Exploring the intersection of ethics, religion, and peace in Nigeria: a multidisciplinary perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the intersection of ethics, religion, and peace in Nigeria as a conceptual and theoretical problem. It responds to the need for a clearer explanation of how moral reasoning mediates the social effects of religion in a multi religious society marked by Christian, Muslim, and indigenous religious traditions. Existing scholarship has examined religious conflict in Nigeria largely through the lenses of political manipulation, ethnic competition, federal imbalance, state weakness, and violent mobilisation. While these explanations remain important, they do not sufficiently account for the ethical frameworks through which religious actors interpret justice, loyalty, obligation, violence, forgiveness, reconciliation, and peaceful coexistence. This paper therefore argues that ethics is not an auxiliary concern but the analytical bridge between religion and peace in Nigeria. The study is structured as a conceptual and multidisciplinary analysis, not as an empirical ethnographic study. The paper draws on established scholarship in religious studies, moral psychology, political sociology, and peace and conflict studies to develop a theoretical account of the ethics religion peace nexus. The analysis integrates Moral Foundations Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Galtung's concept of positive peace to show how religion can function either as a resource for reconciliation or as a mechanism of exclusion depending on the ethical narratives through which it is interpreted. The paper contributes to Nigerian religion conflict scholarship by repositioning ethical reasoning as the mediating mechanism that explains religion's ambivalent role in conflict and peacebuilding.