Atheists in Kenya Use Muslim Holiday to Demand for Special Day

For the second year in a row, Atheists in Kenya have used the declaration of a Muslim holiday to urge the government to gazette a day in February specifically for them.

The society, formed in 2013, has not been silent on its quest to have February 17 as a holiday for Atheists in Kenya. Just like last year, the group has jumped on the government’s declaration of August 12 as Eid Ul Adha to rump up the volume of their cause.

“We take note that Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has declared Monday, August 12, a public holiday to mark Eid-Ul-Adha, the Islamic festival of sacrifice. This declaration amounts to religious privilege that the dominant religions in Kenya (Christians and Muslims) have enjoyed since independence, courtesy of the Kenyan Government and the current Constitution,” said Atheists in Kenya President Harrison Mumia in a statement.

Mumia, who got the sack from Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) earlier in the year for political tweets, added that the constitution guarantees the protection of freedom of belief and conscience and that this should also apply to atheists, who are considered “underclass in this country.”

“Recognition of an atheist holiday by the Kenyan Government will end the social disadvantage that atheists continue facing in Kenya. It will also go a long way in creating an environment of acceptability for atheists in Kenya,” he said.

The Atheists in Kenya president said that the demand for CS Fred Matiang’i to declare February 17 as an atheist holiday was so as “to end this social inequity that is rooted in history and the normalization of Christianity and Islam as the de facto religions in Kenya.” 

Atheists in Kenya had also issued a similar statement last year after the declaration of Eid Ul Adha, calling for the group to be given a special holiday of their own.

The society, which says that its mission is to ‘promote science and critical thinking in Kenya’ has been calling for recognition of its values in what is largely seen as a Christian nation.

In Kenya, the group estimates that it comprises around 5% of the population. This is dwarfed by numbers by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) which in 2013 estimated that around 93% of people in Kenya identify as either Christian or Muslim. Of that figure, around 80% is Christian.

Beyond wanting their won holiday, the group has also in recent times called for the exclusion of the first line of the Kenya national anthem, which says “O God of all Creation”.

The date, February 17, is not arbitrary as it the day when the group was registered and legally recognised by the government of Kenya in 2016.

Within two months however, uproar from religious groups led to then Attorney General Githu Muigai cancelling their registration, to which Atheists in Kenya went to court. In February 2018, the court ruled in their favour, allowing them to be legally recognised again.

In other sections of the country, Atheists in Kenya has been mocked for their belief that God does not exist, and their various arguments that follow the narrative of the negation and skepticism that eradicates the notion of a deity.

On its website, Atheists in Kenya say, “Our philosophical and ethical stance is humanism which emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition.”