HOW A PASTOR'S REMARK LED TO RETHINKING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE OLD SCHOOL
BY NJONJO MUE ALLIANCE HIGH SCHOOL, CLASS OF 1986.
1985 marked a watershed year in Bush. One of those years when old traditions are questioned and a new generation sticks its neck out to quench its thirst for freedom. It was a Sunday morning and the whole school had gathered for chapel service as usual. Reverend Fred G. Welch, more popularly known as Contra, had just led us in prayer and invited the day's guest speaker to preach the word.
Pastor Ambrose Nyangao of Parklands Baptist Church was the preacher for the day. He was a regular visitor and we simply loved him for his passion, sense of humour and the way he easily connected with us through his preaching that was interspersed with sheng, making the Bible come alive in a way few other preachers did. I still remembered the last time he visited. He had brought the house down with the Ambrose Standard Version of the Jesus and Zaccheus story in Luke 19:1-10 - "Jesus akamuita Zaccheus, 'ebu teremka, leo nita-dish kwa hao yako.' Walipoenda home, bibi ya Zaccheus akaanza kuzusha, 'mbona hukuniambia Jesus ana-come?' Zaccheus akaanza kujitetea, 'si fault yangu, ni Jesus aliji-invite..."
And so no one expected any drama during this Sunday service except the usual sprinkling of humour. Neither do I think that Pastor Ambrose deliberately set out to cause an age old Alliance tradition to be overturned. He was just being a preacher delivering his message passionately as usual. His sermon was about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I forget all the details now. I only remember the one part of the message that caused a mini tremor in the old school
"The Bible says that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord," he said quoting Philippians 2:9-11. Nothing controversial there. He was, after all, just quoting Scripture. But then he went on to expound what he understood this verse to mean. "Jesus is Lord!" he thundered. "Everybody else is subject to Jesus Christ. Buddha is subject to Jesus Christ. Mohammed is subject to Jesus Christ..."
At this point, Munir Sheikh, the usually uncontroversial and sharply dressed Form 5, stood up and started for the door. He was joined by several Muslim students rising from various parts of the Chapel where their houses sat. From the balcony where Sellwood House was sitting that term, I saw Majid Twahir, the Medical Prefect, rise and join the walk out followed by all the Muslims seated at the balcony. What started as a trickle soon became a flood as virtually all Muslim students, from First Formers to Senior Prefects, left Chapel in protest at the pastor's last statement.
This may seem like a minor event to those who went to the school in the 1990's and later, but for us and previous generations, attending chapel was compulsory for all students regardless on one's faith. Every student had to sign a commitment form upon admission that said that Alliance was founded on Christian traditions and all students were expected to attend chapel services five times a week including Sunday service. To my knowledge, this rule had never been questioned. For students to walk out in the middle of a service with a guest speaker preaching was unfathomable. The tradition of Alliance High School was that if you encountered an injustice you endured it and then complained later. Alliance was a community founded on the rule of law and that had enduring faith in due process. Except seemingly this once. It would appear that our Muslim colleagues felt the injustice this time required an immediate and dramatic response.
Pastor Ambrose went on with his sermon though most of us by now had our attention elsewhere. We were deep in thought about, with some even whispering to each other as to, how this crisis would be resolved. Would all the Muslim students be punished? But how could they be? They had walked out in an orderly and respectful fashion when they felt their religion attacked. Would they be let off without consequence? But then what would be the implications of this for other faiths, for example the SDAs who were required to attend classes on Saturday morning? What about others who might come up and say their religions forbade them to run cross country, or to do farm work, or to wash toilets during morning work? What sort of compromise could be reached to acknowledge that an injustice had been done to the Muslim students while at the same time upholding school traditions? We could not wait for the service to end so that we could discuss the implications of what had just happened in Chapel that Sunday morning. When service ended, we spent the rest of the day huddled in small groups in kamkunjis discussing the momentous happenings in Chapel that morning.
On Monday morning, the Muslim students who had walked out of Chapel were summoned to a meeting with the Headmaster. There were no recriminations. In the old Alliance way where the old starts to give way to the new, a compromise was reached. Muslims would no longer be required to attend Sunday Chapel services, but would be allowed to go to the Mosque instead. But they were still required to attend Chapel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I am not sure how long this arrangement was maintained or whether it still obtains today.
What I do know is that the courage of Munir Sheikh and his colleagues paved way for a new era where religious freedoms and cultural diversity could start to be seen as part of the Alliance mosaic and where the message could be sent that even though the best school in Kenya had been founded by Christian missionaries, its vision was big enough to accommodate all who were committed to being strong to serve, no matter the faith tradition they happened to come from.
