Kenyans should shun religious mediocrity and complacency
The Church has been taken hostage by characters who have normalised the sin of selfishness and greed over time
It was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.
These words in the opening paragraph of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities accurately capture our religious reality in Kenya today. It has become a norm that we are rudely served each morning with novel escapades of part of the clergy hawking fake miracles, the gospel industry stinking to high heavens, and narcissistic politicians spewing vitriol at the altar with a legion of gullible congregants cheering them on. Dear Kenyans, I cannot over-emphasise that we are choking under religious mediocrity and complacency.
It is disturbing when a misguided cabal of the clergy, with a warped sense of entitlement, oblivious of the present economic hard times, refuse to work and use various ruses, deliberately placing themselves in conditions to force poor Christians to be charitable, build them houses, and buy them luxury cars. But don’t get me wrong, though. I know there are the few ones slaying Goliaths of poverty and binding dragons of diseases from our midst.
Brethren, this speaks to the depth of spiritual dissonance and bankruptcy our Church has sunk in these modern times. The Church has been taken hostage by characters who have normalised the sin of selfishness and greed over time. In conjunction with the duplicitous politician, the wayward clergy have succeeded in erecting pillars of cognitive dissonance among the populace. This cognitive dissonance is a strong pillar of today’s belief system, so much so that it is not news in Kenya for a man of the cloth to wake up one morning and pronounce himself the Jesus of Kenya!
On the other hand, we, the faithful, cheer on this behaviour because we have invested too much in our warped beliefs, emotionally and intellectually. The threat of losing those beliefs feels like the whole world is collapsing upon us. The fear of questioning these actions and speaking truth to power becomes the stinking albatross on our necks.
Lest we forget, complacency in church twists reality. Soon we may find ourselves queuing behind Samuel Becket’s Didi and Gogo, waiting for Godot, overrun by legions of misfortunes.
But as the Egerton University scholar Damaris Parsitau has told us, Kenya needs not a clergy in bed with politicians but one that can boldly speak up against the state and safeguard the pulpit from all manner of uncleanliness. But before that, virtuous and honest people should shun religious mediocrity and hold fast to the true teachings of the Holy Writ and our rich cultures, even when surrounded by all the din and confusion.
They should not be dulled by the deafening lethal ignorance flying around. This is because, as the Gospel of Mathew, in its thirteenth chapter, warns us: “Let both [the wheat and tares] grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: First, collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Dr Mutie is a church elder and a literary theorist based at Kenyatta University, [email protected]
