MORALITY AND HUMAN SEXUALITY IN THE YORUBA CHRISTIAN PRACTICE

ABSTRACT

This research examined the impact of morality on the area of human sexuality of the Yoruba people of Nigeria with focus on the Christian practices considering the recent developments in the contemporary society regarding human sexuality. The Yoruba moral and Christian view of human sexuality is compared with the new outlets of expressing human sexuality to come up with merits and demerits of the practices thereby adding to the body of knowledge on the subject. Books, Journals, News publications, oral interviews and archival materials were used to gather information. This study revealed the Yoruba people before the advent of Christianity had sufficient understanding of human sexuality and dignity of each person was to be upheld based on the values as expressed in the various religious expressions of Yoruba people and informed by their cultural, political and socio-economic concepts. This research recommends that the Christian faith should encourage the values of morality in the Yoruba context by facilitating curriculum development which will promote contextualization of the gospel especially in the Yoruba language as a convergence point for the Church and society in a bid to provide wholesome alternatives against new destructive trends in human sexuality by strengthening the moral values being preached in the Christian experiences of the Yoruba people without jeopardizing their moral standards and losing their identity as Yoruba people.