Abstract
When people are at war against themselves, it spells doom in the nation. Religious intolerance has
brought woes to the people and country as a result of the violence that accompanies its display. In
Nigeria, several measures have been put in place to curb this act but all seem not to have yielded any
positive result. This paper posits that critical literacy – a central skill needed to be able to effectively
navigate through various texts which involves questioning, evaluation of ideas and requiring analysis,
interpretation, evaluation and responding to texts been read or listened to, can transform the mindset
of a religious bigot. Critical Literacy enables the nation’s citizens to be literate as it raises their critical
and social consciousness. The paper defines religion, religious bigots and bigotry, instances of this in
Nigeria and how Critical Literacy can curb religion intolerance for a peaceful co-existence. In
conclusion, critical literacy is not just developing citizens’ English ability but cultivating and nurturing
them to have critical minds that will equip them with the ability to make and take good decisions. Among
the recommendations given is that language teachers should not teach comprehension superficially but
should lead the learners to make meanings both at inferential and critical levels.

Introduction
Nigeria is a plural society. It has many tribes, languages, cultures and religions. The differences in these oftentimes bring about misunderstandings, fights and disharmony making peaceful co-existence difficult. Peaceful co-existence is a state in which there is no war, violence, fighting, discrimination, disagreement
and intolerance; where the people live in harmony irrespective of their ethnic, social, political or religious standing. Nigerian societies are mixtures of people from different tribes with different faiths. For oneness, citizens of a nation must be tolerant of one another. This however, is not always the case in Nigeria as conflicts in different forms (marital, community, political and religious) arise among the people.
Religious conflicts have its root in religious intolerance. Marjan (2018) asserts that the core issue driving these conflicts and extremist actions is intolerant thought processes traceable to religious bigots. Religious bigots are individuals who strongly and unfairly demonstrate hate and intolerance to religious viewpoints (Urban Dictionary, 2022) and the intolerance expressed is referred to as bigotry. The worry in the act of these bigots is the consequence of their acts. In most cases they unleash terror on their opponents
resulting in death and destruction of property all in the name of protecting their faith. Religion as
defined by Oxford Learners Dictionary (2022) is the belief in the existence of a God or gods, and the activities that are connected with their worship. It could also be a particular system of faith and worship while religious bigotry also referred to as religious intolerance is the inability of an adherent of a particular religion to acknowledge, accommodate and accept the right of others to live by another faith different from his own because of perceived superiority of his religion over others (Ojo, 2017). Many Nigerians
have suffered different types of loses at the hands of these religious bigots – lives, houses, means of
livelihood and investments are destroyed or razed down. The aforementioned have led to fear and
distrust among the people.
Despite the fact that Nigeria is one of the nations that adopted the United Nations 1981 declaration on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination or beliefs (Limon, Ghanea & Power, 2014) religious intolerance still persists. Many measures have been taken to curb the practice and its aftermaths. One of such measures is the establishment of Nigeria Inter religious Council (NIREC) which provides religious and traditional leaders’ forum to promote interactions and understanding among Christian
and Islam faithful’s as well as lay foundations for peace and religious harmony in the country (NIREC, 1999 in Nwanaju, 2016). This group also mediates on matters relating to religion. Other measures taken to subdue religious intolerance include organisation of conferences, issuing of press statements and the use of dialogues. Yet, religious bigotry persists. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks for another method of addressing the issue for peace and better living and a means of transforming the mind-sets of religious bigots. This paper proposes that a way of cultivating the minds and awakening critical consciousness is through critical literacy as advocated by Freire (Freire, 2007).
Freire (2007) proposes that building a peaceful nation devoid of conflicts requires advancing its citizens to criticise oppression and exploitation. The citizens need to be empowered for the possession of power and equal status. Critical Literacy involves working with learners to understand the nature and implications of ideologies; as it illuminates the difference between the moralistic position of indoctrination and ethical approach. Critical literacy developed from Freire philosophy is a strategic instructional practice which aims at teaching a nation’s citizen to be literate and critical, raising their critical, social consciousness and hopes to create a more just society through problem solving, dialogue and critiquing of issues (McClean, 2006). In addition, critical literacy equips citizens to see different viewpoints, exchange ideas, raise critical questions, be aware of social problems and injustice and defend themselves through peaceful means. This paper will explore how critical literacy can be used to curb religious bigotry / intolerance in Nigeria for a more peaceful nation.

