The quest for religious freedom in Kenya (1887-1963)
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Authors
Gathogo, Julius
Issue Date
2008
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
Religious freedom
Alternative Title
Abstract
The freedom to choose one’s religion is one of the basic
freedoms that every person needs to enjoy. It is also one
of the fundamental rights that the United Nations General
Assembly proclaimed on 10 December 1948. In Africa,
since religion and culture are hard to separate, a denial of
religious freedom is tantamount to denying all other rights
that the UN declared. This includes: the right to life; the
right to liberty and security; the right to education; equality
before the law; freedom of movement and religion;
freedom of association; and freedom to marry and have a
family, among others (Gitari 1996:18). The article attempts
to survey the nature of missionary and colonial
suppression of African religious discourses of the Kikuyu
of Kenya during the colonial period (1887-1963). In other
words, how were the Kikuyu religious discourses
undermined by the missionary activity that ran
concurrently with the expansion of European hegemony in
Kikuyuland, and how did it supplement the colonial policy?
How did the Africans attempt to reclaim their religious
freedom? To achieve its stated goal, the article not only
cites some cases where suppressions of Kikuyu
traditionalism and religion by both the missionaries and the
British administrators are evident, but it also attempts to
show the African reaction to this course of events. On a
positive note, it also cites some cases of the philanthropic
ministry of the European missionaries, especially how they
1 Dr. Julius Gathogo is a postoctoral research fellow at the School of Religion and Theology,
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. His email is jumgathogo@yahoo.com
or jgathogom@yahoo.com He is a visiting lecturer at Daystar University’s Nairobi Campus, Kenyatta
University’s Mombasa Campus and Kenya Methodist University’s Mombasa Campus. He can be
contacted via post office through: Bishop Hannington Institute, P O BOX 81150- 80100 Mombasa,
Kenya.
2
responded to a series of natural disasters that had hit the
Kikuyu Nation. By and large, the article rests on the
premise that, even though no culture is perfect, Gospel
supersedes culture. Genuine propagation of Christianity
will not need to discard the culture of the people being
evangelised because not only is this suppressive but,
more importantly, it poses the danger of Christianity
appearing as “a religion that operates in a vacuum”.
Description
Peer reviewed
Citation
Gathoga, J. 2007,'The quest for religious freedom in Kenya (1887-1963)',
Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, vol. XXXIV, no. 1, pp. 67-92.
Publisher
Church History Society of Southern Africa
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
1017-0499