A Qualitative Approach to the Clergies' Understanding of Moral Conflicts in Commitment to their Professional Duties and Daily Livelihood

 
Livelihood and income-generating activities, in general, are important bio-human issues. Undoubtedly, the experience of gaining income in relation to different classes, guilds, and social groups is very different from their place in society. Clergies are one of the groups whose living conditions have long been considered by the public in comparison with other social groups; because on the one hand, the clergy is known as a preacher of religion and is expected to be satisfied with what he has and to live like the majority of society, even below them. On the other hand, living conditions and the economic situation prevailing in Iranian society, have involved clergies and their families in various difficult economic issues. However, these two tendencies have led to moral conflicts between the living conditions of clergies and their religious-organizational duties towards society. With this in mind, the purpose of this study is to answer the question of what is the moral conflict between their professional duties and daily livelihood according to clergies' statements. The approach applied in this research is qualitative, and the thematic analysis method has been used to analyze the data. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 employed and non-employed married clergies, who were selected by purposive sampling. Thematic analysis showed that “work conscience and manly moral responsibility’, “personal motivation to become a clergy and economic motivation for progress” and “personal dignity and professional honor” are the cases that are in conflict.