Corruption of Religion and the Religion of Corruption: Rethinking Marxist’s Sociology of Religion in Modern Nigeria

The interconnectivity of religion and capital in modern industrial age pose confounding challenges within the context of unraveling scenario of culture of corruption in several African nations including Nigeria. The strategic positioning and solid affiliations of religious stalwarts in the scheme of capitalist arrangement function to reinforce mass impoverishment and dampens the hope of fostering institutional accountability among state and economic actors. Just as religion is fast becoming engraving in capital so likewise capital is magnetizing religious doctrinal values with such an unending relationship generating a twist in both the essence and mythology of religion. Consequently, this paper attempts to investigate major factors accounting for the engraftment of contemporary religious leadership in Nigeria into capitalist network with the former helping to raise the hope of the possibilities of achieving prosperity and simultaneously muzzling their adherents from questioning the basis of their poverty directly birthed and nurtured by capitalist corruption. It attempts to achieve this by adopting Marxist’s sociology of religion as analytic framework. Finally, the paper strongly advocates for a re-direction of religious priorities in Nigeria