Materialism: A major cause of loss of religious and moral values among the people of Hoima District: A case study of Kahoora Division – Hoima Municipality

Abstract

Historically, Culture and People change due to a number of reasons. The changes can be for the better and sometimes for the worst! When changes bring on a worst situation than previously, we commonly term it as “loss of the past”. In Hoima district, there are noticeable negative changes that encompass social, political, economic and above all religious and ethical values. Religion shapes society (Mater et Magistra, No. 223), but in Hoima district religious values are obscured by materialistic tendencies. “Materialism” is a great interest and desire for possessions and money; with a tendency to consider these material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values. Its other extreme is the tendency to believe that one can find proper explanation about reality through personal endeavours, with help of one’s property and science than in God or theistic belief systems (Crowther J., et al (1995). Consequently, morals have become rotten; politics a dirty game, the economics is ruined by greed and this loss of social moral values breeds contempt. Contrasted to the Ugandan society as a whole, love for money and excessive desire for personal gain are the major causes of social, political, religious and economic disorder. It is the mother of corruption, bribery, political intrigue, regional imbalances, contempt, murder and competition (Museveni, 1997). Throughout the major five divisions of this work, the researcher evaluated the alarming loss of social, economic, political, ethical standards and customary values in Hoima district as a result of materialism. In so doing, the researcher ultimately perceived religion to be the salt (Mt. 5, 13) of multiple human endeavours and the indispensable taste of ethics, which if lost, society mislays human worth. The efficacy of religion was clearly underscored within the realm of moral values, so that, what is preached is internalized and lived in every sphere of the day to today life.