Wednesday, April 26, 2023

SECULARISM & PLURALISM

Most adults in US, 16 other nations say belief in God, morality not always linked

Pew Research Center released the findings — that also hold true among most of those affiliated with a religion — from its Global Attitudes Survey.

Photo by Elissa Garcia/Unsplash/Creative Commons

April 20, 2023

Adelle M. Banks

(RNS) — Is a belief in God a prerequisite for being a moral person?

Most Americans say it is not, and majorities of adults in other countries with advanced economies agree.

Pew Research Center released the findings — that also hold true among most of those affiliated with a religion — from its Global Attitudes Survey on Thursday (April 20).

“(E)ven among people who are religiously affiliated, most do not think it is necessary to believe in God to have good values,” states the new report on questions asked in the spring of 2022. “In most countries surveyed, half or more of people who say they belong to a religion also say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral.”

“Even among those affiliated with a religion, most say it’s not necessary to believe in God to be moral” Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center

In the U.S., 56% of the religiously affiliated said morality and good values do not have to be linked with a belief in God. Globally, countries with the highest percentages of religiously affiliated people agreeing with that statement included Sweden (86%) and Australia (75%).

But differences are more striking in some countries whose general populations were surveyed.

While at least 60% of Europeans and North Americans do not say belief in God and morality must be linked, Israelis are more split on that, with 50% agreeing and 47% saying such a belief is essential. About one-fifth of Malaysians say people can be moral without a belief in God, while more than three-quarters disagree with that view.

Based on research in 16 countries beyond the U.S., a median of about two-thirds of adults say people can be moral without a belief in God, a bit higher than the U.S. share.

Across the globe, there are different views depending on religious and political affiliation.

In the U.S., about 9 in 10 who say religion is not at all important or not too important to them believe morality and belief in God do not need to be linked, but just half of those who think it is somewhat or very important to them agree.

“Most Americans say it’s not necessary to believe in God to be moral, but views differ by religion” Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center

Black Protestants (39%) and white evangelicals (42%) were least likely among Americans to say it’s not essential to believe in God to be moral, while the religiously unaffiliated (88%) were the group most in agreement with that stance.

Democrats and those who lean Democratic are more likely than their Republican counterparts to say it is not essential to believe in God to be moral (71% compared with 59%). Americans younger than 50 and older adults reflect a similar difference in response.

“In nearly every country where political ideology is measured, people who place themselves on the political left are more likely than those on the political right to say that belief in God is not necessary to have good values,” the report states.

“In addition, younger adults in about half of the countries surveyed are significantly more likely than older respondents to say that a belief in God is not connected with morality.”

More than 4 in 5 Greek adults younger than 30, for instance, unlink morality from a belief in God, in contrast with half of Greek adults who are 50 and older (84% compared with 51%). Substantial age differences also occur in Canada, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Although the new report focused on countries with advanced economies, 2019 Pew research found that, among 34 nations, including some with developing or emerging economies, higher shares of people in nations with lower gross domestic products said believing in God was crucial for morality.

The new report’s findings were based on a survey of 3,581 U.S. adults from March 21-27, 2022, who took part in an online survey panel, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Outside the U.S., the report relied on nationally representative surveys of an overall total of 18,782 adults from Feb. 14-June 3, 2022. In some countries the surveys were completed by phone and in others by face-to-face interviews or an online panel. The margin of error ranged from plus or minus 2.8 percentage points in Australia to plus or minus 4.5 percentage points in Hungary.

Pakistan court jails Chinese national charged with blasphemy

The man, who was working on a hydropower project in Pakistan. He was accused by Pakistani laborers of blasphemy after criticizing two drivers working on the project of taking too much time to pray during work hours.

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Dasu Dam project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, Thursday, April 13, 2023. Pakistani police arrested a Chinese national working at the dam project on blasphemy charges after he allegedly insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, authorities said Monday. Under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws, the offense carries the death penalty. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

April 19, 2023

Riaz Khan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court has ruled that a Chinese national arrested on blasphemy charges be held in jail for two weeks, pending trial, a police officer said Tuesday. Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone convicted of blasphemy can be sentenced to death.

