THE CHURCH-STATE RELATIONSHIP IN KENYA AFTER THE SECOND LIBERATION STRUGGLE

Abstract

The paper examined the dynamics of Church-State relationship in Kenya after the second liberation struggle. It is argued that the public theologies in Kenya have been experiencing a process of decay albeit with seemingly faint hope of resurgence. The era of struggle for the second liberations (late 1980s and throughout 1990s) saw a very active prophetic church calling for democracy and development. However, with the realization of democracy from 2000, the mainstream Christianity which was the voice of masses relaxed and eventually lost its credibility and legitimacy as the conscience of the society. It was further argued that despite the current euphoria depicting Pentecostals as the new prophetic voice, just like the mainstream Christianity, Pentecostals have not upheld their prophetic mandate. They have also been easy targets of co-option by the political class. Indeed, it is the voice of the mainstream Christianity that is beginning to resurface. The paper also highlighted that the death of public theologies has also negatively affected democracy and development. The study of Church and state relationship in Kenya requires retracing history in order to understand the ever changing and evolving roles of the Christian churches in public life in pursuit of second liberation, during the second liberation and after the promulgation of the new constitution in 2010. The paper then covered four political regimes (Moi, Kibaki, coalition government (Kibaki and Raila) and Jubilee governments (uhuru and Ruto). Consequently it opened a wide range of understanding the dynamics of church andm state in Kenya in a democratic era.