RELIGION AND CULTURAL PRACTICES IN NIGERIAN ENVIRONMENT:CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

The religio-cultural evolution and revolution in Nigeria have provoked development and crisis over time in the environment due to intolerance and a lack of dialogue. At times, the crises generated are extreme, antagonistic, and provoke war between the practitioners of religions and the adherents of culture. Culture incorporates issues that concern technological development, language, marriage, modes of dressing, arts and craft, food, festivity, religion, social life, education, and the political system of the people. The environment is the habitation of man and of all living and non-living things alike. It has been given to man by God to tend and control; however, human activities have greatly impacted it positively and negatively. The environment relates to the climatic and physiological structures of the atmosphere, land and water-areas, as well as the living patterns of the people and animals that dwell therein. This research addresses the concepts of religion, culture, and environment. Inter-religious and inter-cultural conflicts in the environment are x–rayed as well as religious and cultural activities that enhance the devaluation and sustainability of the Nigerian environment in Africa. This research made use of the analytical method, as well as books, journals, and internet sources for information. It recommends, among other things, that religious beliefs and activities in the Nigerian environment should, as a matter of fact, respect the progressive and valuable cultures of the people by avoiding undue interference that could generate crises and threaten their peaceful co-existence.