The Chinese man, identified by police only as Tian, was arrested on Sunday night, hours after hundreds of residents and laborers working on a dam project in the town of Komela in northwestern Pakistan blocked a key highway and rallied demanding his arrest.

Tian was part of a group of Chinese working on the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan. He was accused by Pakistani laborers of blasphemy after criticizing two drivers working on the project of taking too much time to pray during work hours.

Tian was whisked away from northwestern Pakistan and brought before a court in the city of Abottabad, where he on Monday pleaded not guilty. He also insisted that he did not insult Islam or the Prophet Muhammad, said Arshad Khan, a local police officer.

In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin said the embassy in Islamabad was looking into the situation.

“The Chinese government has always asked Chinese citizens overseas to abide by the laws and regulations of their host countries and respect local customs and traditions,” Wang told reporters at a news conference.

Pakistani authorities say their arrest of Tian had saved him from the hands of a crowd and possible attack by angry residents.

Although arrests of Muslims and non-Muslims on charges of blasphemy are common in Pakistan, foreigners are rarely among those arrested.

In 2021, a mob lynched a Sri Lankan man at a sports equipment factory in the eastern Punjab province. It later burned his body in public over allegations he desecrated posters bearing the name of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Sikhs next door — and across the border

(FAVS News) — A museum tells the history of Sikhs in British Columbia, the province’s second largest religious group after Christians.

Vaisakhi parade in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 15, 2017. Photo by Michael J.P. Hall/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

April 21, 2023

Julia Duin

(FAVS News) — The sight of two turbaned soldiers on black stallions posed next to a wood-framed Canadian frontier-style building is a clear hint that Sikhs have a history in the Pacific Northwest.

The soldier statues outside the Sikh Heritage Museum in Abbotsford, a Vancouver suburb, represent the first Sikhs to visit Western Canada, members of the British regiment in Hong Kong who traveled across the country in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII.

Today there are about 800,000 Sikhs in Canada — the most of any country outside its birthplace of India — and April is celebrated as Sikh Heritage Month. The 250,000 Sikhs in British Columbia make the faith the province’s second largest religious group after Christians.

Worldwide, the Sikh faith, which dates back to the early 16th century, is the fifth largest in the world, with some 26 million followers.

In the United States, which has about 500,000 Sikhs, they are also concentrated mostly on the West coast, where Sikhs immigrated a century ago, often coming for jobs. They quickly moved into farming, mining and lumber industries in both countries. Manka Dhingra, an attorney based in Redmond, Washington, became the first U.S. Sikh woman to be elected to a state legislature in 2017, when she won a seat in the state senate.

The museum in Abbotsford tells of the ordeals Sikhs have suffered through the centuries. On its west side is a large bronze sculpture showing Punjabi Sikhs battling Mughals, a Muslim dynasty that ruled northern India between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Passengers on board the “Komogata Maru” in English Bay, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1914. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia/Creative Commons

On the east side is a paved courtyard with benches and a series of panels titled “Racism Meets Reliance.” It chronicles a three-monthlong standoff in mid-1914 when the Komagata Maru, a steamship whose 376 passengers were predominantly Sikhs, was stranded in the Burrard Inlet and not allowed to dock due to racist attitudes, despite many of the passengers having served in the British armed forces. The ship was forced to sail to India, where 200 of the surviving passengers ended up in prison.

Word of this incident spread, but little was done for decades. A letter of apology from the provincial legislative assembly, dated May 23, 2008, hangs in the museum. Stephen Harper, then prime minister of Canada, did apologize to a gathering of Sikhs, but it wasn’t until 2016 that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized in Parliament.

On the top floor of the museum building is the Gur Sikh Temple, the oldest Sikh house of worship in North America, founded by families who had moved to the area from India.

The Gur Sikh Temple in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Photo by JacobSimmonds /Wikimedia/Creative Commons

“It was a farming community,” said Alysha Mahil, coordinator of the South Asian Studies Institute for the University of the Fraser Valley. “Back in India, land holdings were shrinking, and there was opportunity here.” Word of a good life in the New World drew the rural poor from around the globe.

Near the museum entrance is a pole called a “nishan sahib,” atop which flies the Sikh flag. In its early days, a light was mounted on it to alert Sikh immigrants in the United States (whose border is close to downtown Abbotsford) that it was safe to come visit their Canadian brethren.

