Nobel winner assails religious intolerance

On one level, he says, spiritual practices can enrich humankind. But religious fundamentalism is the greatest threat to peace and democracy in the world today, according to Soyinka,the Nigerian writer who won the 1986 Nobel Prize for literature.

"With the death of ideology in general, and the death of communist ideology in particular, which virtually amounted to religion, religion

Soyinka, 72, who has endured imprisonment, exile and many death threats for standing up to dictatorial rule in his homeland, was in Southern California last week to give a lecture on "Deities for a Secular Dispensation" at Claremont Graduate University's Institute for Signifying Scriptures.

The institute studies all forms of scriptures -- not just written sacred texts such as the Bible and Koran, but also messages appearing in other forms: through figures, icons and objects.

In June, the institute started its first major collaborative research project: Scriptural Fundamentalism Among Peoples of Color in the United States. Soyinka's talk was the institute's inaugural address in the distinguished lecture series.

As he sees it, intolerance is at the root of the dissension in the world. And the major religions are guilty of contributing to the problem.

"Judaism, Christianity and Islam are completely soaked in intolerance," Soyinka said.

"There is no reason at all why a religion cannot just expose and disseminate its own believed virtues," he said, "and not at the expense of denigrating the belief systems of others."

Conversion "by example is absolutely legitimate; it's a mark of culture and civilization," he said. "But there isn't much of that."

During the lecture -- which he read while standing ramrod straight for nearly an hour without so much as taking a sip of water -- Soyinka extended an invitation to study the Yoruba religion of his native Nigeria. He called Yoruba a "potential model for the spiritual cravings of seekers."

Yoruba is an "invisible religion," he added, because it is "overshadowed

But Yoruba has much to teach people about tolerance, he said, because deities in the Yoruba pantheon make that religion one of "the most humane anywhere."