Efforts to ease religious tension commendable

Despite exhortations from the Government to citizens that they maintain unity and resist the temptation to see themselves as Christians or Muslims or Hindu or any other religion in the wake of the Garissa attack where 142 students were killed, there is still growing tension and suspicion between the two main religious groupings in the country.

Witness reports indicate that those who professed Islam were let free while their Christian peers were massacred.

It is the view of this newspaper that that should not happen, for then, terrorists would have achieved one of their objectives; the creation of a caliphate in North Eastern much the same way Boko Haram is attempting to carve out a region in northern Nigeria.

Out of this concern, we support efforts by Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho to bring Muslim and Christian leaders together to address rising tension which is a consequence of the recent terrorist attacks that have mostly been blamed on radicalised Muslims.

Religious institutions, especially churches and mosques, have a role to play in sustaining the moral fabric of society, yet it is unfortunate that moral decadence is finding its place in these places of worship.

It therefore behoves Muslim and Christian leaders together with parents to come together to device ways of imparting values to the youth who are becoming easy prey for the recruiters from Al-Shabaab and other fanatical groupings. The Government on the other hand, ought to come up with programmes that keep the youth engaged and feeling appreciated in society. Because in the end, it is said that an idle mind is the devil's workshop.