Terrorists and their Drive

It is one week after the Alshabaab claimed responsibility for killing innocent shoppers at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. Many analysts have tried to understand the mind of such individuals who would kill indiscriminately children, women, elderly, in total disregard for life and its sanctity. It appears that whenever such a thing happens we come together to mourn with those who have been left by their loved ones, cry with those who may have lost a limb, contribute in our small ways to help in settling medical bills or otherwise, then sooner than later go back to our daily lives until another terrible thing happens.

We can burn the last oil trying to understand why an individual would degenerate to such a level to kill or maim their fellow human beings just for a perverted religious idea.  While I stand to be corrected it is my submission that such individuals are not driven by any religious ideology or philosophy but just pure HATRED – HATRED PERIOD, whether self hate or just hatred for human life.

Among the many religions we identify with today, whether Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or many others, they all have sets of beliefs, narratives, traditions, symbols and or sacred histories that seek to give meaning to life, thus deriving authority on morality, ethics, lifestyles and their individual understanding of cosmos and the human nature.

If any religion were to propagate the ideologies proclaimed by these terrorists would like us to belief they present would be self defeatist, something that no religion would propagate and at the same time expect to recruit more members. After all this terrorist phenomenon of individuals blowing themselves have for centuries had its real name – suicide. While suicide is not a new thing, situations where someone for their own reasons wishes to die and goes ahead to kill other innocent people have no comparison and drive other than hate. For example, over the centuries Christianity has placed emphasis in belief by putting forth Creeds that define correct belief and identified heresies, while Judaism and Islam have sophisticated systems of law to guide behavior while at the same time allowing freedom of conviction and intellectual expressions, on the other hand, Hinduism and Buddhism place focus in practices of ritual and transformation. 

 For those who walked into the Westgate Mall ten days ago were of diverse backgrounds whether religious, political, social or otherwise to conduct businesses of varying degrees, this is how a civilized society ought to live. People with sick minds will always find a justification for their actions. While am not here to offer an apologetic for Islam I refuse to be convinced that these people were acting for Islam. But the fact that Islamic faith have been used time and again as a disguise for these terrorists acts calls for action from their leadership and a conversation among the Kenyan populace that goes beyond periodic rhetoric of this are foreigners trying to drive a wedge amongst us. These are people who recruit the young among us through perverted messages that go beyond any right thinking society that have respect for and value for human life.    

As a Christian there is no doubt in my mind that religious ideas are not simply misleading products of human mind. There is something real and true about my faith. It is hard for me to separate my individual live from the society I live in. some might argue that religion is the human activity which speaks about social reality while using words about gods. People might seem to believe in and speak about God but in essence talking about about their own society without necessarily realizing it. The belief in God cannot exist independently of humankind, but even for the atheist I can as well say, society existed before you were born and exists after you die, it has given you the ideas and language to think and speak with, it protects you and makes you feel worthy of life, as human beings we may project all these ideas onto a god-figure but the ideas themselves are true and necessary if society is to be held together as a moral community. Among many ideas include the belief that life is sacred and ought to be respected. Next time you feel like blowing yourself for sheer hatred of life please take a walk to the desert or just throw yourself in the ocean.

Obama’s African Trip and Gay Marriage ….

Once again the visit of the most powerful president of the most powerful nation on earth to Africa as expected has elicited both excitement and resentment in equal measure. If you are from Kenya this is read as a contempt card to the people of Kenya and the leadership of this beautiful country. Kenyans feel their son owes them a visit especially after key economic sectors like tourism have taken a beating since the post election violence in 2007/08. However, many have also been quick to dismiss the whole visit and its significance either to the countries visited or the general economic wellbeing of the African continent as a whole, the jury is still out there.

Perhaps, what most people are likely going to remember is this statement reported in some Kenyan Media and attributed to President Obama, “My basic view is that regardless of race, regardless of religion, regardless of gender, regardless of sexual orientation, when it comes to the law, people should be treated equally,” Mr Obama said in Senegal (http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Cardinal-Njue-criticises-Obama-gay-stance/-/1056/1897702/-/lxexc0/-/index.html). Mark the word regardless of sexual orientation. This may as well have been taken out of context and the emphasis may have been elsewhere. But these has been seen by many and rightly so as a veiled attempt to push and arm-twist the African countries to legalize gay marriages. The first and perhaps the most vocal voice from this, is the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya Cardinal John Njue and his advise to the good president “forget”.

For most Africans whether Christians or non-Christians the debate on gay issues raises very varied reactions with those in support being in the minority or even never heard. Obviously, I am not going to voice their concerns in this platform. However, for me this call by President Obama, raises a very fundamental question to us as Africans. We can all rise up in arms and claim how African we are and how immoral this is, but as in many other issues when it comes to the West and standing up against Western influences we are poor students of history, remember the Anti-terrorism bill and subsequently Anti-terrorism Act?  

