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Religious Leaders as Agents of Change: Impressions of a workshop

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Engagement and Impact
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In February 2022, a group of twenty-five religious leaders, activists and academics came together at Egerton University, in Nakuru, Kenya, for a workshop about the theme “Religious Leaders as Agents of Change: Promoting LGBTIQ equality and inclusion in East Africa”.

The workshop was organised as part of the Sexuality and Religion Network in East Africa (SERENE), a project led by Drs Damaris Parsitau (Egerton University), Barbara Bompani (University of Edinburgh) and Adriaan van Klinken (University of Leeds), and funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council under its Global Challenges research scheme. The three-day workshop provided a critical space for discussion and exchange, with participants sharing experiences and insights, best practices and resources, as well as the challenges they face in engaging religious leaders on issues of LGBTIQ equality and inclusion.

Religious leaders often play a central role in local communities, especially in contexts in the Global South where religion is an important part of social life. Following from that, the role of religious leaders in processes of effecting social, cultural, political and legal change has been increasingly recognised. According to a 2014 United Nations Development Programme report on engaging with faith-based organisations and religious leaders, the benefits of collaborating with faith actors are manifold. It recognises the critical development experience that faith actors have, and engaging them increases legitimacy in the community, maximises community impact, enhances long-term sustainable practice, can influence public policy, and help reinforce inclusive social values and best practices.

With regard to issues of sexual and gender diversity, religious leaders frequently play a negative role, for instance by using anti-gay rhetoric, questioning or denying the human rights of sexual minorities, and inciting hatred if not violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people. However, a 2015 joint statement of twelve United Nations agencies calling for an end of violence and discrimination against LGBTIQ communities also acknowledged the need to engage with religious leaders constructively, exactly because they are key to changing religious views and social cultures towards LGBTIQ persons. Subsequently, considerable effort has been made in recent years to include religious leaders in interventions concerned with gender inequality, sexual violence, reproductive health and rights, sexual health, and LGBIQ rights.

The aim of the workshop in Nakuru was to bring together stakeholders from LGBTIQ community-based organisations, the religious sector, and academic backgrounds who have experience with engaging religious leaders on issues of LGBTIQ equality and inclusion in the East African region, with a view to the exchange of knowledge, resources and best practices, to identify and share challenges, and collaboratively develop new methods and strategies.

Among the participants were several religious leaders, from a variety of denominations and backgrounds. Some of them identify as members of the LGBTIQ community themselves, and shared their experiences in reconciling their sexuality and their religious vocation. Others shared testimonies of how they had become allies of the LGBTIQ community, often after personal encounters with community members which made them reflect on the stigma and discrimination and on their own role in that. These diverse stories presented powerful testimonies of personal and communal transformation, demonstrating that religious leaders can indeed be agents of change.

The workshop participants also included representatives of community-based organisations, such as NYARWEK and PEMA in Kenya, and St Paul’s Voice Centre and the Universal Coalition of Affirming Africans in Uganda, which have a long-standing experience of working with religious leaders on questions of sexual diversity. The resources they have developed include “Safe Spaces: A Training Manual on Religious Inclusion for Christians at the Periphery” (NYARWEK, 2017) and “Facing Our Fears: A Training Manual on Stigma Reduction, Tolerance, and Brotherly/Sisterly Acceptance in Diversity” (PEMA Kenya, 2018). At the workshop, these resources were shared and discussed, with two researchers – David Kuria Mbote and Prof. Esther Mombo – presenting their findings from a study of the impact of such interventions.

Two staff members of Inclusive and Affirming Ministries, a South African organisation with a long history of promoting the participation of LGBTIQ people in faith circles, facilitated a session at the workshop, training participants on the use of Contextual Bible Study methods. The session centred on the Bible story of Joseph (Genesis 37) as a powerful narrative tool to explore and address experiences of othering, marginalisation and violence. Collaboratively dramatising the Joseph story was a fun exercise causing lots of laughter, but also was an experience that for many participants brought the story home, as it resonated with their own experiences of being different and facing discrimination and violence.

Another resource presented and explored at the workshop was the documentary film Kenyan, Christian, Queer (2020), which focuses on a community of LGBTIQ Christians in Nairobi, Kenya, who have created an affirming space where they can openly express their sexuality and their faith in God. Workshop participants observed how the film effectively shows that “the Holy Spirit dwells in queer bodies”, as one of them put it, and they discussed how to use the film as a tool to initiate conversation among fellow religious leaders and in faith communities.

The workshop, finally, included a celebratory launch of the book Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa, co-authored by Adriaan van Klinken and Ezra Chitando, with copies being handed to representatives of partners in the SERENE project. Hassan Ndzovu, from Moi University, Kenya, interviewed Adriaan about the book, and the subsequent conversation insightfully explored questions regarding progressive religious thought and social change.

Perhaps the most important parts of the workshop were not the formally programmed sessions, but the informal conversations during the breaks, while we enjoyed the lush green scenery of the Egerton University campus, and during the closing night with music and dance. In these moments of embodied networking, participants shared inspiration and encouragement, fostered friendships, and explored ideas for further collaboration. Although the workshop marked the formal end of the SERENE project, it has provided a basis and given new impulse to further work on, and with, religious leaders as agents of change, in the light of the quest for building inclusive communities in East Africa and beyond.