Hate Speech in Religious Discourse: A Study of Apostle Johnson Suleiman and Bishop Oyedepo’s Sermons

Abstract

This study is a religious discourse on hate speech, using Apostle Suleman and Bishop Oyedepo's speeches as a case study. Many researchers have dived into research on religious discourse, some of the prominent names are Talal Asad, Charles Hirschkind and Saba Mahmood but much has not been achieved, especially in the field of hate speech. It is this questioning gap that this research wants to lay its thrust on. Search engines like Chrome, Google etcetera were used as medium to get their sermons online for study, while Apostle Suleman and Bishop Oyedepo were the clergymen selected for this work, and their data were chiefly used. This study revealed that hate speech varies and could be in support of an opinion or against it, moreover, hate speeches were/are made by individuals especially, clergymen in addressing strong situations. Judging from what this research came across, it is recommendable that the house of senate and other bodies in charge of both religious and social affairs should look into religious hate speech and come to resolution on whether to sustain it or consider placing it under a ban.