What is Religion and Religious Bigotry?
Religion is the service and worship of God or the supernatural, a commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2022). Nigeria is a heterogeneous society with diverse ethnic, social, cultural and religious groups. There are three main religious groups and they are Christianity, Islam and Indigenous religions. These religions according to Aluko (2017) have differences that have brought about unrest as the tolerance level has got to a point of polarity and the country has suffered a lot of setbacks as a result of religious crisis resulting from religious bigotry. Religion which should have been a supplement to the laws of the land is used by bigots for selfish purposes.
An individual who strongly or unfairly demonstrates hate and intolerance to other religious viewpoint is a religious bigot and the intolerance expressed is bigotry. The resultant
effects of this include killings, looting, arson, insecurity and disunity.
For peace and stability in a nation, there should be harmony which religious bigotry does not promote. Despite the freedom of religion emphasised in the Nigerian Constitution of 1999, some religions faithful still constitute themselves as spanners in the wheel of progress. This is where the problem of religious bigotry has affected the nation. According to Nwanaju (2016), there can be no peace in the world without peace among religions. If this is so, then it could be said that there can be no real peace in Nigeria without a conscientious effort by the religious groups that make up the society to promote peace among themselves.
The absence of peace gives room for conflict. Religious conflicts have been on for decades in Nigeria. Even the Nigerian Civil War of the 60s was not totally free of religion. Kirk- Green in Nwanaju (2016) argues that the situation that led to the Civil War was bedevilled by a set of oppositions among which were the unending North versus South, Islam versus Christianity mind-sets. There was the Mataisine riots of the
1980s, the Boko Haram that officially began in 2009 and is still on. There are other incidences where the religious bigots have displayed religious intolerance. These includes; Zango- Kataf religious crisis in 1992, clashes between Christian – Muslim students at the Federal College of Education, Zaria and the Ahmed Bello University Zaria in 2002 and 2006 respectively. 2001 saw a clash between the Hausa Muslims and
Christians in Jos. These have been recurring and in 2004, there was the Yelwa and Shendam crises. Of recent, there was the killing of a school teacher in Bauchi because she was said to have abused the
Qur’an; a woman was killed in Abuja close to a mosque because she was preaching Christ, and in Sokoto, a student of the College of Education was killed and burnt because she was said to have abused Prophet Muhammed. These acts could be blamed on religious intolerance.
Religious intolerance always originates from the perceived superiority of one’s religion over the other; it is an attitude that has been developed in the minds of some religious extremists who have come to see their religion as having no equal and are ready to do anything to see that their religion is not challenged by any other. In other words, religious intolerance is the inability of an adherent of a religion to endure the
practice and existence of another religion (Terhemba, 2022). It is also the intolerance of another’s religious beliefs and practices when a religion is criticized and discriminated against, irrespective of the fact of secularism (United Nations’ Humans’ Right, 2018, Riya, 2019). The consequences of religious intolerance by religious bigots have cost the nation many lives and property. Re-iterating the aforementioned, Kukah
(2011) asserts that the effect of the violence carried out by those bigots due to religious intolerance has resulted into a country that has been mangled, fangled and totally destroyed. This is worrisome and as efforts made by the government, reconciliation committees and religious bodies seem not to be yielding much fruit, the proposed option that could be explored to help bring an end to religious intolerance and
what follows it is the adoption of critical literacy in the lives of the citizens

Concept of Critical Literacy
The idea of Critical Literacy (CL) is associated with Paulo Friere, a Brazilian philosopher and a literacy educator. CL is developed from critical theory which had the goal of explaining and identifying social problems with theoretical insights (Willis, 2011). Critical theory emphasises the important roles of individuals as agents of social change with the ultimate goal of transforming society for the better (Au, 2009). Friere (2007) in his pedagogy of the oppressed proposes CL as a way of balancing inequalities by
teaching the nation’s citizens to be literate and raise their critical and social consciousness. CL is viewed by Friere as an instrument of liberation and key mechanism for social construction and social transformation. CL does not only aim at helping people become literate but also develop critical consciousness and making them become change agents for a better society.
Critical Literacy is a learning approach where learners are expected to examine various texts to understand the relationship between language and the power it can hold (TOPHAT, 2022). Critical Literacy refers to the process of becoming aware of one’s experience relative to power relations often realized through reading and writing. This reading and writing based learning process encourages students to accept, reject or reconstruct ideologies presented in texts.
All forms of communication, whether spoken or written are acts that can be used to influence people and lead to change. Written words are read. Information is garnered by reading and Friere (1970) opines that readers are active participants in the reading process and critical literacy encourages readers to question, explore and challenge the power relationships that exist between authors and readers. As readers, they critically analyse and evaluate the meaning of texts as they relate to topics as equity, power,
social justice, discipline and so on. These texts equip the students to take critical stance, response or action towards an issue.
Critical Literacy examines issues of power and promotes reflection, transformative change and action. According to McLaughlin and DeVoogd (2004), reading from a critical perspective involves thinking beyond the text to understand issues as well as why the author wrote about a particular topic or wrote from a particular perspective while Jones (2006) compares critical literacy to a pair of eye glasses that allows one to see beyond the familiar and comfortable. In other words, CL empowers the readers to be active thinkers who look at the world from different perspectives and develop questioning habits that
encourage them to think and act. This type of literacy therefore moves the reader beyond passively accepting the text’s message to questioning, examining or disputing the power relation that exists between readers and authors.
In the repeated words of Friere (Ellis, 2013), CL is reading the word to change the world. Lewinson, Flint and Vun Sluys in Norris, Lucas and Prudhoe (2012) assert that CL can:
1. Disrupt a common situation or understanding where readers can gain perspective by understanding the text or situation in different ways
2. Examine multiple viewpoints where readers are encouraged to think about texts from the perspectives of different characters.
3. Focus on socio political issues where readers examine power relationships between and among individuals.
4. Take action and promote social justice, invite students to determine a course of action to bring about change in an inappropriate, unequal power relationship between people.
All the aforementioned may not necessarily be included in CL activities. By examining texts that utilise any one of these dimensions is engaging in critical literacy

