RELIGION: HOW PROFITABLE HAS IT BEEN IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT

By Clarkson Amassomaowei

The religionist seems to hold that man must live a moral life in other to obey the commands of God. They believe that any disobedience of the commands of God will attract divine punishment either in this world (life) or thereafter.

A typical example of this in the christian religious perspective is the mosaic laws of the old testament; otherwise known as the 'ten commandments'. This group of people therefore proposes the teaching of morality via religion.
Morality, in my view can hardly survive without religion, and this is because religion formed the basis for moral development among the people in a given society.

The religion of a certain group of people influences their moral upbringing. It is therefore true to state that it is difficult to practice good moral(s) without tracing its foundation to religion. People exhibit good behavior as to either derive undiluted joy and happiness or so as to please and obey the commandments of God with the aim of avoiding being punished by God, Allah or whatever thing they considered supreme of which they worship.

Speaking in specific terms, to the africans, morality is as important as religion itself. Character is indeed, the main prerogative of man. Man's welbeing on earth is dependent upon his character. Hid place therefore, is determined by God according to his desires. Nevertheless, african traditional morality or moral value is neither the creation of the society, nor the individual, rather the moral values are the expressions of a transcendental order which is beyond man. By implication man in the society must conform to it.

Going further, morality is closely tied to religion, the reason is that africans accept or acknowledge God as the final guidian of law and order and of moral codes. This also suggests the close link existing between african morality and religion which is not surprising since a traditional african is naturally religious. As a common practice, the Africans take oath in front of shrine(s) so as to give moral and/or legal sanctions to an agreement. This practice of morality among the african traditionalists has its base from religion.

The man which is the moral agent is from religion. This further demonstrates that man's existence and its origin is traceable to God the maker and creator of the world. God is the foundation of all religions and the man that practices it in the society that God created is the religious animal or being. And the development of morality is based on the man which is a religious being. Therefore the role of religion in moral development cannot be over emphasized.

The judge (i.e conscience) to which the actions are viewed as good or bad is supplied by religion. Although morality is the principle that guides human behavior, yet different people give different reasons why they behave certain ways.

These reasons are given according to their individual understanding of human existence and conscience. Perhaps, this accounts for reason(s) why people do all sorts of things under the cover of religious beliefs, doctrines and practices. The conscience is the judge in the inner mind, that justifies the rightness or wrongness of the behavior or otherwise. It is the conscience that gives the moral justification of an act which suppose to give one total happiness or otherwise, and it is based on the moral or religious principles which guides the human behavior.

Unfortunately, events and happenings across the world and indeed in Nigerian over the past few years have all been attributed to one religious organisation, body or the other. This is true as different groups under the cover of religion have been claiming responsibility over heinous and subversive acts against humanity and the governments. As if that isn't enough, both tribal and political opportunists have equally capitalized on religious beliefs and practices to set us against one another to their selfish ends.

In view of the above, can one truelly conclude comfortly that religion had indeed play its role in the moral development of our society?