BY NJONJO MUE ALLIANCE HIGH SCHOOL, CLASS OF 1986.
1985 marked a watershed year in Bush. One of those years when old traditions are questioned and a new generation sticks its neck out to quench its thirst for freedom. It was a Sunday morning and the whole school had gathered for chapel service as usual. Reverend Fred G. Welch, more popularly known as Contra, had just led us in prayer and invited the day's guest speaker to preach the word.
Pastor Ambrose Nyangao of Parklands Baptist Church was the preacher for the day. He was a regular visitor and we simply loved him for his passion, sense of humour and the way he easily connected with us through his preaching that was interspersed with sheng, making the Bible come alive in a way few other preachers did. I still remembered the last time he visited. He had brought the house down with the Ambrose Standard Version of the Jesus and Zaccheus story in Luke 19:1-10 - "Jesus akamuita Zaccheus, 'ebu teremka, leo nita-dish kwa hao yako.' Walipoenda home, bibi ya Zaccheus akaanza kuzusha, 'mbona hukuniambia Jesus ana-come?' Zaccheus akaanza kujitetea, 'si fault yangu, ni Jesus aliji-invite..."
And so no one expected any drama during this Sunday service except the usual sprinkling of humour. Neither do I think that Pastor Ambrose deliberately set out to cause an age old Alliance tradition to be overturned. He was just being a preacher delivering his message passionately as usual. His sermon was about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I forget all the details now. I only remember the one part of the message that caused a mini tremor in the old school
"The Bible says that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord," he said quoting Philippians 2:9-11. Nothing controversial there. He was, after all, just quoting Scripture. But then he went on to expound what he understood this verse to mean. "Jesus is Lord!" he thundered. "Everybody else is subject to Jesus Christ. Buddha is subject to Jesus Christ. Mohammed is subject to Jesus Christ..."
At this point, Munir Sheikh, the usually uncontroversial and sharply dressed Form 5, stood up and started for the door. He was joined by several Muslim students rising from various parts of the Chapel where their houses sat. From the balcony where Sellwood House was sitting that term, I saw Majid Twahir, the Medical Prefect, rise and join the walk out followed by all the Muslims seated at the balcony. What started as a trickle soon became a flood as virtually all Muslim students, from First Formers to Senior Prefects, left Chapel in protest at the pastor's last statement.
This may seem like a minor event to those who went to the school in the 1990's and later, but for us and previous generations, attending chapel was compulsory for all students regardless on one's faith. Every student had to sign a commitment form upon admission that said that Alliance was founded on Christian traditions and all students were expected to attend chapel services five times a week including Sunday service. To my knowledge, this rule had never been questioned. For students to walk out in the middle of a service with a guest speaker preaching was unfathomable. The tradition of Alliance High School was that if you encountered an injustice you endured it and then complained later. Alliance was a community founded on the rule of law and that had enduring faith in due process. Except seemingly this once. It would appear that our Muslim colleagues felt the injustice this time required an immediate and dramatic response.
Pastor Ambrose went on with his sermon though most of us by now had our attention elsewhere. We were deep in thought about, with some even whispering to each other as to, how this crisis would be resolved. Would all the Muslim students be punished? But how could they be? They had walked out in an orderly and respectful fashion when they felt their religion attacked. Would they be let off without consequence? But then what would be the implications of this for other faiths, for example the SDAs who were required to attend classes on Saturday morning? What about others who might come up and say their religions forbade them to run cross country, or to do farm work, or to wash toilets during morning work? What sort of compromise could be reached to acknowledge that an injustice had been done to the Muslim students while at the same time upholding school traditions? We could not wait for the service to end so that we could discuss the implications of what had just happened in Chapel that Sunday morning. When service ended, we spent the rest of the day huddled in small groups in kamkunjis discussing the momentous happenings in Chapel that morning.
On Monday morning, the Muslim students who had walked out of Chapel were summoned to a meeting with the Headmaster. There were no recriminations. In the old Alliance way where the old starts to give way to the new, a compromise was reached. Muslims would no longer be required to attend Sunday Chapel services, but would be allowed to go to the Mosque instead. But they were still required to attend Chapel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I am not sure how long this arrangement was maintained or whether it still obtains today.
What I do know is that the courage of Munir Sheikh and his colleagues paved way for a new era where religious freedoms and cultural diversity could start to be seen as part of the Alliance mosaic and where the message could be sent that even though the best school in Kenya had been founded by Christian missionaries, its vision was big enough to accommodate all who were committed to being strong to serve, no matter the faith tradition they happened to come from.
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