Abstract

This study critically examines the language usage by preachers, their utterances while preaching either on pulpits or on the social media. The data selected and sampled randomly for this study include remarks of some popular pentecostal pastors in Nigeria at different contexts: religious, social and political. The analysis interrogates the underlying ideological contents in the selected speeches. The triangulated content of Fairclough, Wodak, and van Dijk’s approaches to Critical Discourse serve as theoretical framework of the data analyses. The analyses reveal the victimisers and the victimised as well as the sources and the targets of the divisive and late laded rhetoric from Pentecostal church preachers. The findings indicate that certain pastors, under the guise of religious freedom and prophetic boldness, engage in inflammatory remarks that marginalises other religious groups, stigmatises cultural practices, and incites fear or hostility toward perceived enemies. Such utterances, whether direct or veiled, contribute to a culture of exclusion, reinforce harmful stereotypes, and in some cases, embolden followers to act against perceived out-groups.