Abstract:

The relationship between religiosity and moral reasoning has remained elusive. Previous studies on the relationship between religiosity, and moral reasoning are inconsistent and many contradictory findings have been reported. While research on religiosity and moral reasoning has proliferated in recent years most of the previous studies have focused on Christianity, and studies on the relations of these two constructs among Muslim populations are sparse.

The purpose of this descriptive – correlation study was to investigate the relationship between Islamic religiosity and principled moral reasoning. A convenient sample of 46 male and 46 female graduate students, attending a college of education at Kuwait University, completed the religiosity scale – a 24 items scale devised by the author which purports to measure attitudes towards Islamic religious teachings , beliefs and practices . To measure the moral reasoning of the sample the Defining Issues test (DIT) was used. The Defining Issues test (DIT) is a multiple choice questionnaire derived from Kohlberg’s basic theory on moral development. It was devised by James Rest, a prominent American Psychologist in the area of moral development.

The statistical analysis of the data revealed no significant relationship between moral reasoning as measured by the DIT, and religiosity as measures by the religiosity scale devised by the author. The findings also suggested no significant differences between males of females in both moral reasoning and religiosity. Several possible interpretations of these results were provided. Based on the findings of this study a number of suggestions and recommendations for further research were formulated.

Keywords:

Religiosity, principled moral reasoning, Defining Issues test (DIT), graduate students, Kuwait University.