What Has Science to Do with Religion? A Looming Challenge of Traditional and Religious Practices on Curbing the Spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya

Abstract

The association between religion and science is a theme of continuous debate in philosophy and theology and recently in politics and governance as experienced in Kenya. To what degree are religion and science (e.g. medicine) well-matched? Are religious beliefs sometimes helpful to science, or do they inexorably pose hindrances to scientific inquiry? Are we able to manage COVID-19 through religion, or medicine or both medicine and prayer? The interdisciplinary field of “science and religion”, also called “theology and science”, aims at answering these and other questions. It studies historical and contemporary interactions between these fields and provides philosophical analyses of how they interrelate and is able to provide a holistic approach to combatting the corona-virus pandemic in Kenya. This paper provides an overview of the topic and discussions in science and religion; the role of spirituality/ religion in health and how traditional and religious practices may contribute to the spread of Corona-virus. Section 1, outlines the scope of both fields, and how they are intersecting; Section 2, focuses on health and spirituality and Section 3 concludes by looking at the looming challenges that religion and culture may present to the scientific directives on the spread of COVID-19 and ends by proposing strategies on community-directed programs by the Ministry of Health.