MST-Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

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Browsing MST-Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies by Author "Arudo, Tobias Opiyo"

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    The influence of Christianity on infertility regulation in Migori division of Migori district
    (2012-05-07) Arudo, Tobias Opiyo
    The primary concern of this thesis was to investigate whether there are existing relationships between fertility regulation methods, knowledge of and acceptance of contraceptives and church affiliation. It was the contention of the study that while different churches may be supporting or are against the various methods, they may consequently influence their members towards knowledge and usage of different methods. Such influence may either be directly or indirectly induced. These may be passed through various church activities, doctrine for the church, church practices and membership groupings. Through them, the members are able to develop certain beliefs and attitudes, which the study has attempted to isolate for each church sampled. In order to achieve the study aims, three churches were sampled; namely SDA, Catholic and Legio Maria. SDA was selected as a less conservative church which does not only allow their members to use both AFP and NFP, but they also distribute the contraceptives. The Catholic Church was selected due to its conservative nature, which stresses the use of NFP. It is opposed to AFP. The third church, Legio Maria was selected due to its more conservative and syncretic religious approach. It mixes traditional belief systems and Christian teachings borrowing more from the Catholic group. It is known to be opposed to AFP. Having these ideas in the background, the study sampled one hundred and twenty respondents with a distribution of forty from each church to help complete questionnaires using survey research technique. Both men and women sampled equally and interviewed. To bring out a balanced result, the stratified-radial-random-sample-techniques was applied. These approaches were meant to help cover all adult age groups from age fifteen and above and were sampled from a wide geographical region. Besides the questionnaire, the study applied interviews and secondary resources to help provide more information about the churches sampled. The researcher further applied participant observation to help counter check the responses given in the questionnaires and interview. The field data collected by the questionnaire was later Submitted for statistical analysis to help determine whether relationships existed between knowledge or acceptance or various fertility regulation methods and: (i) Church affiliation by attendance or commitment, (ii) Specific churches and their attendance, (iii) Specific churches and their commitment. Chi-square statistical methodology was used to determine the relationships mentioned above. In each case, the significance of a particular relationship between the variables was determined at 0.05 level of significance. To arrive statistical figures the statistics was computed using the computerized SPSS programme. The final results were analyzed and summary tables presented at the end of each sub-section with extra detailed tables presented in the appendices. The significance of relationship wherever they were proved, meant that the church affiliation, attendance or commitment does have an important contribution to either knowledge or acceptance of use of the specific fertility regulation method. It is therefore necessary to point out that in cases where the church does not have influence, necessary positive policies need to be adopted to help create both awareness and change of attitudes towards the use of the methods.
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    The Response of the Africa Inland Church to Politics in Masinga District: 1975 -2010 (Machakos County), Kenya
    (2014-02-19) Kioko, David Stephen; M'Ithinji, Moses Mutwiri; Arudo, Tobias Opiyo
    The purpose of this study was to examine the response of AIC in Masinga District to Kenyan politics. The study aimed at investigating the factors affecting the apathy of AIC to politics from 1975-2010. To accomplish this goal, the study had three objectives: to discuss the history of AIC in Masinga District and its influence to the response of AIC to politics, to analyze the perceptions of AIC members in Masinga District on the role of the Church in politics and finally to evaluate the response of AIC in Masinga District to Kenyan politics, 1975 -2010. The study employed a descriptive research design. Further, it used purposive and simple random sampling techniques for collecting data in Masinga District. Data were collected from four out of the five wards that constitute the District. Various District Church Councils (DCC) were sampled from the wards in Masinga Regional Church Council (MRCC) and Matuu Regional Church (MRCC) council formerly under Yatta Regional Church Council (YRCC). From the sampled DCC‟s local churches were sampled. A total of 80 respondents were interviewed. Questionnaires, interviews and analysis of library sources were also used. In interpreting and analyzing the collected data, the study employed a theological framework for social ethics in discussing the response of the Church to politics. The theoretical views of Hoft and Oldham, Gladden‟s Social Gospel Theory and Fowler‟s Prophetic Realism Theory were used. This theological framework revealed that the response of any Church to politics is to a great extent determined by the Church‟s doctrinal assumptions on the relationship of the Church and the world. At the same time, it challenged the laissez-faire spirit apparent in AIC and advocated for a prophetic task which means that the Church becomes the conscious voice of the society by showing the relevance of the Gospel values to the problems of the modern society. The study revealed that the factors underlying the response of any church to politics are not only limited to theological and doctrinal assumptions but also political, denominational, administrative structures and ethnocentrism. The research findings revealed that AIC is among the silent churches in Kenya in regard to politics. AIC does not involve herself in political issues unless they directly affect her moral and spiritual values. The study established that AIC concentrates a lot on spiritual perspectives, an aspect borrowed from the founding mission AIM. The study exposes factors behind the silence of AIC to politics and challenges the indolent spirit evident in AIC. This is through non-involvement in the socio-political welfare of the people leading to betrayal of holistic nature of the Gospel as well loss as of relevance of the Church. The study is an awakening call for the AIC leaders to refocus on the relevance of the Gospel to politics.