Mediatized Spirituality: A Critical Appraisal of the Media-Religion Nexus in Nigeria (original) (raw)
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Nigeria is indeed a religiously pluralistic society where African Traditional, Christianity and Islam religions are been practiced. Christian fundamentalists resort to the use of modern communication gadgets like television, internet, Facebook, YouTube , instagram, satellite dish, films, twitter radios to propagate erroneous teachings, which has indeed blossom threats to authentic faith witnessing among Christians today. The purpose of this study is to draw the attention of Christians to be aware of the erroneous teachings of fundamentalists which could lead to religious extremism and denominational rivalry. The research methods adopted by this paper are prescriptive, descriptive and analytic. Data collection was assembled from Focus Group Discussion and consultation of relevant books. The paper discovered that Christian fundamentalists insist on the literal interpretation of the Bible without considering human and historical perspective. They also engaged in doctrinal attacks on the teachings of other denominations without considering the place of traditions as one of the aspects in which the word of was revealed to the world. The paper is of the view that Christian preachers should guard against becoming fundamentalists who now resort to distorting the Gospel using modern communication devices. Also, intending preachers should be well schooled in Biblical Hermeneutics, Exegesis and homiletics in order to be acquainted with the principles of preaching the Gospel using modern communication devices instead of promoting a breeding ground for religious of bigotry and extremism. All intending preachers should emulate the exemplary life of Christ, who was never a fundamentalist preacher
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The main aim of 'real' religion is development. This paper is a study of the contributions of contemporary Christian organizations in Nigeria to the development of Mass Communication in the country and in effect, their contributions to overall national development. Religious organizations have always in their various ways strived to contribute to national development. However, until recently, the contribution could not be said to be remarkable or significant in terms of helping to address issues of national needs. They were not able to make impactful contribution to national development due to regulatory constraints and their participation in developmental activities remained relatively dormant. A number of Christian organizations in the last few years have however contributed to recorded development in the Mass communication industry. While highlighting the various modes that the contribution has taken, the paper attempts to situate the various developmental roles of selected Christian organizations to the print and broadcast subsectors of mass communication in the general framework of development in Nigeria. The paper concludes that while the selected Christian organizations engage the print and electronic media in propagating their religious values, they actively contribute to growth in the advertising industry, training and education, employment generation and promotion of reading culture among others. Contributions to these indices of development make for agreement that these organizations have made input and are still contributing to national development through involvement in the media subsector.