Culture and the Contemporary Religious Dynamics in Nigeria

The role of religion and culture in socio-economic development cannot be underestimated. Coupled with socio-economic advancement, the postcolonial and contemporary African society is characterised by unprecedented rise in the level of religious movements with diverse contradicting beliefs championed by so called spiritual and religious leaders. The overwhelming socio-economic downturn in the society has meant that people have turned to religion for solutions to their problem but the church has not really lived up to expectation which writer like Soyinka portrayed in his text. Considering the above mentioned, this study textually analysed Wole Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero from a postcolonial theoretical perspective with the aims of exploring religious dynamics vis-à -vis cultural /moral degradation as portrayed in the text. It further resonate the place of culture in the contemporary religious environment. Moral degradation is captured from the characters of brother Jero, the old prophet, Jeroboam and the drummer boy where lack of respect for elders, covetous exploitation by spiritual leaders, materialism, falsehood and deceit are exemplified in religious setting as depicted in the text. All these delinquencies are contrary to indigenous cultural and moral values of the traditional Nigeria society. With the above highlighted current delinquency trend, the study concludes that the place of culture in the future of religion cannot be underplayed. This is so because indigenous cultural values place high emphasis on uprightness, truth, contentment, respect, which are needed in making contemporary religion worthy to practice, religious leaders more respected and peoples trust on their leaders justifiable.