How Critical Literacy can change the Mindsets of Religion Bigots
When people read critically, they are analysing and rationalising their reasoning power. They are not just sending out words; they are deconstructing and reconstructing texts, taking in the use of language in relation to the various issues raised in the texts. A society confronted with the challenge of religious intolerance resulting in conflicts could have in the students’ texts topics as tolerance, respect, peace, security and unity. As the citizens read them with critical minds, they are able to take a more reasonable stance for the betterment of the society. As they read critically, questions as these are raised:
1. Whose voices are heard and whose are silenced in the text?
2. Who is privileged and who is marginalised in the text?
3. What does the author want the readers to think?
4. How does the author use specific / particular language to promote his / her beliefs
5. What action would one take based on what has been read and learnt from the text. (McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004).
Responses to the aforementioned posers give the readers a better insight and understanding to the issues confronting the society. This enables him cultivate good relationship with others.
As readers analyse, evaluate consciously or unconsciously messages in texts read, interact and make meanings from texts, their attitudes and values are being shaped. The reader as he reads is not just a passive acceptor of what the author intends but is participating actively in the reading process as he deconstructs the text, responds to the words of the text by bringing to bear his personal experience on every word in the text which includes his point of view, culture, religion and much more. Doing this enables the reader appreciate the scenario created in the text which transforms his thought and beliefs and acceptance of the others for better societal living. Freire (2007) opines that the language teacher does not only help students develop their language ability but also facilitates and nurtures the development
of their minds and critical consciousness with the abilities to understand the diversity of their society, learn how to emphatically listen to those who have different views (religion) from theirs, accept differences and diversities and work with others collaboratively for a peaceful living.
Critical Literacy develops readers’ ability to think systematically. As they read, they think, question the text and support their ideas with reasons. To be tolerant of one another, even in religion, one must cultivate an understanding of the ways of lives of all in the society. This could be done by bringing out of the text what the reader comes across into the real world. Doing this enables the reader develop a new and richer understanding of issues and be more positive in handling differences.
Besides learning the four language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing; critical literacy will enable learners engage in learning how language, power, socio-political systems and issues are interrelated. Bigots are irrational beings; they do not think rationally. They are vulnerable and do not see deep. Critical Literacy gives learners the opportunity to make use of language to critically question, discuss, debate and critique problems and vigorously challenge the take-for-granted ideologies of injustice, hatred and oppression in the society (Luke, 2012). This will make learners challenge and resist the mainstreams that marginalise and motivate them to take actions that will bring changes to their mind-sets and beliefs.
As readers read multiple texts, they see issues from different perspectives and viewpoints. As they analyse and synthesise information, they come to know that texts can be interpreted from various positions such as the author’s view, advocate’s view; the resistant’s view and even the reader’s view. Critical Literacy allows readers identify different aspects of meaning from a text and learn that people have different views and stance based on their race, culture or religion. This in turn makes them learn how to express their ideas and personal opinion from a variety of perspectives leading them to expand their range of thinking, understand diverse beliefs and positions and accept diverse viewpoints (McLaughlin &
DeVoogd, 2004).
The afore-stated will make the people appreciate one another and gradually diminish misunderstanding, hostile feelings and prejudice which are derived from inaccurate and misleading information. Adunyarittigun (2017) reiterates that with the aforementioned, there will be no space for different ‘taken-for-granted’ ideologies of being ‘us’ and ‘them’, contributing to the desire to settle disputes and negotiate by non-violent means. Critical Literacy is key to curbing intolerance and cultivating understanding, peace
and tolerance in the society.

Conclusion
Critical Literacy is a promising approach that could be used to bring about peace in a harmonious society by being tolerant of one another’s belief and stance. Literacy is a systematic cultivation of the mind through training and instruction. When this is lacking, the individual can easily be involved in crises:
political, social or religious. Critical Literacy is deeper than making the students develop their English ability. It is cultivating and nurturing citizens to have critical minds with social consciousness which can transform violence and conflict (resulting from religious intolerance) in the society into peace.

Recommendations
1. Education should be made compulsory for all in the nation. Making the citizens literate will give them room to be able to read logically.
2. Topics and books relating to burning issues as peace, tolerance, unity, communal living should be made
available for reading.
3. Reading centres / libraries should be well stocked with reading materials.
4. Language teachers should not teach reading comprehension superficially but should lead students to make meanings at both inferential and critical levels.

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