Relationship between religious maturity and moral reasoning

Zrela religioznost uključuje kritičnost prema tradicionalnim religijskim vrijednostima i simbolima, otvorenost prema drugim religijama, snošljivost prema onima čija je religijska denominacija i orijentacija drukčija. Religioznost se često povezivala s moralom, a jedna od sastavnica morala jest i moralno rasuđivanje odnosno razmatranje moralnosti postupaka te odabir moralno najopravdanijeg. Fokusirajući se na dobro poznatu Kolbergovu teoriju moralnog rasuđivanja, neki istraživači su povezali zrelu religioznost s moralnim rasuđivanjem gdje se pokazalo da viši stupanj zrelosti religioznosti znači i viši stupanj moralnog rasuđivanja. Nadalje, neka istraživanja su pokazala da je moralno rasuđivanje pozitivno povezano s obrazovanjem odnosno s pohađanjem fakulteta te da obrazovanje igra ulogu u oblikovanju veze između religioznosti i moralnog rasuđivanja. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati postoji li povezanost između zrelosti religioznosti i moralnog rasuđivanja s obzirom na pohađanje odnosno nepohađanje fakulteta. Pri tomu se na uzorku od 112 osoba starosti od 21-24 godine (69 studenata zadarskog, splitskog te zagrebačkog sveučilišta i 43 pojedinca srednjoškolskog stupnja obrazovanja) nakon popunjavanja Upitnika sociodemografskih karakteristika primijenila Skala zrelosti religioznosti (modificirana hrvatska verzija Skale globalne razvijenosti vjere) te Test moralnog rasuđivanja (hrvatska verzija Testa moralnih kompetencija). Rezultati su pokazali da pohađanje fakulteta dovodi do zrelijeg moralnog rasuđivanja, ali i zreliju religioznost u odnosu na nepohađanje fakulteta. Uočen je i trend porasta procjene opravdanosti argumenata u funkciji faza moralnog razvoja kod obje skupine ispitanika te davanje veće procjene valjanosti argumentima koji odgovaraju nižim fazama moralnog rasuđivanja kod ispitanika koji ne pohađaju fakultet u odnosu na one koji ga pohađaju, dok su ispitanici koji pohađaju fakultet pokazali trend većeg uvažavanja argumenata koji odgovaraju kasnijim fazama moralnog razvoja u usporedbi s onima koji ne pohađaju fakultet. Utvrđena je i značajna negativna povezanost procijenjene religioznosti te zrelosti religioznosti. Nije utvrđena značajna povezanost moralnog rasuđivanja i zrelosti religioznosti.Religious maturity includes criticism of the traditional religious values and symbols, openness to other religions, tolerance towards those whose religious denomination and orientation is different. Religiosity is often associated with morality and one of the components of morality is moral reasoning or, in other words, consideration of morality of actions and therefore selection of morally justified ones. Focusing on well-known Kohlberg's theory of moral development, some researchers have linked religious maturity with moral reasoning and it has been shown that a higher level of religious maturity indicates a higher level of moral reasoning. Furthermore, some studies have shown that moral reasoning is positively correlated with education i.e. attending faculty and that education plays a role in shaping correlation between religiosity and moral reasoning. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a correlation between religious maturity and moral reasoning considering the attendance or non-attendance of the faculty. This was investigated on a sample of 112 participants aged from 21 to 24 (69 participants who attend Universities in Zadar, Split and Zagreb and 43 participants who do not attend faculty). Firstly, they filled Sociodemographic Questionnaire, after which Religious maturity scale (modified Croatian version of Faith Development Scale) and the Moral judgement test (Croatian version of Moral Competence Test) were applied. Results showed that attending faculty provides more mature moral judgement and also more mature religiosity unlike nonattendance of faculty. Furthermore, in both groups of participants there has been an upward trend of estimated justification of arguments as a function of stages of moral development. Focusing on participants who do not attend faculty, there has been a trend of giving higher estimates to the arguments that correspond to lower stages of moral reasoning in comparison to those who attend faculty, while participants who attend faculty showed a trend to a greater appreciation of the arguments that correspond to higher stages of moral development in comparison to those who do not attend faculty. A significant negative correlation was found between estimated level of religiosity and religious maturity. No significant correlation was found between moral reasoning and religious maturity