Kenya, a God-Fearing State?

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Recently, President Ruto expressed his desire to turn Kenya into a God-fearing state. Except what does this mean? What will this look like in practice? Who gets to decide whether, or when, Kenya has achieved this goal? And why ought this goal to be considered of national import in the middle of a cost of living crisis, food insecurity and drought? More importantly, why is the President going out of his way to blur the line between Church and State, before we have had a national discussion on what role religion ought to play in secular life? 

So, let's talk about this for a minute.

For expressing his desire to marry the Church and the State goes beyond Ruto's mandate as President. While, yes, one could argue that this falls under the President's mandate to inspire and enforce national unity, I would argue that there are better ways to do that than through religion. Simply because; (1) Kenya is a multifaith, secular nation and; (2) the variances between and within religious beliefs in a secular nation make any attempt to use religion as a unifier a nightmare. Especially when Ruto has made it very clear that he intends to unify Kenya through the Church, and not other equally legitimate faiths that colour our nation. Yes, Christianity is the dominant religion in Kenya, but that does not make us a "Christian nation." In fact, any argument made that this numerical dominance justifies preferential treatment and privileged State access completely ignores the fundamental differences between denominations that result in different manifestations of faith. It completely ignores the reality that we live in a world that actively tries to repudiate the "might makes right" logic; logic is actively rejected by Jesus Christ himself. God's ability to issue moral edicts and shape our moral worldview is not borne of his power but of his love. Especially in the New Testament, which is the guide to Christianity. 

So what, exactly, justifies Ruto's desire to "turn Kenya into a God-fearing state?" 

Especially when the Christian, or rather the version of Christianity Ruto surrounds himself with, is patently false. It is self-serving and inherently performative. Now, I bet you're asking; Aileen, what makes you think that Ruto's version of Christianity is self-serving and, as a result, illegitimate? Well, random audience member, I am glad you asked. First, while Ruto is not responsible for the Church's role as a political marketplace, he has certainly not denounced this reality. As a result, the church ceases to be a place of worship and communion with God, but primarily an outlet of statecraft to the detriment of the gospel and any attempt to evangelise. Instead, the church is leaning into this role; becoming a place where the gospel can be laundered for political or economic ends.

Take, for example, Ruto's desire to expand the nation's tax base. As Wairimu Gathimba explains for The Elephant:

During a service at Faith Evangelical Ministries in Karen, the president asked that people pray so that revenue collection may increase to 25 per cent of GDP.. It is also remarkable how similar Ruto’s calls for austerity to eliminate “the cancer of debt that is threatening to destabilise the economy” (that were made at an interdenominational service in Kirinyaga) are to the evangelical call for self-discipline. By making this statement in a church, Ruto manages to place the state’s debt within a spiritual frame, reducing it to a problem that can be solved simply through austerity and heavier taxation. But the existence of debt is central to [our current socioeconomic system].  

If anything then, Ruto should call this out and use the scriptures to denounce these structural injustices. While Christian teaching does highlight the need for self-discipline and financial responsibility, it also denounces unjust systems (Isaiah 10:1-2; Amos 5:10-15). In addition to condemning injustice and those who make unjust laws, God also prescribes what justice is. In Isaiah 1:17, God says “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

Has Ruto called out the systems of neocolonial exploitation that perpetuate and benefit from Kenya's status as a developing nation? Was Ruto's administration 'defending the oppressed' when they spent weeks building a moral panic after the LGBTQ+ community had their right to association affirmed? Is Ruto's Government seeking justice by protecting the people from predatory denominations across the board? Is Ruto's Government committed to wealth distribution or is it committed to merely upgrading and mitigating the inequitable status quo? Was Ruto defending the oppressed and pleading the case of the widow as he used this status quo to amass and protect his inexplicable wealth? 

Put simply, what exactly does Ruto's government stand for, and how does it relate to Christianity, generally, and religion, in general? Why should it be writ large on the nation? 

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