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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Constitutional Treatment of Religion and the Politics of Human Rights in Nigeria |
Author: | Ilesanmi, Simeon O. |
Year: | 2001 |
Periodical: | African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society |
Volume: | 100 |
Issue: | 401 |
Period: | October |
Pages: | 529-554 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | religion Islam human rights Religion and Witchcraft Politics and Government Law, Human Rights and Violence law |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3518700 |
Abstract: | This article examines the extent to which the protagonists in the religion and human rights debate in Nigeria take seriously the constraints and possibilities of religious pluralism. Informed by the perspectives of comparative ethics and political theory, the analysis revolves around two distinct, yet interrelated, questions. First, in view of the heterogeneity of Nigeria's social composition, is the institutionalization of a religious value system such as the sharia possible? Second, is such a move desirable? Following an opening section, the second part of the article offers a generalized typology for understanding the phenomenon of religious politics in Nigeria. Special attention is paid to the practice of conducting religious arguments within a constitutional framework and the paradox this creates in a religiously pluralistic society. The last part of the article ventures a proposal for dealing with this paradox, arguing that pluralism, notably religious pluralism, is one major problem that Nigeria faces, but that there is no escaping pluralism in seeking a solution to this problem. The ideal of comprehensive pluralism mitigates the tendency to idolize political victory by using it to subvert the human rights of religious minorities. Notes, ref., sum. |