Life is always full of storms rendering most people helpless and depressed. At such times when money, education, and power cannot help, religion seems to be the only solace and cure everyone runs for.
It is sad to note that some religious leaders have taken advantage of this noble course and have turned their Mosques, churches, synagogues, temples among many other places of worship into radicalization hubs where the vulnerable are indoctrinated with misleading religious ideas that have turned them rebellious and intolerant to those with different views.
Sometime last year while scrolling for a religious TV channel to watch I came across a TV channel with big captions, 'END-TIME MESSAGE.' As a believer, I thought this was the best station for me to watch as the pastor whose church was based in Malindi kept insisting that he is teaching the truth about the second coming of Christ and that we need to get ready. As days went by and my interest in his teachings increased, I realized that the televangelist who had a huge number of followers was misleading them not to take their children to school. The pastor encouraged parents to bring their children to church to acquire religious teachings that will see them inherit the kingdom of God.
Times have changed and no one is to be trusted, we always need to remain vigilant and know what goes around us.
I was taken aback by his teachings that education is Satanic, yet the holy book encourages people to seek knowledge or perish for lack of it. As the government was rolling the Huduma number and NEMIS exercise the controversial pastor encouraged his church members not to participate arguing it was the beginning of recruitment into the famous satanic number 666. This caught the attention of the government and he was later arrested. The late Muslim cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo was a supporter of the Al Shabaab terror group. He used the mosque to radicalize and recruit innocent youth to the insurgent gang through his misleading teachings. He was under the surveillance of security forces for providing financial, logistical, and technical support to Al Shabaab and he was gunned down in Mombasa. It is hard to comprehend how places of worship have turned into breeding grounds of terrorism and radicalization. We send our children to religious congregations for spiritual nourishment, but they end up in the hands of religious leaders who brainwash them with teachings that are contrary to our beliefs. Times have changed and no one is to be trusted, we always need to remain vigilant and know what goes around us. Each parent should follow what our children are taught in schools and tabernacles. The fight against terrorism and radicalization cannot be won by the government alone, but through our concerted efforts and for sure we shall overcome.