Abstract
The religious situation in which the New Testament church emerged was quite complex, a time of religious unrest. Palestine in the first half of the first century was a meeting place of varied cultural and religious streams. Judaism was the most prominent religion of the Jews. It had various sects that displayed religious intolerance. The world under Roman rule especially as seen in the dissolution of traditional Greek, Homeric religion and the rapid growth of mystery cults with their promise of meaningful life and individual immorality ended in religious hostility. This situation of change, frustration, fervour and hope was the matrix for the emergence of a religious community centred on Jesus. Hence in various cities of the New Testament world, the New Testament Christian religion existed alongside with other religions. This resulted to religious tragedy and intolerance due to their beliefs, practices, ways of life and doctrines. The point is-then-clear, in the New Testament there were cases of both intra and inter religious intolerance. Nigeria today is also a victim of similar multiple religious background and experiences. The researcher applied basically the historical and form critical methods in the treatment of the entire subject. This is based on the information gathered from the exegesis of scripture mainly the New Testament literature, write ups by early and modern church fathers. The method of analysis is basically narrative, descriptive and comparative in style. From the research carried out, it was discovered that the New Testament religion emerged in a society which was a victim of religious bigotry, intolerance, chaos and anarchy that had for long disturbed the harmony and peaceful co-existence of the entire citizens. Religion can be both an integrative and divisive factor in any society. The world of the New Testament was a pluralistic society. This involved existential differences in cultural behaviour, philosophy of life and even in certain attitudes and values. Various churches in some cities in the New Testament had inter and intra religious intolerance. This led to religious riots, imprisonment, division, persecution, dissension, destruction of property and loss of life just as we can see in Nigeria today. To arrest the ugly situation prompted by religious intolerance, the New Testament church leaders used dialogue, application of immutable principles of love, prayer and fasting, teaching and practical Christian living. In Nigeria today, religious intolerance is a reality. Nigerian society and churches have lessons to learn from that of the New Testament mainly in the area of lasting conflict resolutions derived from those principles indicated above for a peaceful co-existence of all citizens because religious intolerance is an evil wind that docs a nation no good.
