It was surprising to read last week that the Registrar of Societies set new requirements for preachers. In 2014, the then Attorney General Githu Muigai suspended the registration of churches. Although this was later lifted, no churches have been registered since.
Among the new preacher requirements are a certificate of tax compliance from the Kenya Revenue Authority, a certificate of good conduct from the police and a degree in Theology from a recognised university. These requirements will likely attract opposition from many quarters, not least of which are evangelicals, atheists and lovers of freedom.
From the outset, the requirements are sneaky, anachronistic, obnoxious and amount to a violation of freedom of conscience guaranteed in the Constitution of Kenya and international law. The new requirements strike at the heart of liberty of conscience and the separation of church and state, a cardinal constitutional principle.
It is also the outcome of the Protestant Reformation, being the natural consequence of opposition to the Roman Catholic Church from the “Dark Ages” when there was no distinction between the clergy and the state. The 1611 King James Bible is a response to “popish persons” of church-state “fornication”. To date, in Christendom, only the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches retain this incongruity.
The illegitimate blending of church and state was the main trigger of the blood-splattered French Revolution. A major milestone in the revolution was the storming of the Bastille, marked on July 14, when in 1789 French revolutionaries stormed a fortress and released prisoners.
The church-state had attempted to impose morality and dogma, but also debilitating taxes to support the burgeoning population of priests, bishops and cardinals. The making of the “universal church” by pontifex maximus Constantine (chief priest of the Romans) in 321 AD created an ogre that was soon out of control and bound to reach breaking point. One of the hallmarks of the French revolution was not only its subsequent anarchy but also the abolition of the monarchy and Christianity with it.
Needless to say, the French Revolution was soon eating its own children, with about 17,000 dead, among whom were the king and queen who were guillotined. The church was nationalised and replaced with the “goddess of reason”. Unsurprisingly, in 1796, troops under Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Rome and took Pope Pius VI prisoner to France where he died three years later.
That bloody period gives historical context to the call for the separation of church and state. Protestant reformers like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon fought against church abuses and corruption. Hence the principle of separation of church and state in the constitutions of various countries.
Kenya’s Constitution captures it early and unequivocally: “There shall be no state religion” (Article 8). The first amendment to the US Constitution states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Simply put, the state has no business in matters of conscience.
Strangely, among the casualties of the moratorium on church registration was the Atheists Society of Kenya. Prof Muigai suspended its registration ostensibly after receiving “representations made to the State Law office by various religious and other organisations”.
This came shortly after the hullaballoo surrounding the TV expose of Victor Kanyari, a preacher who was asking congregants to “plant a seed” of Sh310 for miracles. Among those who opposed the registration of the Atheists Society was the Kenya National Congress of Pentecostal Churches. Although Pentecostals are in competition with atheists for the hearts of men, the AG somehow entertained their representations against the atheists.
Given this context, one wonders what triggered the Registrar’s publication of the new requirements for ministers of the gospel. It has been eight years now, but if the state wants to lift the moratorium on the registration of churches, which she must, imposing new preacher requirements is a strange way of doing it. A degree in Theology can only mean standardising religion, morality and piety – an impossibility.
Advocates of religious liberty like John Locke show that morality cannot be imposed by law either, since it is a heart response to a loving God (or whatever the atheist may conceive deity to be or not to be). Alonzo T Jones, for example, says God Himself imposes no religion, and Jesus rejected the schools of the Pharisees and Scribes.
Only one Bible writer (Paul of Tarsus) was trained in theology. To our shame, perhaps, Paul refers to these earthly impositions and qualifications as “dung”. His treasured qualifications were divinely obtained without earthly sanction. Nyariki should withdraw the new preacher requirements.
Okoth teaches Communication at the Technical University of Kenya. [email protected]
