C W

DEAR CHRISTIANS, HINDUS, BUDDHISTS AND PEOPLE OF EVERY FAITH: I HAVE REACHED MY BREAKING POINT. Effective immediately, I no longer identify as a Muslim. The killing of the Bangladeshi couple has deeply traumatized me, shaken my beliefs and forced me to confront questions I can no longer ignore. Between love and an AK-47, I choose love. Between humility, kindness and a machete, I choose kindness. Between embracing my neighbour and spilling their blood in the name of God, I choose humanity. I am ready for my pork, my beer 🍻, my hugs, my laughter and the freedom to love my neighbours without fear. I want to sit with happy people, respect different beliefs and live without being told that somebody must die because they offended another person's God. ALLLAH DID NOT CREATE HUMANITY SO THAT HUMAN BEINGS COULD ENSLAVE, TERRORIZE OR SLAUGHTER ONE ANOTHER IN HIS NAME. I am an African. A proud Kenyan. A Luo. Before any religious label, I am a human being, and I refuse to surrender my conscience to any ideology that demands blood as proof of devotion. I cannot accept killing in the name of God. I cannot accept shooting in the name of God. I cannot accept decapitation in the name of God. If your understanding of religion requires me to become a murderer to prove my faith, then I want no part of it. If God needs me to kill on His behalf, I have serious questions about the god being presented to me. My heart is tired of religious arguments that turn human suffering into a theological debate. A dead person is not brought back to life because someone quotes scripture. A grieving family does not find comfort in explanations about sacred places. Brutality does not become righteous simply because the perpetrator claims divine authority. I want a world where Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and people of every other conviction can live together without fearing one another. I want faith that produces compassion, not terror; humility, not arrogance; peace, not bloodshed. I will not pretend that every religion or religious community is responsible for the actions of its extremists. Nor will I condemn innocent people because of the beliefs they hold. I will question, without apology, every ideology, institution and authority that excuses cruelty in the name of the sacred. MY HUMANITY IS NOT NEGOTIABLE. MY CONSCIENCE IS NOT FOR SALE. NO RELIGION WILL CONVINCE ME THAT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING'S BLOOD IS THE PRICE OF MY SALVATION. I choose love. I choose kindness. I choose Africa. I choose humanity. And I refuse to be ashamed of choosing life over religiously justified violence. – at Ruiru, Kenya