THE SILENCE OF THE PROPHETIC VOICE OF THE NIGERIAN CHURCHES AND WILLING COLLABORATORS: THE REAL BANE OF RELIGIOUS, CIVIL LIBERTIES AND DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA
For most people, democracy has proved to be the best framework for religious and civil liberties as it promotes freedom of speech and conscience, the exercise of faith and religious pluralism. For their parts, religious and civil liberties are valid partners of democracy as they help it maintain the principles of democratic society. In many nations of the world, people are worried about how democratically elected governments are destroying religious and civil liberties thereby destroying the principles of democracy. This paper uses library and online materials to discuss about religious, civil liberties and democracy. Contextually, it explores the status of these values in the Nigerian society and argues that the silence of the prophetic voice of the Nigerian churches and willing collaborators with the government are really the bane of religious, civil liberties and democracy in Nigeria. The paper ends by proposing a way forward.
Keywords: Religious, civil liberties, democracy, government, Nigerian churches, the silence of the prophetic voice, and willing collaborators.