Building Bridges and Barricades

The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) has been identified as a distinct brand of Christianity which has much affinity with the Yoruba cultural matrix. CCC on the other hand maintains its self-image as a Christian Church sui generis and vehemently refuses any connecting nexus with traditional religious thought and praxis. In our view, CCC cosmology is a synthesis of biblical belief, christian liturgical tradition and elements from Yoruba cultural milieux. This paper is concerned with situating Celestial Christianity holistically within the wider Yoruba religio-cultural context. It will examine whether and to what extent the Yoruba understanding of the cosmos has shaped CCC's worldview in their construction of ritual space. It also investigates their attitudes towards supernatural forces, and probes into how the members manipulate these forces in their church life and worship for individual and collective benefits

Book review: revisionism and diversification in new religious movements edited by Eileen Barker

What links The Church of Scientology, the Family International, and the Québécois group La Mission de l’Esprit-Saint? All are New Religious Movements which have undergone significant changes over the last few decades. Afe Adogame finds that this book is a must-read for scholars of NRMs, historians of religion, social scientists, and policy makers

Advantageous comparison: using twitter responses to understand similarities between cybercriminals (“Yahoo boys”) and politicians (“Yahoo men”)

This article is about the manifestations of similarities between two seemingly distinct groups: cybercriminals and politicians. Which linguistic strategies do Twitter users use to express their opinions on cybercriminals and politicians? The study undertakes a qualitative analysis of ‘engaged’ tweets of a Nigerian law enforcement agency. We analyzed and coded over 100,000 ‘engaged’ tweets based on a component of mechanisms of moral disengagement (i.e., advantageous comparison), a linguistic device. The results reveal how respondents defend the actions of online fraudsters (“the powerless group”) by strategically comparing them to the wrongful acts of corrupt politicians (“the powerful group”). Similarly, the results show how respondents positioned this linguistic strategy to compare “the powerless group” (online fraudsters) and “the powerful group” (politicians) in society. Indeed, tweet responses suggest that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) generally looks downwards for culprits (i.e., online fraudsters) while ignoring fraudulent politicians. We conclude that the process by which some actions are interpreted as a crime compared to others is a moral enterprise

African Christianities and the politics of development from below

Religion and development are two ambiguous phenomena, yet we can map their creative interaction and intricate interconnectedness. In public discourse, ideas about development generally undermine the complex role of religion, or it is assumed that religion would be relegated to a matter of private belief in Africa, as secular states burgeoned, or even saw religion as an obstacle to development. Development was largely conceived of primarily in economic terms or as economic development. In contemporary era, the concept of human development has come into vogue, accentuating aspects of people’s lives that go beyond the economic dimension. There is no gainsaying in the fact that religion has been a dynamic entity and remains a growing force in public life in Africa. This article critiques vague definitions of religion and development and contends that human development should be understood as including the religious and spiritual dimension of life. Drawing upon concrete examples from my religious ethnography, the article seeks to explore the ambivalent role of religion in Africa’s development, and Africa’s development within the purview of the everyday lived religious and spiritual dimensions of life

“Who you are does not matter in Europe!” African diaspora christianities, the ethical politics of wasting bodies and unwanted immigration in fortress Europe

The paper explores the ethics and politics of contemporary African  migration in Europe. It examines the push and pull factor of African migration to Europe and analyses Europe’s general attitude and response to African migration. It also discusses the role and involvement of churches in Africa and Africa-led churches in Europe in encouraging or discouraging regular and or irregular migration and the impact of the migrations on  African Christianities. It argues that Europe’s general response to African migration has been harsh and scanty attention has been paid to the  welfare of migrants. Indeed, the general experience has been the  dehumanization of migrants. The work also analyses how African-led  churches have responded to the dehumanization and the unethical posture and policies of EU towards African migrants and explains how the religious communities have approached the discourses of identity,  inclusion/exclusion and citizenship against the backlash of harsh anti-immigrant debate in fortress Europe. It concludes that Africa-led churches have not contributed meaningfully to a change in attitude towards migrants in Europe and the result is that African migrants in Europe have remained victims of brutalization and dehumanization