Religious leaders are wrong-- atheists are not the problem.

Religious leaders are at it again! Just when you thought they couldn’t be dumber, well…... They are now up in arms against the Society of Atheists in Kenya after the High court registered them the other day. Kenya has a myriad of problems and a belief (or lack of it) in a god is the least of them all.

Seriously. We have people who profess religion while at the same time looting public funds and property, rigging elections, killing en masse, displacing people just to name but a few. So, why would these religious leaders turn a blind eye to such grand ills and then charge in, gloves off against peaceful, non-god-believing patriots? Are atheists really that dangerous? Wow!

This is not the first time these religious leaders are after fiddle-faddle issues at the expense of what matters. According to multiple reports, religious leaders ― especially church leaders― were involved in fueling the mayhem that rocked this country in 2007/2008. They have done very little to repair that image close to ten years later. Moreover, all they seem to care about is protecting the high and mighty through their highly publicized prayer rallies. Who prays for victims? Do victims even have a God― at all? And is this God represented here on earth?

And that’s not all. In 2010, religious leaders staged a massive anti-New Constitution campaign using every iota of their congregants’ weekly contributions. They abandoned their spiritual pulpits and took to political pulpits and encouraged Kenyans to vote against one of the most progressive documents in modern Africa because it “allows women to have abortions”. Please! (And what is it about women’s bodies that always gets these boys’ club so worked up, anyway?) Moving on, they used the tithes and offerings from their unsuspecting congregants ― whom they have always fleeced mercilessly ― to traverse all corners of this nation in their choppers and fuel guzzlers. Aim? To ensure that the document flopped. But alas! It seemed that the God of Kenya is far bigger than the one they represent ― the one who only cares for their self-serving bullshit. Where did the doctrine of ethics, kindness, compassion and going-to-heaven go to? For these religious leaders who preside over every possible imaginable Pandora’s Box in Kenya after their bed-buddy politicians (from female genital mutilation to wife and children battering to manipulating scripture) tell me again, which God do they represent?

The church has been conspicuously silent whenever one of their own has been found engaging in dubious activities. Not only have they never probed the Kanyaris of this world, but it is on record that the leaders have been mum when not downright defending pastors and priests found engaging in criminal activities. And it’s not just the church. Several reports show that some mosques are recruiting grounds for terrorists. With these kind of religious leaders, who needs the al-Shabaab?

We want sanctity of all Kenyans. We want human dignity upheld. We want basic human rights. It is the core of those religious books. Corruption stifles that. Religious leaders, let your gloves come off for corruption first. Address human rights violations by powers that be first. In action and in words. It’s the least you can do after messing things so much. Atheists and gays are not the problem. Corruption is. Abuse of power is. You, religious leaders are perpetrators and beneficiaries of these ills. You are an enemy of this state. Stop looking for problems elsewhere. Look inside yourselves and fix it.

Catherine Amayi is a Scientist and a Novelist.

I invite you to write to me at ccamayi@yahoo.com ; Follow me on Twitter @Catherine_amayi