The Debate for and Against State Regulation of Churches in Kenya

Abstract

The Church in Kenya has become commercialized. People become members of a particular Church depending on the set of products and services that Church is selling and how well it is selling it. Such services are fashioned to meet the ever-changing needs in our society as well as people’s preferences. Some sell prosperity while others simply take advantage of their congregants’ ignorance. Some congregants will pay the religious leaders because they want to obtain spiritual favour. This paper looks at the approaches Kenya uses to regulate the Church. It is focused on the current law that governs registration process and the challenges encountered. The self-regulatory mechanisms put in place by Churches and how effective they are is also considered. The study looks at the issue of regulation, that is, whether the State should regulate the Church and if so, to what extent it should regulate. The findings from this study show that majority of Churches in Kenya want the State to regulate the Church but with the involvement of the Church in the process. I argue that there is need to enact specific legislation to govern the religious sector in order to bring about transparency and accountability by religious leaders.