RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY KENYA

European Scientific Journal, Aug 2012

The term church refers to a group of people governed by similar rules and beliefs, who congregate in recognition of a higher Being. In most cases the term church and religion are used synonymously. While religions is domesticated by morals that are illuminated by faith, most states are guided by politics whose orientation is generally practical empirical. In most cases the church. Politics on the other hand is given different definitions by different people. On one popular understanding, politics is concerned with the allocation of values in any social system. In Kenya as it is the case with most African countries, ethnicity has been and still remains the strongest force that binds a group together because other bases of alignment such as: religion, class, nationalism etc, are recent phenomena and in most cases alien. As it has been observed critically by the author, politics in Kenya are ethno-centric. The most vivid examples are given of the Rwandan genocide where in spite of the fact that an overwhelming percentage of the population is catholic, ethnic consciousness has resisted Christian assimilation.1 In Kenya, after the general elections of December 2007, Kenyans stooped down to ethnic/ tribal affiliations. Even the church leaders just as the Rwanda‟s case identified, campaigned and supported camps of their ethnic groups. People always imagine that ethnic-based thinking is the solution to every issue of concern. In most cases the term ethnicity is taken to be synonymous with tribalism. Considerably ambivalence governs any application of the concept of ethnicity, a term which in most cases is understood negatively. This concept may refer to; a group of consciousness of common cultural labels and the subsequent manipulation of this consciousness to construct a culturally – informed vantage point from which to report on and respond to contemporary situations of impoverished and powerlessness.2 As a term, it can also be understood as a philosophy of its kind, such that if one does not understand the principles behind it, one will not understand the behaviour, politics and even the level of religiosity of Kenyans. This paper therefore intends to evaluate the relationship between church and politics in Kenya. This paper falls under cross cutting themes like religion, ethnicity and politics. But in this case it falls under governance, institutions and state building, especially in Africa. The questions that this paper tries to address include: How do the church and state in Kenya relate? Why are the church leaders in Kenya ethnic centered? Why are the politicians and other government leaders in Kenya ethnic centered? What is the philosophy behind Kenya‟s church and government leaders? The authors will employ philosophical methodology. This method involves analyzing issues and rationalizing. The data that will be used includes mainly secondary data. This includes information that is obtained from libraries like books with relevant information, periodicals like journals and newspapers and even the internet sources. This paper also tackles an important issue in most African states. The paper will assist people understand the nature of politic as well as unearthing the level of religiosity of the people of Kenya.

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RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY KENYA

RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY KENYA Sussy Gumo 1 Abwire Akuloba Simon Gisege Omare 1 0 Ogot A. Bethwell ed. (1995), Ethnicity Nationalism and Democracy. In Ethnicity and Otherness in Kenyan Cultures, Institute of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Maseno University: Kenya 1 School Of Arts And Social Sciences, Department Of Philosophy And Religious Studies, Moi University , Eldoret The term church refers to a group of people governed by similar rules and beliefs, who congregate in recognition of a higher Being. In most cases the term church and religion are used synonymously. While religions is domesticated by morals that are illuminated by faith, most states are guided by politics whose orientation is generally practical empirical. In most cases the church. Politics on the other hand is given different definitions by different people. On one popular understanding, politics is concerned with the allocation of values in any social system. In Kenya as it is the case with most African countries, ethnicity has been and still remains the strongest force that binds a group together because other bases of alignment such as: religion, class, nationalism etc, are recent phenomena and in most cases alien. As it has been observed critically by the author, politics in Kenya are ethno-centric. The most vivid examples are given of the Rwandan genocide where in spite of the fact that an overwhelming percentage of the population is catholic, ethnic consciousness has resisted Christian assimilation.1 In Kenya, after the general elections of December 2007, Kenyans stooped down to ethnic/ tribal affiliations. Even the church leaders just as the Rwandas case identified, campaigned and supported camps of their ethnic groups. People always imagine that ethnic-based thinking is the solution to every issue of concern. In most cases the term ethnicity is taken to be synonymous with tribalism. Considerably ambivalence governs any application of the concept of ethnicity, a term which in most cases is understood negatively. This concept may refer to; a group of consciousness of common cultural labels and the subsequent manipulation of this consciousness to construct a culturally - informed vantage point - from which to report on and respond to contemporary situations of impoverished and powerlessness.2 As a term, it can also be understood as a philosophy of its kind, such that if one does not understand the principles behind it, one will not understand the behaviour, politics and even the level of This paper therefore intends to evaluate the relationship between church and politics in Kenya. This paper falls under cross cutting themes like religion, ethnicity and politics. But in this case it falls under governance, institutions and state building, especially in Africa. The questions that this paper tries to address include: How do the church and state in Kenya relate? Why are the church leaders in Kenya ethnic centered? Why are the politicians and other government leaders in Kenya ethnic What is the philosophy behind Kenyas church and government leaders? The authors will employ philosophical methodology. This method involves analyzing issues and rationalizing. The data that will be used includes mainly secondary data. This includes information that is obtained from libraries like books with relevant information, periodicals like journals and newspapers and even the internet sources. This paper also tackles an important issue in most African states. The paper will assist people understand the nature of politic as well as unearthing the level of religiosity of the people of To some people the possibility of the relationship between the church/religion and the state is unheard of. The terms, politics and state have been construed as mutually exclusive. This basically means that anything political cannot be religious and conversely anything religious cannot be political. It is not easy to elucidate how religion and state in any given society relate or should relate. Perhaps, to try and explain this problem, it is sufficient to ask this question; is a religious state a contradiction? It may seem strange to ask this question at Canterbury, the home of the primate about a 2 Allen, T. (1984) Ethnicity and Tribalism on the Sudan-Uganda Border. In Kitsuya, F. and Markakis J. eds. , Ethnicity and Conflict in the Horn of Africa, London: James Curry, p.4. Christian state. Besides being a multicultural society, England, is in fact a Christian country in which a monarch is bound to defend the Christian faith established as the religion of By the fact that Christianity is guaranteed to be the only religion of England does not mean, therefore, that the church is financed, protected and above all controlled by the state. Every state infant wishes to control the church or churches within their jurisdiction. And conversely, churches wish their states or governments paid their clergy, build and maintained worshipping places, as i (...truncated)


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Sussy Gumo, Abwire Akuloba, Simon Gisege Omare. RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY KENYA, European Scientific Journal, 2012, 18,