Across the street, a much larger gurdwara, the Khalsa Diwan Society, is open all day and serves free vegetarian meals on the ground floor. Upstairs, there are screens with Sikh texts in Punjabi with English translations. The vast room is all in blue carpet with a blue-and-gold domed ceiling and a platform up front with Sikh Scriptures under ornate fabric.

The gurdwara is just one strand in Vancouver’s rich religious tapestry. Along the Number 5 Road in Richmond, a suburb close to Vancouver airport, are some 20 houses of worship in a single mile on what’s informally known as the “highway to heaven”: Buddhist temples, a small Hindu worship space, a large Shia mosque, numerous Chinese-language churches, a Jewish school and a Christian school and another Sikh gurdwara.

Abbotsford’s museum shows how long and twisting the history of Number 5 Road’s diversity has been.

Christian nationalists have provoked a pluralist resistance

Those fighting for our democracy should be making headlines, too.

Image by Gerd Altmann/Pixabay/Creative Commons
April 21, 2023
By
Ruth Braunstein
(RNS) — Christian nationalism — the idea that being Christian is core to the American identity — is nothing new, either in American religious culture or its politics. But it used to be a radical proposal, and holding Christian nationalist views disqualified politicians and even clergy from higher leadership. Recently, however, it has been embraced as a badge of honor. A sitting member of Congress has sold “Proud Christian Nationalist” T-shirts on her website. Books defending Christian nationalism are given serious discussion. And according to a recent survey from PRRI, nearly one-third of Americans now hold Christian nationalist attitudes.
These developments rightfully raise concern. But there is another, relatively untold, side of this story: The most recent rise of Christian nationalism has ignited a wave of resistance.
According to PRRI, Americans who have heard of Christian nationalism are twice as likely to hold a negative than a positive view of the term. These Americans also reject the specific ideas associated with the ideology. Indeed, the 3 in 10 Americans that PRRI found who align with Christian nationalism to some degree are opposed by nearly the same percentage (29%) who completely reject the ideas associated with Christian nationalism. Another 39% is skeptical.
Most importantly, these Americans are joining a growing movement I call the pluralist resistance. They are taking action through a diverse set of organizations that each tackles a different dimension of Christian nationalism’s influence.

