When the Church fuses itself to the State, it ceases to be a House of God, and becomes the politician’s brothel.
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The late Prof John S Mbiti, one of the world’s foremost scholars of religion and Africa, famously noted that Africans are “notoriously religious”. I believe he meant that Africans are a deeply spiritual people, and not necessarily appendages of established messianic religions.
However, it’s clear that established religions have tapped into this spiritual proclivity to incubate automated piety in Africans. By automated piety I mean a thoughtless embrace of established religions for multiple social uses, both malign and benign.
The Church in Kenya is now a conveyer belt of the former. The Church has allowed itself to be politically misused by cynics and hypocrites. It’s blurred the separation of Church and State and become an obsequious servant of Caesar.
No one can deny the social and political utility of religion, let alone its spiritual purchase. Humans are of feeble minds, and find comfort in the metaphysical explanations of that which is above their simple noggins. Even where it’s unnecessary, we will needlessly invoke the name of God.
Take, for example, a self-inflicted death because of drink-driving. You will hear simple folks say, “it’s God’s will”. Forgive some of us if we roll our eyes. But the politician has found this soft underbelly of the African psychology of fatalism. Most Africans attribute perfectly earthly problems to higher deities. The politician knows God is the path to an African’s heart. So he returns to that well over and over.
A fallen angel
What’s my point? There’s no doubt that the Church and the politician have now formed an unholy alliance in Kenya. For this, the Kenyan Church has become a fallen angel. It has left the path of righteousness and become a worshiper of the serpent, a corrupter of the souls of men and women. The Bible itself in Timothy 6:10 says that the “love of money is the root of all evil”.
It’s not money itself that’s the culprit, but the love of the moolah. No one can gainsay the fact that the Kenyan Church now leads the country in greed, perhaps equal to, or greater than, the politician. The Church begs for money without shame, or moral compunction.
In the last election cycle, the current UDA politicians made it a habit of splashing tens of millions of shillings on churches across the land. Often they gave it on weekdays, and twice on Sundays. But, as we know, there’s no free lunch. He who pays the piper calls the tune. That’s how the Kenyan Church turned itself over to partisan politics.
Let me tell you how. A john doesn’t pay a commercial sex worker to keep her clothes on. Similarly, a politician buys the clergy to “defrock” them. In other words, to turn the House of God into a den of thieves. To them, the Church becomes another political rally where the name of the Lord is uttered in vain.
A few examples will suffice. First, we have seen a certain high priest in Maa country stand up in the pulpit and ask those who have lodged election petitions against UDA lawmakers to withdraw them – in the name of the Lord and Peace! My jaw dropped to the floor.
In August, we saw the same high priest in Bomas clothe electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati with a religious shield. We have also seen other men and women of the cloth pray for Caesar and his factotums. Nothing wrong with that except when the pastor says that Caesar is anointed by God. Last time I checked, God doesn’t anoint leaders. Leaders shoot their way into office, steal elections, or win democratically.
Opposition
Secondly, we have seen the Church give the pulpit to Caesar and UDA to bludgeon Azimio and its elected leaders into defection, or submission. Here, the Church is aiding and abetting the destruction of democracy through the creation of one-man rule devoid of opposition.
When the Church fuses itself to the State, it ceases to be a House of God, and becomes the politician’s brothel. It seeks to turn Kenya into a theocracy – like Iran – and not the secular state in the 2010 Constitution. I have even heard key UDA leaders say that they got an epiphany from God about state policy. A cult is already under way and the Church is cheering it on. It’s for ‘God and Country”.
Finally, I want to say that not all the Church has gone astray. Many in it have, but perhaps most haven’t. However, it’s those who’ve strayed who are the most consequential because they are vocal, determined, and callous.
One of those who stands tall above the muck is Archbishop Anthony Muheria of the Nyeri Archdiocese. I still believe that pastor Muheria, a moral giant, stands a chance of becoming the first modern Black Pope. Let he, and those who are walking the narrow and straight path, stand up and return the Church to its proper pastoral duties away from the sewer of politics. The Church needs a leader — now!
