COMMERCIALIZATION OF PRAYER HOUSES HEALING HOMES IN ONNA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERA: A SOCIO-RELIGIOUS CONCERN
Victor Bassey Edet 1
John Akpan Johnson 2
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, Uma Ukpai School of Theology, Uyo, Nigeria 1
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Uyo, Nigeria 2
Corresponding Email: vicbas18@gmail.com 1
Abstract
A bird’s eye view of religious space in our contemporary society has shown that commercialization of prayer houses and healing homes are on the increase. Commercialization of prayer houses and healing homes imply running of prayer houses and healing homes as a business with the aim of making economic gain or manipulation of its services with the intentions to exploit members for financial or economic gains. Thus, in the context of commercialization of prayer houses and healing homes, no service is free of charge. However, in this paper, efforts are made to examine the realities of commercialization of prayer houses and healing homes in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The paper equally discusses the causes as well as the effects of commercialization of prayer houses and healing homes in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Method of study adopted for this work is survey and phenomenological methods. Findings from this study reveal that many founders of prayer house are taking advantages of gullible miracle seekers, who will do anything just to have respite from their troubles. The result of the findings equally revealed that many founders of prayer houses and healing homes are selling religious tokens acclaimed to possess powers capable of bringing solutions to the problems of the users. Such items include oil, salt, handkerchiefs, water among others. Thus, it is concluded from the paper that Christian religious leaders should guide against commercialization of healing and prayer. Religious leaders need to be contented with what they have, pursue righteousness, honesty, integrity and love for humanity. Finally, it is recommended that the founders of prayer houses and healing homes should be properly trained on theology for proper interpretation of the Bible and better dissemination of the gospel.
Keywords: Commercialization, Prayer, Healing, ONNA, Exploitation.
