6 - Beyond Religion

Summary

A study of Lagos’s religious marketplace is incomplete without paying attention to the upsurge of religio-spiritual movements such as the Grail Movement and Eckankar since the 1970s. These movements are eclectic in nature because they mix Islam, Christianity, indigenous traditions, ‘Eastern’ religions, as well as non-religious sources. Chapter 6 addresses the question why these movements, which are exogenous to Nigeria and differ radically from mainstream religion, could attract an increasing membership in Lagos. I argue that the answer to this question lies in what van Dijk (2015) calls the ‘too-muchness’ of Pentecostalism. While Chrislam, NASFAT, and Ijo Orunmila have capitalized on Pentecostalism’s spatial appropriation of Lagos by copying Pentecostal styles and strategies, the Grail Movement and Eckankar expanded because they turned away from Pentecostalism and offered an alternative that promised individual spiritual liberation in the here and now. Today their ‘otherness’ attracts especially the newly emerging middle class, who are looking for ways to distinguish themselves from ‘dogmatic’ mainstream believers. Whereas for the aspiring middle class shifting allegiances from institutionalized religion to new religio-spiritual movements is a means to differentiate themselves, for others boundary making is a way to manage religious pluralism.