AFRICA/KENYA - The Catholic Church welcomes the President's decision to reject the proposed Religious Societies Rules 2015, intended to regulate Churches

Thursday, 4 February 2016 bishops  

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Church in Kenya welcomes the decision of President Uhuru Kenyatta to reject the proposed Religious Societies Rules 2015, (see Fides 30/01/2016) that had sparked protests by Catholic Bishops and leaders of other confessions (see Fides 13 and 19 January 2016).
In an interview with Waumini News Today, Fr. Daniel Rono, Secretary General of the Kenya Episcopal Conference, said that President Kenyatta’s decision to withdraw the proposed rules was reached after a successful consultative deliberation between religious leaders and the government.
While acknowledging the government’s concern about misuse of the freedom to worship by fraudulent religious leaders who extort money from worshipers and radicalize the youth, Father Rono said religious leaders were keen to adopt self-regulation
The religious leaders drawn from Muslim, Hindu, National Council of Churches of Kenya and evangelical Churches resolved to convene series of meetings to discuss the matter further and give the way forward to government Muslim, Hindu, Catholic and Protestant religious leaders and evangelical churches, have agreed to meet to discuss the issue.
President Kenyatta said he expects the outcome to be a development of firm and fair regulations that uphold the sacrosanct principles of religious freedom that underpin the democratic ideals as guaranteed by the Kenyan constitution (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 04/02/2016)


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