Corona-virus: Faithful or faith fooled?

 

By Priscilla Njambi

NAIROBI – In a first-ever, the Kenyan church found itself at crossroads – torn between honoring the government directive to reduce the number of in-person gathering and feeding their sheep.

Religion in the age of COVID -19 popularly known as CORONA has been one of the biggest debates on social and mainstream media platforms. On Sunday, 20 March 2020, many Kenyans found themselves toying with the ” to go or not to go” question.

The disease has so far claimed one Kenyan life, with 31 more patients undergoing treatment.

Kenyan churches have received harsh criticism and praise for the decision to host mass despite government warnings that there should be no in-person gatherings in a bid to fight the COVID -19 also known as the coronavirus.

And it is the controversy that has led to a sharp division among Kenyans as spiritual leaders tried to justify their move to continue hosting their masses.

“coronavirus is not a death sentence but we all need to stay safe. You cannot lock the church, but we will watch the number of people who attend the services by reducing the chairs in church, and arrange them in a distance of one meter away from each other,” said Bishop Mark Kamau in an interview with The Insider Newspaper.

Jubilee Christian Church Bishop Allan Kiuna was one of the religious leaders who opted for an in-person gathering. He justified his move, pointing out that “Coronavirus is a serious pandemic that needs to be approached with seriousness but not with fear,” he said.

The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a statement, issued a directive that they would not shut down any of their masses, noting that it had come up with measures to prevent the virus. It defended its decision insisting that the church is a “focal point of prayer where you will find solace and strength from God.”

Jamia Mosque, the biggest East African Mosque was forced to stream live their Friday prayers after they took a sabbatical leave as a precaution against the virus.

And many more followers joined the sermons online. Among them were faithful from Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru, who joined the preaching as it was streamed live through Nakuru TV. Before opting for this route, the church had hurriedly set up six extra handwashing bays, with a tag that reads “Jesus loves you. And please wash your hands. Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as you do it. Or Fiery Love. But just do it for 20 seconds.”

For the first time in history, many faithful are seeing a disruption of their religious observance. “This will be the first time in the history of the nation that there has been a major tension of this magnitude. The only experience that came close to such was during the Colonial period when there was a state of Emergency”, recalls 70-year-old Margaret Nyawira. At the time she was adamant that she could not abstain from her Sunday religious routine.

Kenya is now slowing to a halt contrary to one month ago when life was normal and buzzing from fearless citizens and an overconfidence government.

Defying worshippers and clergy who insist on physical church attendance are a cause for alarm. This would make the church the weakest link in combating and controlling the spread of Coronavirus, as the numbers shot up from nine cases on Saturday 19 March 2020 to 27 on Monday 21 March 2020. Kenyans pointed fingers to the faithful who ignored the call to abstain from physical interactions. Eventually, the government instituted a total ban of public gatherings, entertainment joints, sports events, night clubs, religious crusades, and political rallies

In his address to the nation’s speech on 25 March 2020, the president of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta expressed his frustration against some churches and politicians who failed to cooperate with the government directive to avoid crowding. He lamented how public indiscipline is reversing and derailing the war against COVID 19. If this persists, his government will not hesitate to take drastic measures to safeguard the lives of people

In a separate case, In Siaya, a priest who traveled from Europe to his home town of Ambira in Ugunja to condole with relatives. Siaya County Commissioner Michael Ole Tialal confirmed that the priest had tested positive and was at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya’s biggest referral center.

In extreme cases, police were forced to disburse worshippers as the Mass was in progress. In Kirinyaga, police officers stormed Deliverance church Ndia, after worshippers disobeyed area chief David Githinji and two of his assistants who had asked them to vacate the premises, following orders by President Uhuru Kenyatta for Kenyans to avoid gatherings. The same scenario as repeated at the Jesus Celebration Centre (JCC) in Mombasa, a move that leads to serious clashes between the church and the faithful, who argued that “God is more powerful than corona”.

In neighboring Uganda, more than five priests and pastors were arrested and detained in various stations following President Yoweri Museveni’s directive that there should be no in-person gathering following the confirmed cases of CORONA. Currently, there are 14 cases of CORONA in the country, with the last case being an eight-month-old baby.

However, in Tanzania, President Pombe Maghufuli was lenient on religious fraternity asking people to gather in their numbers without any restrictions. Maghufuli advised that divine intervention was required to stop this evil wave. He, however, came under great criticism for becoming a setback in fighting the pandemic.

At least 50 priests have died from the CORONA virus in Italy alone. This included Father Friar Don Giuseppe Berardelli, 72, a priest who died after he donated his respirator off to a younger patient who needed it.

In South Korea, the founder of the Shincheonji Church Lee Man-hee, and 11 others are under investigation for some over some of the country’s coronavirus deaths.

They are accused of hiding the names of some members as officials tried to track patients before the virus spread.

According to Worldometer Corona Virus has so far claimed  24, 095 lives  with 46 African countries have reported cases of the disease.