 34: 18 – 19; Matt. 5: 45; Acts 10: 34 – 35, and Rom. 10: 12. For this reason, justice is recommended for Christians, as can be seen in Deut. 16: 20; Ps. 82: 3; Prov. 21: 3; Is. 56; I Rom. 13: 7; Col. 4: 5. This explains why the Bible condemns any act that could water down justice, such as oppression of the poor, trampling upon the rights of the poor and the less privileged. Hence, it recommends justice, because God loves justice (Psalm 33: 5). In this context, Amos condemned every act of injustice in his time, and recommended that: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (Amos 5: 24).
2. Accepting the Equality of Religions
This is another subtle way of promoting religious tolerance. In other words, 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. For instance, we discover that the two major religions (Christianity and Islam) that are always in contest in Nigeria have some things in common. These include: belief in God, Prophets, prophecy, Satan, resurrection, Paradise/Heaven and Hell and moral maxim; they also agree with the injunction, “do unto others what you expect others to do unto you”.
Remarkably the Nigerian constitution gives allowance to right to freedom of religion under section 38/1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which 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 and observance”.
3. Promotion of religious education.
There is an urgent need to promote objective religious education that will bring to the limelight all the ethical values in religion particularly those emphasizing religious tolerance and partnership among religious practitioners. Such will help reduce wrong religious orientation that promotes religious intolerance among religious practitioners in Nigeria.
Concluding Remarks
It is obvious that religious tolerance is sacrosanct in the drive towards sustainable development. To advance this noble course requires an urgent promotion of religious education, acceptance of all religions as equal and sincere invocation of religious ethical values by both religious leaders and followers in their socio-political, religious, economic, technological and educational lives[15]. Putting all these among other salient ones in place would go a long way to making the SDGs a reality. For us, we believe that the time to take the bold step is now with you and I taking the lead as a good example of the doers of the words of God.
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