Religion and morality in Ghana: A reflection

Abstract

Several scholars have written extensively on religion and morality. These works generally try to answer the question of what determines morality. Whiles some scholars strongly maintain that religion is the determinant of morality, some are skeptical and others do not accept such stance. Such discourse has found its way into African ethics with views from the west and among some Africans who maintain that the morality of Africans is religious base. With these arguments on board, some prolific Ghanaian writers have argued that whether or not religion determines the morality of Africans, in Ghana however, among the Akan, it is the society and the traditions that determine the morality of its members but not religion. This paper joins the debate to bring to the fore that it is not “the society and traditions” that determine the morality of the Akan and Ghanaians in general. The paper argues that the Akan and the Ghanaian society thrive on religion and almost all the traditions instituted have religious imports. For these reasons, the paper concludes that religion is the determinant of the morality of Ghanaians including the Akan but not society and traditions