Shakahola horrors and why the devil might triumph yet again

When the late President Daniel Moi received a commission of inquiry report on devil worship from Archbishop Nicodemus Kirima at State House Nairobi July 1995. [File, Standard]

I was honoured to table my case against the devil during public hearings of the Devil Worship Commission set up by President Daniel arap Moi in April 1995, whose report, sadly, was never made public.

I stated then, as I will state now, that we cannot speak against the devil, until we speak against the Church - which is the weakest link, if events at Shakahola are anything to go by, in the fight against the devil and his works.

This is what I told the Devil Worship Commission 28 years ago; the truth of which, sadly, is unfolding today.

I must categorically, and at the outset, state that, as a Christian, I derive no pleasure in dissecting my church. It is my belief that the Kenyan society in general, and its leaders in particular, has been concerned about lack of order in the field of worship in the country.

That there is disorder in the religious front, not in Kenya alone but in the whole world, is a fact that calls for no debate.

The disease that we must confront is 'Religious Chaos'. In all this it might be seen that it is dangerous to rely on religion alone to shape the conduct of society.

The three monotheistic religions of the world (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have, in varying degrees, failed to supply the modern man with proper guidance.

The fault is more natural than congenital. Religion was not bad at birth-it has been badly brought up. Religions are by their nature conservative. They have orders, whose obedience are ruthlessly enforced, as well as conformity which must be adhered to without any question.

We do know that there has not always been a peaceful co-existence between religion and the secular society throughout the known history.

My fear is that the leaders (members) of religious bodies in this Commission might be unable to self-critisise themselves (to be objective) and instead, like Narcissus, be overcome by their respective beauty (piety) to be unable to see the faults wherever they might be.

For many centuries thereafter the church was associated with all manner of persecution and intolerance in the name of purity. Some of the atrocities associated with the early Christians are difficult to associate with the Christ that they preached.

Left on its own/religion can go to the worst extremes. Followers of Christ seem to have disobeyed every other commandment that Christ gave. The most glaring breach is the multiplicity of Christian religious faiths in the world. We would not have been concerned with the number of these sects if the reasons for their existence sprang from the wish to preach the gospel to all and not on other personal, selfish reasons.

That we can start a spiritual revolution afresh in Kenya can be defended by the fact that Christianity as received and practiced by us is full of paganism. The most glaring, what St Paul calls the propensity of the human heart to serve the "creatures rather than the Creator," the human beings' love for religious brokers rather than dealing directly with God.

William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar where Cassius is telling his friend Brutus: "Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings". That we have disorder in the (Christian) religious front is our own, Christian, fault.

Unless the people themselves are orderly, it will be difficult to have an orderly church. As things stand now, the world looks like a large lunatic asylum. In both public and private life, we have so many gods that we do not seem to have names for all of them; or we have been so bewitched as to become foolish. Because nature abhors a vacuum and we have had a spiritual vacuum in the society that has had to be filled up by whoever, and with whatever, is available.

Confusing signals have been emerging from the Church in Kenya. In the circumstances, whatever discomfort we might be experiencing, our so called 'mainstream' churches are wholly to blame. The main goal of "people of God" today is to own private religious kingdoms, which explains why every enterprising Kenyan is starting a church on every street corner where, over the resulting cacophony, believers are asked to step forward to be prayed for in return for cash.

Kenyans are deeply religious. This state of affairs has made the country a fertile ground for religious sects. When it comes to matters of faith it is easy for some people to be easily duped into believing anything, especially when they are operating at different intellectual, spiritual or material levels.

We need some order. We have experienced spiritual chaos as we have experienced political ones. It is therefore in order for us to form one Kenyan religious community. If we do not do this now, we should not be surprised when we encounter all manner of religious expressions in all corners of our country.