When Lady Ida Odinga last year said that the excessive number of churches in Kenya need pruning, Christian fanatics were up in arms accusing her of evil. However, deep inside, many of us knew what she was talking about.

In my opinion, Madam Odinga was referring to the fact that Christianity in Kenya has become meaningless. How can we claim to be a righteous society while we are one of the most morally decadent and corrupt people? If we really feared God, how can we watch as untold evil is nurtured and unleashed on innocent souls in this country?

We are still reeling from the Shakahola Forest massacre where more than four hundred corpses have been unearthed in what has been seen as human sacrifice by some crazy pastor named Paul Mackenzie.

Many churches have turned into dens of iniquity making money from hapless followers. The so called tithing is now an industry in itself, offering employment to thousands of con artists selling pies in the sky to desperate adherents while they live in opulence.

Mainstream churches have not been spared the malice either. The erstwhile venerated Catholic Church and other major Pentecostal churches have been sucked into the bottomless pit of licentiousness. The unprecedented publicity of misadventures by the clergy are evident of a church of Christ that needs redemption. 

In 2018, Rwanda President Paul Kagame closed over 6,000 churches and mosques in and demanded that every religious leader have a theology degree. “Stop playing with people’s faith and making it a business. Rwanda is already a blessed country.” Furthermore, he noted that the excessive number of places of worship was unsustainable in a country that needed more industries.

Well, plans by Pope Francis and Sunni Muslim leader, Sheikh Ahmen al-Tayeb to form a one-world religion is a sign of the times. In 2022, they signed a global peace covenant called the Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace. The two inspired the opening of the “Abrahamic Family House,” an interfaith complex housing a mosque, a church, and synagogue in Abu Dhabi in February.

According to the covenant, the Abrahamic Family House aims at bringing understanding and tolerance among the world’s major faiths. This closing of ranks among religions will have far reaching impact on humanity’s outlook on life. It is the height of folly for any one religion to think it has a monopoly over God. God is one but manifested in different faiths. Human beings must shun religious bigotry and learn to respect each other’s faiths. As the Bible says, God is not a respecter of persons.

Humanity must now arise and smell the coffee. In their international hit song “We are the World”, the array of international artists led by the late mega star Michael Jackson called out the folly of faith without works without Ethiopians dying as the world watched in the mid-1980s.   

We need to re-evaluate our concept of God since the image we have had for eons is now tattered. The concept of a God living somewhere in the sky in flesh and blood has outlived its credibility. We now know God is a living spirit who dwells inside every creature in the universe and manifests himself in mysterious ways. 

No one can deny that there is a natural mystic flowing through the air. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many facts about life that had been hidden from people. It is a rapture of sorts happening right before us.

Some food for thought here by Joan Osborne in her song, “One Of Us”, is another inspiration: If God had a name, what would it be? And would you call it to his face? If you were faced with Him in all His glory, What would you ask if you had just one question?”

—  The writer is a PhD candidate in International Relations