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at the State University of New York Buffalo Law School. @makaumutua.
However, it’s clear that established religions have tapped into this spiritual proclivity to incubate automated piety in Africans. By automated piety I mean a thoughtless embrace of established religions for multiple social uses, both malign and benign.
The Church in Kenya is now a conveyer belt of the former. The Church has allowed itself to be politically misused by cynics and hypocrites. It’s blurred the separation of Church and State and become an obsequious servant of Caesar.
No one can deny the social and political utility of religion, let alone its spiritual purchase. Humans are of feeble minds, and find comfort in the metaphysical explanations of that which is above their simple noggins. Even where it’s unnecessary, we will needlessly invoke the name of God.
Take, for example, a self-inflicted death because of drink-driving. You will hear simple folks say, “it’s God’s will”. Forgive some of us if we roll our eyes. But the politician has found this soft underbelly of the African psychology of fatalism. Most Africans attribute perfectly earthly problems to higher deities. The politician knows God is the path to an African’s heart. So he returns to that well over and over.
A fallen angel
What’s my point? There’s no doubt that the Church and the politician have now formed an unholy alliance in Kenya. For this, the Kenyan Church has become a fallen angel. It has left the path of righteousness and become a worshiper of the serpent, a corrupter of the souls of men and women. The Bible itself in Timothy 6:10 says that the “love of money is the root of all evil”.
It’s not money itself that’s the culprit, but the love of the moolah. No one can gainsay the fact that the Kenyan Church now leads the country in greed, perhaps equal to, or greater than, the politician. The Church begs for money without shame, or moral compunction.
In the last election cycle, the current UDA politicians made it a habit of splashing tens of millions of shillings on churches across the land. Often they gave it on weekdays, and twice on Sundays. But, as we know, there’s no free lunch. He who pays the piper calls the tune. That’s how the Kenyan Church turned itself over to partisan politics.
Let me tell you how. A john doesn’t pay a commercial sex worker to keep her clothes on. Similarly, a politician buys the clergy to “defrock” them. In other words, to turn the House of God into a den of thieves. To them, the Church becomes another political rally where the name of the Lord is uttered in vain.
A few examples will suffice. First, we have seen a certain high priest in Maa country stand up in the pulpit and ask those who have lodged election petitions against UDA lawmakers to withdraw them – in the name of the Lord and Peace! My jaw dropped to the floor.
In August, we saw the same high priest in Bomas clothe electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati with a religious shield. We have also seen other men and women of the cloth pray for Caesar and his factotums. Nothing wrong with that except when the pastor says that Caesar is anointed by God. Last time I checked, God doesn’t anoint leaders. Leaders shoot their way into office, steal elections, or win democratically.
Opposition
Secondly, we have seen the Church give the pulpit to Caesar and UDA to bludgeon Azimio and its elected leaders into defection, or submission. Here, the Church is aiding and abetting the destruction of democracy through the creation of one-man rule devoid of opposition.
When the Church fuses itself to the State, it ceases to be a House of God, and becomes the politician’s brothel. It seeks to turn Kenya into a theocracy – like Iran – and not the secular state in the 2010 Constitution. I have even heard key UDA leaders say that they got an epiphany from God about state policy. A cult is already under way and the Church is cheering it on. It’s for ‘God and Country”.
Finally, I want to say that not all the Church has gone astray. Many in it have, but perhaps most haven’t. However, it’s those who’ve strayed who are the most consequential because they are vocal, determined, and callous.
One of those who stands tall above the muck is Archbishop Anthony Muheria of the Nyeri Archdiocese. I still believe that pastor Muheria, a moral giant, stands a chance of becoming the first modern Black Pope. Let he, and those who are walking the narrow and straight path, stand up and return the Church to its proper pastoral duties away from the sewer of politics. The Church needs a leader — now!
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at the State University of New York Buffalo Law School. @makaumutua.
Source: Sunday Nation Tomorrow.
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