ABSTRACT
The most “modern” schools during and even before the British colonial period were operated by Christian missionaries, Western education and conversion to Christianity became nearly synonymous. Muslims, who could not find a congenial home in the misnamed Department of Religious Studies, sought refuge in a Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies which combined the disciplines of linguistics, history and theology. Rather, religious division has become embittered largely because the spread of Islam first, and of Christianity later, was accompanied by a military conquest which created a hierarchy. Religion is one of the main bases of solidarity across social strata and ethnic groups. The degree of religiosity among students is evident from responses to the request for religious affiliation or preference on admission cards. Educated Christian Nigerians tend to identify Islam with conservatism, lack of education, “backwardness,” and religious intolerance. Religion both unites and divides, as indeed it does in most parts of the world.