Cardinal John Njue may have called it as it is, but we really need to rise and stand for our African culture and what is morally right whether religious or otherwise. There are many other moral issues that Africa has fallen short and leaves a lot to be desired but gay marriage and gay unions is just not one of those that we need to accept just because it is a norm in the West. Obama’s father may have hailed from Kenya and as he has stated his opinion may have evolved over time, but we cannot let our guards down just for the sake of promised financial aid.

As a Christian, however, I have to be moved by love and compassion for the sickness of the human soul and the more need for human redemption. I have to fervently pray for these individuals whether they be my brothers or sisters, friends or neighbours or even my children. But my human weakness does not reduce me to an emotional moving robot, which has to do what is politically correct at the expense of my own faith and culture. I believe in a real faith and in a real God and that is what I have to teach and preach, despite my shortcomings in articulating or in living the same.

Respect for my friends and neigbours despite their sexual orientations does not mean running away from what since the beginning of human race has been held to be the law of nature and of course the will of God, the source of All things. For me those who embrace and practice homosexuality are sinners, and like all of us sinners they need love and prayers but also their inhuman tendencies that goes against the human nature, public decorum and African morals need to be condemned in the strongest terms possible, irrespective of whether they are perpetuated by the most powerful president on earth or any other western forces. If in future we turn and throw our morals through the window like we have done in many other instances, it will be of our own volition and not from push from the societies that wi   

Subukia Valley

Lying beneath the depth of the Great Rift,

It’s a breadth taking view of the scenic creation of the universe,

Given to us by the Maker of the universe.

It’s a land of plenty,

Inhabited by the most humble people of the universe,

Like the inhabitants,

The beauty sprawls from the hills of Mihango to the slopes of Glory land, From the gorges of Ejuhudi to the Savannahs of Kagoci,

From the rainy hills of Tetu to the grasslands of Simboyoni.

Every year the land gives of its best harvest,

To feed the hundreds of the valley’s inhabitants.

For decades the land has given birth to many great sons and daughters,

Many more continue to be born.

The generosity of its sons and daughters has no limit,

They strive to bring up a wise generation,

This generation has drank from the springs scattered in the valley,

Spreading from Chania to Molo,

From Tetu to Lolemeta,

From Mwireri to Our Lady,

From Subukia to Wei.

The offspring’s of the valley continues to be the father’s pride,

The mother’s strength,

Married or single,

Living in mud walled huts or brick houses,

Grass thatched or iron roofed,

Small families or large families,

Those who sell in the market,

Or the many shops and kiosks dotting the valley.

This is a valley like no other,

Pregnant with promise and potential.

Who will midwife this promise?

Who will midwife this potential to avoid stillbirth?

Those before us have done their best,

They have given rise to the current generation,

Full of energy and vigor to change the world.

For the few who have been a disgrace to the valley,

Have given us the worst reputation,

Feeding on other human beings is not our part time hobby,

Consuming liquor in the middle of the day,

Wasting away our lungs and health is not our passion,

Engaging in illegal sex has never been part of our school syllabus,

This has contributed to the statistical Aids death,

Desolate families without a provider.

Let us groom our dreams,

Let us protect our future.

For the Valley is all left for us to enjoy.  

O Holy Spirit Come.....

Perhaps like me, you are sick and tired of what you watch on your television set every day, listen on radio or read on your favorite newspaper. What traditionally used to be called news is no longer news but one long story that seems like a scene from a horror movie only with anecdotes from the commercials. The stories we watch, listen and read make you sick to the stomach and leave you wondering what has become of the human society? When you hear of men raping young infants still in the diapers, men mounting on cows for sexual satisfaction, nurses in the hospitals raping their patients, men sleeping with men and endless top morning shows narrating stories of unfaithfulness between spouses, clans killing each other, husband/ wife hacking his/her spouse, teenagers engaging in sex across the street, people being mugged as you watch and companies reaping you off of your last drain of blood like thirsty vampires; don’t even think of the political class that have perpetuated corruption to feed their big bellies, you are left to wonder what kind of a generation we are bringing up.

As sad as the society may seem to have degenerated to almost total decay, you ask yourself where did we throw our morals? What happened to the long held Christian norms and customary doctrines that not only called us to action when we saw something wrong happening but also required of us to abstain from immoral activities. From a distance you only seem to be left with one option, to give up and join in the same, or sit back and hope that a Moses or Joshua will emerge from nowhere to lead the people again to the Promised Land. We can never underestimate the power of God to turn the world around, but for the less believing even God seems to have taken a long vacation and left the world to its own perils.

However, in the midst of these chaotic, unfortunate and despicable lives, you can easily miss the small glowing light in the vicinity and easily turn to despair and ultimately joining in the same decaying world. Christianity still remains the largest single religious group, yet all these evils prevail among the Christians and non-Christian societies in equal measure despite their strong teachings. The answer lies in not trying to change the world by yourself, but rather by transforming yourself as St. Paul puts it, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed to this world by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).