Atheist Christmas in Kenya
Christmas is a season of joy and celebration across Africa. But for those young people's who religious beliefs differ from their families', it can also be a period of heightened stress, stigma and alienation. The Atheist Society of Kenya wants to change that!
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00:00 It's Christmas time in Kenya and festive cheer is in the air.
00:06 The country is over 85% Christian, but not everyone is keen to celebrate the holiday.
00:12 My name is Helen Kathure. I am 25 years old and I am the new vice president of the Atheist in Kenya Society.
00:20 So the event for tonight is the end of year party. We like to call it the Godless Party.
00:25 It is like our Christmas. We do not need Christmas to celebrate.
00:30 Here in Kenya there is a lot of stigma from being non-religious.
00:34 It doesn't matter if you are agnostic, atheist, spiritualist.
00:37 Honestly this time of the year is always the hardest, especially if your family let's say disowned you out of your beliefs.
00:44 So I would just tell people or non-believers to find a community like the ones I find here.
00:49 That community is the one that Helen is trying to build, though her road to secularism has not been an easy one.
00:59 Like most of African households, I was raised in a religious family.
01:05 I went to catechism, I was baptized, I could even take sacraments.
01:09 At some point I became an atheist and now I can say I am deeply spiritual.
01:15 Not religious, but deeply spiritual.
01:17 Helen credits her love of reading for opening her eyes.
01:21 These religions do not come from the African perspective. It was brought here by the colonial masters.
01:26 When you are a young child now, you are taught to go to church from such a young age that that is all you know as you grow up.
01:34 It's like some kind of indoctrination. It is ingrained in our political system, in our school systems.
01:40 And I feel like belief should be a personal choice.
01:43 Her group focuses on education, with book clubs, podcasts and an active social media presence.
01:49 But not everyone agrees with her free-thinking aims.
01:52 Of course it is stigmatized. Anything that has to do with atheism is regarded in Africa or in Kenya as devil-worshipping.
02:00 Like for example, when it first came out that I am the new vice president of the Atheist in Kenya Society,
02:06 my mom got a lot of calls of people telling her that she should organize prayers and I should be delivered from this devil.
02:14 It was ridiculous to hear all these things that are not true.
02:17 There is nothing about devil-worshipping when you decide to think outside of the box.
02:22 The starkest challenge came in the form of a lawsuit when a powerful politician and former bishop asked a court to deregister the society
02:30 on grounds that it violated the preamble of Kenya's constitution.
02:34 We found it to be ridiculous and surprising that such a powerful person, such a respected person of the state,
02:42 would target an organization that is basically trying to just bring together youth who have similar ideas.
02:50 We were expecting a bit of backlash, but we were not expecting for it to go to the point of litigation.
02:57 Because as much as people hold strongly to their beliefs, we do believe there is also the freedom of worship.
03:04 That freedom is one that Kenya's constitution guarantees.
03:08 But the group's founder, Harrison Mumia, knows there are real risks to speaking out.
03:13 He was fired from his job at Kenya's central bank for tweets his employer deemed political.
03:18 So Helen, you know, we are in court and we are sort of defending ourselves in court and it's going to be a challenge.
03:24 But you know, I lost my job. You are now coming out. You've decided to be like open a vice president of the society.
03:30 You're in the media. Are you afraid?
03:32 I'm very scared, actually. But I believe this is a worthy cause.
03:36 And there are a lot of people who are just waiting for us to take the first step.
03:39 So I'm willing to continue because interfaith dialogue is very important.
03:44 We need to make the religious community realize that we are not different.
03:49 We are not fighting them. In fact, we are on the same side.
03:53 But what do the religious community think of Helen and her group?
03:57 27-year-old Felista is a congregant at a church in Helen's neighborhood. For her, the case is clear cut.
04:03 In Kenya, we believe in Christ and we have a strong faith.
04:08 Those who are looking to be known as atheists or to be allowed to start practicing it, it's not supported.
04:16 It is illegal. So I think the judges and everyone who is involved in that will just say it's illegal, like it's not allowed.
04:24 Pastor Marcos takes a different view. While he opposes atheism, he doesn't think it's the role of government to suppress the group.
04:31 It is for you to choose whether to follow the atheists or to follow Christ.
04:36 So I don't think them going to court, there is any change.
04:42 There is a higher court and that is the Christ court is the one to change.
04:47 For Helen, a lot of this opposition stems from a lack of contact.
04:52 She hopes to break down barriers by reaching across the religious divide.
04:56 So today we've decided to visit a church close to my neighborhood.
05:00 I feel excited. I feel very nostalgic because everything that's going on here is something that I used to practice when I was younger.
05:06 We do know that the religious community believe that we are very different, but we'd like to show them today that we are not.
05:13 And we have nothing to fear by coming to church, by going to religious places.
05:17 And we feel like if they're able to see us more than they're able to accept us and see that we have the same interests,
05:25 we are fighting the same battle of freedom of religion. It may not be the same religion.
05:29 It may not be the same faith as theirs, but it is still the same.
05:33 As far as Christmas goes, Helen may no longer be a believer,
05:37 but she's still looking forward to spending the holiday with her loved ones.
05:41 For me personally, I am excited for Christmas because I will spend this time with my family.
05:47 So I don't necessarily run away from it. Instead, I sit, I listen, and I take what I feel resonates with me.
05:55 We're not trying to change anyone's beliefs.
05:57 All we are trying to do is to promote a platform where all these people who believe in different things can come.
06:03 And all those people who feel that they are still closeted and afraid of sharing their beliefs,
06:09 we want to create such a community and tell them that it is okay.