By MAXIMILA WAFULA
President of Atheists Society in Kenya Mr. Harrison Mumia, the Vice President Madam Moureen Temba led other Atheists members of the Society in today press briefing at Metro hotel Nairobi calling for the religion inclusivity in government functions.
They thanked the President of Kenya His Excellency Dr. William Somei Ruto for appointing the six judges who were nominated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) , they are also happy that comrade Miguna Miguna is back in the country thus upholding the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
We are coming from a history where government officials refused to obey court orders. Government must respect court in orders to preserve the fabric of our constitutional democracy.
The Atheists Society in Kenya was registered under the society's Act on February 17, 2016.
The registration was vehemently opposed by some Churches at the time . In particular, the Kenya National Congress of Pentecostal Churches and Ministries said and I quote " it was abominable , and unconstitutional to have the society registered and given a certificate .
The then prof. Githu Muigai, succumbed to pressure from these Churches and suspended the registration of Atheist in Kenya society . We moved to court and the court found that the suspension of the society was unconstitutional.
The suspension was quashed on 26th September 2022 , we were served with a petition before the high court of Kenya seeking to have our society suspended on grounds that our registration and continued existence is unconstitutional.
The petitioner in the matter was former Juja MP.Dr,Stephen Ndichu . We believe that this petion has the backing of some religious groups.
We want to inform Kenyans that we will fight this petition in court and defend our rights to be registered as a legal entity.
The Society has received complaints from Kenyans who have to deal with disturbances a rising from noise emanating from places of worship that have been set up in residential areas . We urge county governments across the country to firmly deal with.
Kenya is a nation of people with diverse religious beliefs . We have over 1M atheist in Kenya and we are concerned that the current government seems to privilege Christianity against all the other religious organizations against others , it undermines religious freedom.We expect atheist to be invited to all government functions where religious organizations are represented.
We call upon the government to remain neutral when comes to religion . State House should never be used to advance any religious ideology. There should be no forced prayer or religious practices in any public institutions or government institutions .
We call upon the Committee that was appointed by the president to review CBC to abolish the teaching of CRE/ IRE and HRE in our education curriculum, instead let's have a subject that will teach the history of religion including African traditional religion. Worldviews like atheism and humanism should be taught in our schools .
Adam and Eve should not be presented as the human beings who existed on earth . We would like to see religious instruction a abolished in our school curriculums. Forced prayers should be banned in all our public schools.
Finally , we welcome all the Kenyans who have abandoned religion to register as members of our society.
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