Examining the Relationships between Religiosity, Spirituality, and Morality in a Nigerian Sample

Abstract

Environmental pressure has led to wanton changes that have undermined traditional ethics and created an atmosphere of moral drift. The present study examined the relationships between religiosity, spirituality and morality in a Nigerian sample. One hundred and eighty five participants that took part in the study were sampled from across three religious organisations in Benue state, North-central, Nigeria. As expected, the results of the multiple regression analyses computed revealed that religiosity was not significantly related to morality, whilst spirituality was positively related with morality. The findings of the study portray most religious people in Nigeria as hypocritical because they seem not to match the faith they profess with appropriate actions expected of them. But those who reported high scores on daily spiritual experience are guided by their faith to do right. The findings of the study suggest that individuals may not be religious but sanctimonious, and fail to match words with actions, hence the pervasiveness of immoral behaviours that characterise the Nigerian society.