As You Pray - Remember Me (A political blog)

Kenya has many Christians – 80% and 16% Muslim and the remaining 4% belong to other religions. If someone landed from Mars or Pluto, she would be convinced that Kenya is a Theocracy – the only challenge being we are yet to agree on which Theos (deity), rules our land. The character of the deity though does not seem to matter, as long as one can say s/he is saved.

Since Jubilee coalition came into power after the March 4^th elections, we continue to witness many events where key leaders kneel in front of large crowds to get prayed over. This is disturbing on a number of grounds.

First, from the perspective of a theologian, constant acts of “self-sacrifice” and excessive signs of piety are not a sign of holiness or religiosity. They could be religiously oriented OCD or in certain cases, signs of extreme guilt. In either case it is not a healthy condition and for that, these prayer events scare me quite a bit. Many Kenyans read these public acts as characters of humility, religiosity and piety from our leaders – and because of that I am scared, very scared indeed.

The second reason for being anxious is because I remember Emperor Constantine (the great). As an astute politician Constantine realized the strategic value in the Christian religion, and converted into it. Instead of fighting to eliminate Christianity from the Roman Empire – he made it the official religion.

There are many who see no reason to fear such strategic use of religion for political goals. After all, it provides opportunity to further the religious goals in Kenya, particularly by stigmatizing those of us who are not particularly religious. In my conversations with many “born-again/saved” Christians, I have come to feel that they may not fully appreciate the constitutional “Freedom of religion”; which they think of as a ‘false’ freedom. If government can obligate all to live in accordance with dictates of their religion, it would not be such a bad thing at all – since it is as far as they are concerned a higher value.

My recent encounter with a “saved” friend went as follows “…..but that is against the Bible” he said. I replied that I am more inclined to a positivistic world view that interrogates religious “unknowns” against the scientific “knowns.” You should have seen his face – I have a strong suspicion that the same thoughts that went through the minds of 11^th – 13^th Century crusaders crossed him mind.  

Thus when the church leaders, hold privileged quasi-legal and political positions in a country, those at the margins of the religious mainstream, have a reason to be afraid, very afraid. But it is not just those at the religious margins, who should be afraid. Everyone who believes in a secular democracy needs to be. In a democracy such as ours power and leadership authority derives from the people. They make choices of their favoured leaders through elections. In a theocracy God appoints or anoints. The only problem is this process is very opaque – God decides according to reasons only known to Him – or so we shall be told.

The third reason to be afraid stems from the nature of Faith – or Creed if you will. By its nature a creed is a statement of belief, which defines what is accepted and shared by a particular community. By definition a creed states what is acceptable i.e., falls within the domain of the believers as well as what falls outside of that domain. A creed divides people along believers and non-believers. It divides people along the lines of Muslim (believers) and Kafir (non-believers). In other words there must be those who fall inside – and worthy of our respect and those who fall outside – hence worthy of our persecution (which could be now - especially perpetrated/sanctioned by the state, or much later in heaven and hell).

Unlike Faith and religion which confer membership upon professing a particular belief, citizenship particularly by birth (which is the case for most of us), occurs naturally by being born into a family of citizens. Even a child aged less than 8 years, whose parents are unknown, can still be considered a citizen of Kenya. She/he does not need to profess a particular faith. That is why, there is such a huge risk in conflating religious (hence Creed-based membership), with national citizenship.

I realize my religious friends will welcome the soon to be announced events aimed at re-dedicating Kenya to God.  Many will warm up to the upcoming quasi-political-religious phase of “revival prayer events”. Corruption, poor work ethics, poor economic performance among others, I am sure we shall be told, is because we have not given our lives to Jesus. The Muslims will likewise be told to pray to their God too. But for those of us at the margins of religious beliefs – we are likely going to be scapegoated for everything wrong in this country. I particularly suspect that sexual minorities will be hit the hardest.

As hard economic times continue to bite, a “sinner who has cursed our land” will need to be found. There cannot be an easier victim than those already socially stigmatized. Such victimization is likely to prove very popular with the electorate. This is about Strategic use of Religion. I could be crying wolf; but my fear is as real as if one were running after me right now.

That is why I am not convinced that the current show of religiosity is about holiness. My view is – if this curious need by our leaders to be prayed for over and over again is genuine – let them heed the advice from Jesus who says “when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” Mt 6:6.

But I do not think this is about prayer or reward from heaven. And for that reason I am scared, very scared – and so should you! Meanwhile please remember me in your prayers – I can choose a religion, but not my country/citizenship - and for that, I am really confused right now.