The death of Satan: How Kenyans have lost a sense of evil (and why they must get it b4 2007)

Let me first declare my interests in this matter, about which I had promised to write a few days ago: I'm a born-again Christian in the Reformed tradition, a son to an evangelical clergyman, a trained journalist with some experience in the local and international media, passionate about my faith as well as issues (politics included) that inform life on this planet. I also have a fairly good grasp of the Kenyan, African and global Christian landscape; gained through reading, travel and practical engagement in life with other believers. This piece has been distilled from my own thoughts on this matter as well as ideas I have gleaned from some Christian friends with whom I have been reflecting on this subject. I write this, therefore, with as much of a detached observer's skepticism as much as I'm doing so with an insider's determined anguish to redeem what I believe is a situation perfectly within our sights. At the time of this writing, I had it on good authority that a large number of Christian candidates will be contesting for parliamentary seats in next year's General Elections. Some of the prospective candidates are already in parliament, others will be doing so for the very first time; a good number of the latter are folks I either attended university with or have interacted with in Christian circles or in the media industry. In the new crop of candidates are folks I could vote for anytime anywhere, but in the same camp are folks I would rather we had others - like the Artur brothers :-) - running in their stead, democracy or no democracy. Alongside this development is the established thought in some circles, proved wrong in some constituencies and even on the presidential ballot in 2002, that there are annointed MPs for whom Kenyans should uncritically vote in 2007. The foregoing is the kind of thinking informing some of the rather weird consensus in some Christian circles that seeks to be the driving force behind some of the Christian parliamentary and presidential hopefuls. I have no problems with Christians, Muslims, Hindus or whoever else fielding candidates in the General Elections - it is within their legal rights to do so; what I'm opposed to is the possible emergence in the next Parliament of some legislators - falling in my category of persons I would rather die than vote for - who will be our bane. Those legislators-to-be have nothing, apart from their professed faith, to offer this country; they are in good company with several past and present Christian legislators and presidents whose work ethic could be called anything but productive. Those legislators-to-be have not engaged the real issues of the day in the way of a dedicated life of service and reflection; you'll find nothing to back up their talk either in any known political philosophy or paper trail documenting their contribution to the leadership of organizations or groups they have been part of.

Those legislators-to-be talk so glibly about social transformation but have never allowed their faith to - in the thoughts of Christ in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12)- affect their world as they know it in any discernible way; their faith has been kept private and safe, never really pushing them out of their comfort zones much enough to disturb the status quo that puts the weak and vulnerable in our society at the mercy of the high and mighty.

Those legislators-to-be suffer from a terrible but conveniently nourished cognitive dissonance that allows them to live not as they believe, while at the same time hitting the campaign trail with the message of how much their salvation will help them transform our country. Those legislators-to-be have for their heroes the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Arap Moi and President Mwai Kibaki and their large army of "Christian" political disciples - both in government and the opposition -; men and women whose record in private life and the conduct of public affairs is nothing to write home about. Those legislators-to-be will, gladly, use the state to promote Christianity while utilizing the same machinery to oppress those who will, in their estimation, be having nothing to contribute to "national cohesion, stability and development." As some Zambian pastors reportedly did when Christian President Frederick Chiluba came in, those legislators are likely to - for a social vision - ask for more land for the construction of churches, more freedom for "crusades" and, who knows, a declaration that Kenya is officially a Christian nation; all that while as Kenya goes down the gutter under whoever else they will have helped us annoint. As someone has so well noted: "The most powerful man in the world today (President George Bush) claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. Are his domestic and foreign policies any Christian? Where did we get the idea that if we had more Christians in positions of power and influence our nation would be more just and compassionate? We have 2,000 years of history to deny that." And do take this from him too: "If you have people who only think that the Gospel is about being born-again and going to Heaven when we die, pray that these people won't have positions of power in our country. Let's pray that we'll have Christians in those positions who we'll have taken time to develop a Christian, political philosophy and vision of the world. And for that you need much more than the Bible...or quoting Romans 13 and I Peter 2 as if that settles the issue. There's more than 2,000 years of profound Christian reflection on politics, beginning with that great North African called St. Augustine....rich 2,000 years of Christian political reflection, and often not done by evangelicals (and - I add - sometimes Christians in general)." These nicely dressed-up, dangerous wannabes, presenting themselves as angels of light, need not be handled with kids' gloves as has been the case in past elections. The Kenyan voter needs to refresh his or her sense of evil and vote out those who will be calling "Christ, Christ" in the campaigns and private strategy meetings yet have no real, known love for someone before whom all known and unknown history will someday culminate. He's someone whom if, as they claim, they truely believe in, would have informed their understanding of how best to make their lives a daily responsible answer to the question of God's call on their lives in our generation. *I'll see if I or anyone else can do a sequel to this. If you are interested in doing so, just holla at me via the e-mail address on my homepage. I'm terribly time-limited for now to do anything serious. By the way, a Swahili translation of this piece is available at my Swahili blog.