This study examines the relationship between religious affiliation and utilisation of maternal health care services using 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data. The outcome variable is utilisation of maternal health care service measured by antenatal care and place of delivery. The explanatory variables were religion and three purposively selected social determinants of health, namely the social gradient, work condition and social exclusion. The chi-square test and multinomial logistic regression were applied. Result show that 50.7% had the recommended 4 or more antenatal care visits; 23.4% and 13.5% respectively utilise public and private sector facilities for their most recent child delivery. The relative risk of having 4 or more antenatal visits reduce by a factor of 0.7863 for Muslim women (p<0.05), and increase by a factor of 5.3806 for women in higher social ladder (p<0.01). Religion should be integrated into the social determinants of health framework. . Keywords: Religion, maternal, health care, utilisation, women, social determinant Résumé Cette étude examine la relation entre l'appartenance religieuse et l'utilisation des services de soins de santé maternelle à l'aide des données de 2013 au Nigeria enquêtes démographiques et sanitaires . La variable de résultat est l'utilisation des services de soins de santé maternelle mesurée par les soins prénatals et lieu de livraison . Les variables explicatives sont la religion et trois déterminants sociaux choisis à dessein de la santé , à savoir le gradient social , condition de travail et l'exclusion sociale . Le test du chi -carré et de régression logistique multinomiale ont été appliquées . Résultat montrent que 50,7 % avaient les 4 ou plusieurs visites prénatales recommandées ; 23,4 % et 13,5 % utilisent respectivement les établissements du secteur public et privé pour leur prestation la plus récente de l'enfant . Le risque relatif d'avoir 4 ou plusieurs visites prénatales à réduire par un facteur de 0,7863 pour les femmes musulmanes ( p <0,05 ) , et une augmentation par un facteur de 5,3806 pour les femmes dans l'échelle sociale plus élevé ( p < 0,01 ) . La religion devrait être intégré dans les déterminants sociaux.

In ancient Israel, even though widowhood was not something people were praying for, when it came, the people involved were protected by the legal and customary structures already in place. One of those structures in the Old Testament is the institution of the levirate marriage where the right and the possession due to a widow without a son for her late husband could be protected and appropriated. A similar custom was also found amongst the pre-colonial Yoruba people through the widow�s inheritance which guarantees the welfare of the widow after the demise of her husband. However, these structures have been dismantled by Christianity, thereby exposing the majority of present-day widows to untold hardship. This article, therefore, through historical, descriptive and comparative methods, examines the customs of the levirate marriage and widow�s inheritance in the two cultures, ascertains how effective they were in addressing the welfare and protection of the rights and privileges of widows and recommends how the church can better see to the welfare of the widows in the society.

One of the reasons put forward by Yoruba Pentecostals who engage in the phenomenon of changing cultural names to biblical names is the evil connotation which the meanings of such names exude. This might have been informed by the Yoruba belief that a person's name exerts great influence on the attitudinal and behavioural life-pattern of the person, coupled with what the person becomes in life. However, looking at the meanings of some of the biblical names that the protesting Pentecostals eventually take up, one wonders whether there is any need for such action, when the biblical names to which they change also have negative meanings themselves. This paper raises the question whether the attitude of the Yoruba Pentecostals engaged in name-changing is desirable, or can it be described as a travesty? The paper makes use of literature review on names among the Yoruba and the Hebrew, and unstructured interview with some Pentecostals who have changed their Yoruba cultural names to biblical names. The results are subjected to content analysis and critical evaluation. The study found that many of the biblical names adopted in place of the cultural names also have negative connotations, but the Pentecostals prefer the latter, first because they do not even consider their meanings, and secondly because they often focus on the character and the significant roles those biblical personages played in the biblical narratives. The paper concluded that the action of the Pentecostals could best be described as a travesty of name changing which does not worth its sort.

Josiah was a young boy of eight years when he assumed the position of leadership over the Southern kingdom of Israel. Before his ascension to the throne, there were many structural defects in the kingdom. The immediate task before him was how to restructure and re-engineer the socio-religious decay he met on the ground, to which he responded promptly and with a record of success. This paper, therefore, through narrative analysis, identifies the leadership and followership qualities that assisted Josiah in his reform policy in Southern Israel and recommends, through content analysis, the imbibing of those qualities by the Nigerian leaders and citizenry in their quest for a sustained democracy.

A INTRODUCTIONThe book of Isaiah is one of the prophetical books of the OT corpus. The book has been classified by the Hebrews as belonging to the Latter Prophets. The book and prophesy of Isaiah are very significant. It opens the books of the latter prophets and the first of the three Major Prophets of the OT. Its significance accrues from the national situations, which formed the background to the prophecies of the book. According to John Bright, 1 "the books of the Prophets of the eight century in Judah which ceaselessly addressed themselves to the