This archive report was first published on 21 October 2019.
October 17, 2019, marked a significant day for Harrison Mumia, the President of Atheists in Kenya (AIK). In a letter to the Quakers Church in Kakamega, he formally renounced his baptism and membership in the church.
Mumia, who renounced Christianity in the early 2000s to become an atheist, claims he was baptized as a young boy without his consent. He wants the church to issue him with a renunciation certificate signed by a senior member of the Quakers Church.
According to Mumia, he was baptized at the Quakers Church at Makhokho Secondary School in Kakamega County during his pre-teen years without his consent. He now wants any and all records associated with him at the Quakers Church destroyed.
As an atheist, Mumia no longer accepts the implications of the rite of baptism. His decision to renounce his baptism comes after a recent trip to his rural home in Ikolomani, Kakamega, where he buried his father who succumbed to cancer last month.
AIK has been pushing for the abolishment of religious studies in schools. Mumia believes that parents should not introduce religion to their children and should allow them to grow up to the age of 18 and decide whether they want to be religious or not.
