The church in Kenya is lost at a crossroads.

Nothing better exemplifies this hazardous situation than two notable occurrences that happened recently.  In the first incident, a controversial senator had to cut short his fiery speech maliciously attacking former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. This vitriol was being spewed right from the pulpit.

It took a bold Bishop to tell off the senator. The prelate stated the church was a holy place whose role was to serve humanity from any political affiliation. Attacks of any form would never be tolerated.

The senator got the point. He sheepishly apologized.

In the second incident, an evangelical bishop was recorded gleefully declaring he would invite all politicians to his pulpit. He would also accept their ‘donations’ and justified this by calling politicians children of God who were supposed to tithe. This bishop added that no money was evil once it was brought to God’s altar.

Religion has always been a potent factor in Kenya’s political matrix. This is why whenever the election nears, politicians ingratiate themselves to the church. They attend masses and services regularly and donate generously. They become meek and humble and request prayers from the clergy and congregation.

They love the church for they find a passive audience, already mellowed by the religious writ.

However, the looming August 2022 elections will be one of a kind. It is threatening to thrust the church right at the heart of brewing political maelstrom. The results are having an unfavourable spotlight cast on the Church over her inability to insulate her doctrines against exploitation by politicians.

For decades, the Church has remained Kenyan’s True North. It has unflinchingly called out evils of the dictatorial system and confronted head-on the excesses of the one-party state regime. For this commitment to democracy and truth, the clergy paid heavily but succeeded in setting the country free.

This is often touted as the apotheosis of the sacrifice by the Church.

Sadly, the church today is a pale shadow of the valiant church of the early 90s. The pulpit is no longer a hallowed platform for worship; it is jointly shared by the clergy and politicians to pontificate non-religious prattle. It is from the pulpit that politicians have profaned places of worship with stomach-churching utterances. Money looted from public coffers and another ill-gotten loot is brought to be prayed for and sanctified before the altars.

However, the worst of this charade is on how God has been conveniently commodified by politicians and turned into a political tool to woo undecided religious voters, blackmail opponents and intimidate others. The church remains mum.

During a recent political rally in Thika, politicians allied to UDA evoked God in their attacks against President Uhuru Kenyatta. After hurling insults and salvos, they became righteous and declared they had left him to be dealt with by God. Simply put, they had called down divine punishment over the head of state.

This despicable hypocrisy happened even though some of those liberally calling God’s name has an unsavoury history that involves plunder of public resources amongst others ills!

Perhaps driven by the need to restore the clean image of the Church, the president in February at Sagana State Lodge had cautioned church leaders against accepting money earned through corrupt means. That advice triggered a hailstorm of outrage from politicians fond of ‘donating’ money. The words have since been translated as a state-directed assault against the church!

This level of hypocrisy should never be allowed to stand. However, it has been accepted because the line between church and politics has been blurred. 

A few people opine that the church has an axe to grind with the government. That a section of the clergy remains disgruntled since the state took an unprecedented step to close down places of worship to contain the spread of Covid-19 is not in doubt. The country was on the edge of a great crisis. Millions of lives were at stake. The state did what the state had to do.

With Covid-19 contained and regulations eased, the churches resumed. There is all likelihood that a section of clergy hard-hit by the closure is still smarting. They have found unlikely allies in politicians who are bashing the government.

When Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria stirs the hornets’ nest by invoking an odious cultural supremacy debate using sickening utterances that caused a huge public uproar, the church does not castigate him. Instead, he is later given a microphone in a church where he proceeds to use swear words as senior clergy members present laugh their heads off!

It is time we prayed for the church to find her true path.

— The writer comments on topical issues