International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XII, December 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Religion and Morality: A Review of the Perspectives in Context

 Zipporah N. Sitoki, Dr. John Ekwenye
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya

Abstract –Religion and morality are not synonymous though, but some scholarly positions argue that sometimes religion affects morality. The problem is that even though the society may seem to be practicing more of religious related pursuits, the level of morality continues to deteriorate, a fact that strengthens the argument of secularism and the opinion that religion and morality have no relationship. This paper therefore reviews relevant literature in relation to the topic in context, morality and religion, in accordance to the various perspectives in place. The paper is guided by the Divine Command Theory developed by a number of philosophers. The literature reveals a number of issues in reflection to religion and morality and the perspectives in place. In a nutshell, morality in the society should prevail regardless of the ideology an individual subscribes to given that the religious and non-religious people hold their views firm.

Keywords: Morality, Religion, Christianity, African Traditional Religion, Secularism

I. INTRODUCTION

Religion and morality are not synonymous though, but some scholarly positions argue that sometimes religion affects morality. As a matter of fact, different religion claim different positions on what could be deemed right or wrong depending on the origin of the religion in question and the culture of a locality. The link between religion and morality has been a debatable issue for a very long time with philosophical viewpoints re-surfacing in modern times. As a matter of fact, various opinions that have been held on the subject of religion and morality has a traditional inclination right from the Greek philosophy, Christianity, Judaism and other religious confessions but majority of people agree that religion and morality are intertwined and therefore inseparable. Despite the fact that Plato’s uncle Critias was among the early people recorded in the history of atheists, he too agreed to the fact that religion was necessary due to its salutary and stabilizing effect on the aspect of morality. For a period of about 25 centuries, his sentiments have been echoed with both believers and unbelievers (Marx, 1843; Hamiliton & Cairns, 1961). However, some atheists have argued that there is no connection between religion and morality where they opine that religion makes people mean and selfish (Hitchens, 2007).