Kenya

Kenya is one of the most important countries in East Africa. Religious belief and active engagement play important roles in Kenya's cultural, political, and economic arenas. Most Kenyans claim adherence to either Christianity or Islam, with the remaining population professing adherence to indigenous or traditional beliefs. Forty-five percent of Kenyans are Protestant Christian, 33% are Roman Catholic, 10% roughly identify with Islam, 10% profess adherence to indigenous beliefs, and the final 2% claim belief in some other form of religious identity or activity (a large majority of Kenyans are Christian, but estimates for the percentage of the population that adheres to Islam or indigenous beliefs vary widely depending on the study measuring religious identity in the country). Furthermore, Kenyans are very committed to their religious identities through active religiosity. Kenyans are regular attendees at religious services. Most Kenyans attend church or mosque service at least once a week or more (82%). Economic and political variations exist across religious identities, especially between Muslims and Christians, in Kenya. The Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims acknowledges the economically as well as socially and politically disadvantaged position in which most Kenyan Muslims find themselves. Yet these differences have yet to play out in destabilizing or in public interactions.

These high levels of religiosity have translated into positive political engagement in Kenya. Civil society organizations, of which faith-based organizations are key front-runners, maintained opposition to autocratic practices in Kenya during colonial and postcolonial times. Civic organizations such as the Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims, the National Council of Churches in Kenya, and the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission worked alongside opposition political parties to fight against the autocracy of the 1970s and 1980s in Kenya. After the reintroduction of multiparty elections in 1992, however, they stepped up the fight for democratic transition with a vengeance. Post–Cold War economic struggles, political liberalization, and the faltering capacity of the Kenyan state to provide social welfare goods to its citizens all created space for these nonstate actors to intervene in previously state-monopolized activities. Religious organizations led the fight for further democratic changes and the effective challenge to the stronghold of President Daniel Arap Moi and the Kenya African National Union party. These organizations offered inroads to political activism that was missing under the repressive, personalistic dictatorships that dominated the first 30 years of Kenya's independence. Religious groups across specific creeds have led the way in civic education and election monitoring, vocally opposing human rights abuses, such as those against women and ethnic minorities, and political corruption and functioning as training grounds for Kenyan public engagement. A Muslim, Christian, and Hindu interfaith collaborative worked together and in contest regarding the 2005 and 2010 constitutional referenda, passing out literature, holding training sessions, and conducting public forums to promote positive political development in Kenya. Finally, faith-based organizations and religious leaders have been the primary actors working on reconciliation [Page 659]following the postelectoral violence in 2008, working on the symptoms and root causes of this aggression.

Thus, Kenya is a society highly infused with religious identity and engagement. And the prominent role of religion has served Kenya well in fostering democratic political growth and efforts toward stable democratic consolidation.

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