Christianity and Democracy in Nigeria

Toward a Rethink of the Role of the Church for a Viable Democracy

Abstract

The history of Nigeria’s democracy has been an interesting and challenging one. It has been a very good move for Nigeria as a nation to embrace democratic form of government almost against military dictatorship. This has in many ways opened the country to more critical and viable engagements with local and international partners and kept it open to viable democratic exposure. This essay is an attempt to rethink the practical implication of democracy in Nigeria over and against any vested interest. It has been our suspicion that democracy has not taken hold in Nigeria let alone the entire African contexts. This could be discussed largely because of the ongoing struggles and contestations across ethnocentric, religiocentric and sociocentric boundaries that in many practical ways seek to exclude than to work for viable inclusive democracy for the good of all. It is our proposal that religion, like Christianity, in our perspective has a very vital role to play in providing constructive and inclusive democracy in Nigeria. This argument will be done mainly from a theological perspective although in some possible dialogue with other disciplines like sociology, political theory and history to say the least. The role of Christianity in providing us with principles of life that will serve as good and useful foundations for establishing and maintaining good democracy will be critically explored. This will not in the end lead to an excluded middle but in a sense will also highlight some responsibilities of even non-Christian citizens towards building an inclusive democracy for the good of all. This does not intend to provide a lasting solution for the democratic flaws of our country but rather to present a clarion call that will hopefully arose the conscience of the country in one way or another to the onerous responsibility that we all have towards constructing and maintaining a viable democracy that will not just be a tool in the hands of the majority only to feed their vested interest against the minority.