The Kanyari saga took Kenya by storm. The exposé was not over before everyone went online and started talking about it. The media had a field day with it, working hard trying to get to the 'bottom' of the story. Before we lay this story to rest and trust me, two weeks from now no one will remember who Kanyari is, I'd like to give my two penny thoughts for free. This is an atheist perspective of this whole hullabaloo.
People have talked about how Kanyari is such an evil person for extorting money from believers, for taking advantage of the masses, for being a thief and shameless conman. People have called the people who 'planted' a seed as gullible and naive. But isn't that what all religions are? One big con? As Mark Twain succinctly said it "Religion was invented when the first conman met the first fool."
However, Kanyari is just a phytoplankton in an ocean full of sharks and whales. Take for example the local Catholic church leadership which is fighting the Tetanus vaccination offered by the Government of Kenya, on the premise that it is a birth control strategy. The Catholic church has been known to vehemently oppose the use of condoms in HIV infested Sub-Saharan Africa. Jehovah's witnesses condemn their followers from blood transfusion or donations. Religions would rather 'you die' than offer an alternative to what they think is the correct interpretation of whichever bible version they read. I'm not religious but I bet there are more atrocities happening behind the scenes in the name of religion.
Monetary fraud is only a tiny speck of what organized religions rob from the society. People are robbed of their curiosity and free thought at a young age in the name of faith. Adults are led to believe that they will be accommodated in a happy place with candy for breakfast, lunch and supper when they die. Or an oven if you happen to be naughty.
Victor Hugo wrote 'In every village there is a light bearer, the teacher. And its extinguisher, the priest.' Religions cause more harm than good, all based on the belief of an imaginary being that none can prove "His" existence. Every time I hear Kenya being called a 'religious country' I substitute stupid for religious. I may sound harsh but the truth is always unpleasant. The fact that Kanyari and his kin can find different interpretations of the bible just points to the fact that the Bible and any other religious book is man made. We would be far off if we stop talking about what the bible says and focus more on liberating people from the ignorance called 'faith'. Emile Zola said the above in much fewer lines, thusly, 'Civilization will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church falls on the last priest.'
