Interface between Sacredness and Profanity in the Places of Worship with Reference to Selected Sacred Centres in Southwest Nigeria

In many parts of Africa, Nigeria in particular, the place of shrines as a sacred and a place of worship consecrated for religious purposes, conflict resolution, social control and moral development remain evident based on the beliefs and spiritual energy provided in the African religion context. In the recent time, there is symbiotic relationship between sacredness and profanity in the places of worship. This study was premised on Mircea Eliade and Durkheim’s theory of sacred and profane dichotomy for analysis the spiritual content of the sacred place. Descriptive survey method was adopted for the study. In-depth interview was conducted with cultic functionaries, indigenes, devotees and government official. Multistage sampling technique and sample size was used to select 90 cultic functionaries, 90 indigenes 90 devotees and 30 government officials’ respondents in the study area while data obtained were analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. Result of the study revealed that profanity in the place of worship has no effects on the sacredness on the place of worship (X = 44.79, df-6, p-0.00) constraints are mismanagement of the sacred centers (X= 8.28, df-3, p-0.04), free access to sacred places (X=8.63, df-3, p-0.03) inadequate supervision of sacred centre by the cultic functionaries (X=7.22, df-3, p- 0.07), government interference (X = 6.53, df-3, p -0.08) neglect of existing taboos (X = 25.26, df-3, p-0.00) were significant challenges facing the sacred centres at (p