African Traditional Religion and Ethics

Abstract

The deteriorating level of societal morals has been a thing at serious concern for decades now. To worsen the situation, most African countries now operate on democratic system of government based on a constitution which can rightly be described as corruption initiator/promoter. There is no doubt that the Nigerian constitution for example, encourage open display of corruption especially in the high places. Unfortunately, the adoption of foreign religions (Christianity and Islam), rather than maintaining and improving the status-quo of moral sanity experienced in the past, they further introduce a high level of corruption among the people and in the words of Chinua Achebe, things have fallen apart, and it is not certain if the center can hold again. This paper examines the roles African Traditional Religions can play in molding the people's behaviour using the Yoruba Traditional Religions as example. Our aim is to attempt at finding a lasting solution to the issue of moral decadence level in African societies in general and the Yoruba societies of Southwestern Nigeria in particular.