Immorality in Churches: Issues and the Way Forward
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
- To examine the issues of immorality in churches.
- To determine the way forward on the issue of church immorality.
- To identify the factors encouraging immorality in churches.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRUDUCTION
In Roman Catholic teaching, morality concerns acts, also called human acts. An act, in moral theology, is a knowing choice; it is an exercise of free will and intellect (reason). Every knowing choice is an act. Every act is subject to conscience and to the unchanging truths of the eternal moral law of God. Catechism of the Catholic Church: “THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS Freedom makes man a moral subject. When he acts deliberately, man is, so to speak, the father of his acts. Human acts, that is, acts that are freely chosenin consequence of a judgment of conscience,can be morally evaluated. They are either good or evil.”All human acts are subject to a moral evaluation. Each knowingly chosen act is either good or evil, moral or immoral. There are no morally-neutral knowingly chosen acts. There are no deliberately chosen acts that can somehow evade, or be exempted from, the eternal moral law of God.
What makes one act moral and another act immoral?The Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church has a definitive teaching in answer to this question: the three fonts of morality. This teaching on the fonts (i.e. the sources) of morality is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium of the Catechism, the USCCB Catechism, and in the landmark encyclical of Pope John Paul II on the basic principles of ethics: Veritatis Splendor (the Splendor of Truth). This same teaching is applied in
many other magisterial documents on particular acts, especially on grave sins that are intrinsically evil and always gravely immoral, such as: contraception, abortion, artificialprocreation, grave sexual sins of various kinds, euthanasia, other types of murder, slavery, racism, and many other sins. But does the Church need to publish a specific and comprehensive list of immoral acts, so that we may distinguish morality from immorality? If the Magisterium has not specifically named, described, and condemned a particular act, does the act then become moral or somehow permissible? The answer to both questions is “No.” The Magisterium teaches that all of the requirements of the eternal moral law are knowable by human reason, without the necessity of Divine Revelation. The Magisterium teaches basic principles of ethics that the faithful are required to apply intheir use of conscience in the circumstances of their lives. No human act isexempt from conscience and the moral law. The basic principles of ethics taught definitively by the Roman Catholic Church begin with the three fonts of morality. These three fonts are necessary and sufficient to determine the morality of any and all knowingly chosen acts.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design adopted for this work is cross –sectionalsurvey and descriptive analysis on a randomly selected sample ofthe different categories of churches (Catholic, Pentecostaland Orthodox).
STUDY AREA
The study area for this research is Imo state in eastern Nigeria.
The choice of Imo state as the study area is because since thecreation of the state in 1967 and in spite of the movement of Abiastate in the state creation exercise of 1991, it naturally enjoysthe benefits of being the fulcrum of the eastern part of thecountry. Imo state is built with many roads, estates , governmentestablishments, all kinds of private developments, schools,hospitals, theaters, shopping malls, hotels to mention a few. Allthese infrastructures are the handiwork of construction. As suchthere cannot be a better place to obtain data for this study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of the result obtained from questionnaires. The data gathered were presented according to the order in which they were arranged in the research questions, sample percentage and pie charts were used to analyze the demographic information of the respondents while the chi square test was adopted to test the research hypothesis.
CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Findings
The objective of the study was to know if immorality have significant effect on the socio well-being of churches. Findings from the study reveals that majority of the respondents are of the opinion that immorality have significant effect on the socio well-being of churches. See table 10 and 11 above.
Another finding from the study reveals that immorality in churches is increasing on a daily bases. (See table 6)
Recommendation
The following recommendation is made from this study
Churches should focus more in preaching the message of repentance rather than prosperity message that is the order of the day in most churches today. Members should also not be allowed to wear whatever they feel like to church to avoid distracting others including the Priests, Pastors and Bishops.
REFERENCES
- The Basis of a Christian Worldview – Creation Ministries International
- CMI answers philosophy/religion professor on biblical exegesis and the problem of evil
- The Dangerous Mind by Joe Carter, First Things Morals decline linked to evolution http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18094
- http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/polls/main965223.shtml
- Are There Religious Variations in Marital Infidelity?.
- Aug 20 2009 article at Browardbeach.com entitled Those Who Practice Bestiality Say They’re Part of the Next Sexual Rights Movement
- Aug 20 2009 article at Browardbeach.com entitled Those Who Practice Bestiality Say They’re Part of the Next Sexual Rights Movement