RELIGIOUS BOOM AND MORAL PLUMMET IN RURAL -URBAN CITIES OF SOUTH EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

It is unarguably true that there is an unprecedented rise in religious patronage, activities and
expansion in rural-urban cities in the south East Nigeria. However, it is also indubitably true that
irrespective of constant attendance and observance of religious events in the calendar, moral values and standard has greatly plummeted. This situation has unwittingly created new set of religious personalities that are moral hermaphrodites; neither committed to the traditional morality nor that of a new religious order. This situation is not only ironical but counterproductive to the moral development of the people. This paper adopted phenomenological approach as well as secondary sources of data collection in its investigation. It discovered that the nosedive in morality in the face of religious boom is occasioned by the polarization of religion and morality in the rural-urban cities and recommended for the reintegration of morality by religion in order to deliver.