The Clergy led by Christ is the Answer Ministries (CITAM) and Legio Maria of African Church Mission have rejected last week’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Kenya (SCoK) on gays rights and warned  that act was sinful.

The debate has caused anxiety amongst Christian faithful with the church leadership now warning that the whole discourse was not only immoral but contrary to biblical teachings.

Thus the religious leaders have gone a step further to encourage Kenyans of moral integrity to reject,resist and oppose the Supreme Court ruling because it would serve as an erosion of societal values.

CITAM Presiding Bishop Reverend Calisto Odede in a response on the ruling that was delivered in Nairobi last Friday regretted the move since the Bible categorises immoral thoughts in the heart and immoral actions as sinful.

The ruling gives  gay individuals  the freedom of association.

Controversial ruling

Rev Odede noted that this controversial ruling came against the backdrop of sections of the Church in the West decided to bless gay unions.

“We truly commend the judges who ruled for God’s creative order and for cultural preservation and dissented from that majority ruling. Similarly,we also appreciate and stand with the sections of the Christian faith communities who have stood their ground on matters biblical in spite of the schism from their umbrella organisations.”

 The Supreme Court in its ruling,stated: “Despite gayism being illegal (in Kenya), they have a right of association.”

“This rather contradictory ruling has left many of us wondering whether other illegal practitioners like paedophiles and those involved in incest also have right of association and if not, how different they are from homosexuals. Perhaps also for consideration is criminal organizations as well, ” said the preacher.

 The Legion Maria  group has also weighed in on the matter with a call to rejection of the orders  by the Supreme Court.

Through a statement sent to newsrooms by Bishop of Lugari Diocese Wycliffe Nyaperah, the Church condemned what it called a ruling against the natural law of justice which could erode the moral ethos of young folk.

 “On Friday, 24 February 2023, the Supreme Court of Kenya under a seven-judge bench ruled that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community have the right to association. In short, LGBTQ is now a legal entity and can operate at will after registration.

Being the highest court in Kenya,we as Christians expected it to stand against the test of time and protect our societal moral fabric which has great respect for family as a basic unit of any society.

Legalizing homosexuality and offering a platform for their freedom of association shall completely erode the moral ethos of our youth and we therefore reject the ruling with the contempt it deserves. We as a church cannot vilify sin by permitting same sex marriage. God cannot bless sin and therefore we are not party to such rulings.”

 The statement further read; “According to Christian values as drawn from the Bible,sex is meant for procreation and no any other reason. It is meant for a married couple of opposite gender and not same sex.”

Unacceptable ruling

 Bishop Nyaperah also called upon Members of Parliament (MPs) to come up with a legislation that will counter this unacceptable ruling by our highest court in Kenya.

In its verdict delivered by a five-judge bench on Friday, February 24, the Supreme Court castigated the NGOs Co-Ordination Board for refusing to register four names for an LGBTQ organisation on the grounds that same-sex marriage is outlawed in Kenya.

Three judges in the five-judge bench ruled that community members have a right to associate even though the law considers same-sex marriages illegal. Hence, the refusal to register them was discriminatory and contravened the law.

“It would be unconstitutional to limit the right to associate through denial of registration of an association purely based on the sexual orientation of the applicants,” the ruling read.