When the Kenyan government late last year expressed its intention to begin regulating religious practices in order to weed out “fraudulent” preachers and groups, we warned in this column that this constituted a very slippery slope.
It was obvious to any disinterested observer that attempting to regulate religious belief marks the first steps towards government-sanctioned religion, a theocracy in all but name.
What surprised some of us was the unanimity with which many religious leaders welcomed the proposed regulation, and we pointed out that they would probably come to regret this.
A few short weeks later, these same leaders are calling press conferences to dispute the published regulations, arguing that churches and religious organisations should be left to operate according to their own doctrine.
Read more on allafrica.com.