SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF RITUAL IN RELIGIOUSLY PLURALISTIC SOCIETY IN IFE, OSUN, NIGERIA

This paper deals with the socio-economy effect of ritual in religiously pluralistic society among the people of lle-Ife land. The major focus of the research is to bring to the fore the effects of ritual in religiously pluralistic society on the people of le-Ife land especially on their social, religious and economy lives.There have been scanty works on the subject hence the study calls for chronological discourse Primary and secondary sources were used to elicit information Ile-lfe was founded in 500CE by the Yoruba people 'a Kwa-speaking people of south west Nigeria and Benni'" but did not flourish until the early part of the 2nd millennium CE. Ile-Ife was an ancient African city which flourished between 11th and 15th centuries.The people ,like other Yoruba speaking people believe in only one God but have gods as the deputies of Olodumare(God).The people are found in southwestern part of Nigeria, in West Africa. Ile-Ife was the capital and principal religious center of the Yoruba. Ile-Ife is a religiously pluralistic society with Christianity, Islam and Traditional Religion existing side by side. It was gathered that religious pluralism in Ile-Ife is on a positive side. Kinship, Marriage, social gathering and so on, are some of the factors responsible for the positive effects from the various religions in Ile-Ife.