Spirituality and women’s vulnerability: A critical analysis of media-religion connection in Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, religion is often defined and referred to in three different manifestations: Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religion. Efforts to regulate religion remain futile as religious organizations have always fought every attempt by the government to impose regulation and taxation on their monthly income. Operating in a tax and license-free legal environment, religion has succumbed to a mediatized worship experience. In recent years, Christianity has adopted "media logic," packaging religious experiences in ways that appeal to target worshippers. The media has increasingly become a forum for worship, exorcism, proselytization, image-building, and investment. The priming of live worship broadcasts and advertisement of religious events is a source of important revenue for the media. This study uses archival mixed research methods to investigate the nexus between media and religion towards the rise and spread of predatory and unethical religious practices that prey on women’s vulnerabilities. The extensive integration of the media into religious life in Kenya portends harmful experiences such as exposure to sexual exploitation, financial fraud, misleading and contentious prophecies, with serious socio-economic and mental health consequences, particularly for women. This calls for a push for consciousness-raising, social support systems and counter regulations to check the seemingly ticking time bomb.