RELATED: Five charts that explain the desperate turn to MAGA among conservative white Christians
One pivotal front of this battle is in the nation’s churches. Conservative Christians, lured by new online platforms and hyper-partisanship, have been sucked into a vortex of right-wing disinformation, conspiracy theories and fear. They are repeatedly told by right-wing influencers and politicians that Christians need to “take their country back.” Mistrustful of outsiders, these believers can only be convinced of the threat Christian nationalism holds for our democracy and to Christianity itself if other Christians are doing the talking.
Doug Pagitt, center, speaks during a Vote Common Good rally at a United Church of Christ in Fresno, California, on Jan. 19, 2020. Video screen grab
Christians Against Christian Nationalism and Vote Common Good are the most visible of the groups attempting just that. Amanda Tyler of the Baptist Joint Committee, which leads the Christians Against Christian Nationalism coalition, has been speaking around the country to raise alarms about the dangers of Christian nationalism. Last December, she testified before a House subcommittee about the role Christian nationalism played in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
Vote Common Good recently completed a “March on Christian Nationalism” campaign, which builds on the group’s year-round work to educate Christians about how to identify and confront Christian Nationalism through podcasts, webinars and a state-of-the art training program, titled “Confronting Christian Nationalism Curriculum,” for faith community leaders and individuals.
Meanwhile the Poor People’s Campaign, a social movement led by the Rev. William Barber II and the Rev. Liz Theoharis, attacks Christian nationalism in the arena of policy and politics. The group has identified Christian nationalism as “a key pillar of injustice in America that provides cover for a host of other ills” and is leading a multiracial and multi-faith “moral movement” to confront it in the minutia of public policy, but also in demonstrations outside statehouses and the nation’s Capitol buildings.
In their policy fights, the Poor People’s Campaign challenges a Christian nationalist mythology of scarcity set against a mythologized past of plenty, but only for those who “belong.” Activists like Barber and Theoharis draw up a narrative in which patriotic citizens work together toward a more perfect, inclusive and abundant future that lives up to the country’s founding ideals.
Poor People’s Campaign co-chair the Rev. Liz Theoharis speaks during the announcement of a new resolution titled “Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty and Low Wages From the Bottom Up,” May 20, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins
Corporations, motivated by profit not politics, also recognize their influence over how we understand what it means to be an American. Over the objections of right-wing critics, companies such as Coca-Cola use their advertising to promote an image of a racially and religiously diverse and thriving America that is “beautiful.”
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is among the legal nonprofits challenging demands for religious privilege under the guise of religious freedom, as Christian nationalist extremists seek to impose laws on abortion, public school curricula and other issues to force conformity with their religio-political worldview.
Finally, philanthropies, including one funding collective calling themselves “New Pluralists,” are taking the lead in helping local communities by funding projects that attempt to repair the frayed bonds of democracy.
Pluralism is not new. Since the early 1990s, Harvard’s Pluralism Project has tracked the country’s growing religious diversity and corresponding efforts to promote a pluralistic culture and politics. But my research suggests that projects to promote pluralism tend to emerge in waves, in response to different opportunities and threats, like rising religious diversity; the rise of Islamophobia after Sept. 11; and now ascendant Christian nationalism. Each wave builds on previous efforts, while also bringing new players into the fold.
What’s different about today’s wave of pluralist resistance is that it has attracted greater numbers of white Christians to a field previously led by non-white Christians and people of other faiths. This is important given the privileged position that white Christians have long enjoyed in American politics and society.
RELATED: In North Idaho, religious and secular activists work to fight Christian nationalism
Christian privilege is so baked into our society that it is often hard to recognize it and it offers cover for some Christian nationalist arguments. But Christian privilege is rooted in demographic power, not divine right. As demographic shifts change the face of power in America, we are better able to imagine what a truly pluralist culture might look like. The participation of a more racially and religiously diverse cohort of leaders in the current fight is helping all Americans to be more conscious of this historical barrier to pluralism.
Ruth Braunstein. Courtesy photo
Deep cultural and political change is never easy. But with a diverse majority of Americans on their side, these leaders are making inroads. As Christian nationalists take advantage of a moment of political precarity to call for a turn toward authoritarian theocracy, the press should be paying attention to those rising up to preserve democracy in America. The leaders of the resistance are on the front lines of this war. They should be making headlines, too.
(Ruth Braunstein is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut and the director of the Meanings of Democracy Lab. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

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AFRICAN JONESTOWN

As death toll mounts in Kenya church, local clergy wonder at scale of indoctrination

Most of the exhumed bodies have been children’s, but the extreme indoctrination of their parents has shocked clerics and religious analysts.

Police and local residents load the exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult into the back of a truck in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southeastern Kenya on April 23, 2023. Dozens of bodies have been discovered so far in shallow graves in a forest near land owned by a pastor, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death. (AP Photo)

April 25, 2023

Fredrick Nzwili

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — In an expansive forest near Kenya’s southern coast, detectives have been exhuming bodies of people who starved to death to go to “heaven,” allegedly at the orders of a Christian pastor.

Anger and shock gripped the East African nation as families learned Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, the leader of the Good News International Church, ordered members to pray and fast to death so they could meet Jesus. When the people died, Nthenge and other members reportedly buried their bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola, an 800-acre forest ranch near Malindi, a tourist town on the Indian Ocean.

“Shakahola” means “a place of treating people’s problems,” according to retired Anglican Bishop Julius Kalu of Mombasa, whose home is near the area. Kalu wonders if the place’s meaning held a special appeal to Nthenge.

“When he bought the land in Shakahola, he told the people that he wanted to practice farming,” Kalu told Religion News Service.

“It got us by surprise. I do not know where he got this kind of theology. Christians pray and fast, but they don’t do it until their death,” he said. “I think we could not detect it because most of the victims are people from upcountry. The area is also sparsely populated.”

The death toll now stands at 90, with 26 new bodies exhumed Monday (April 24) from the mass graves in the ranch. Local teams anticipate more bodies in the ongoing search — the Kenyan Red Cross Society said on Sunday that 112 people had been reported missing to a tracing desk it set up near where the church was located — and Kenyans from different parts of the country have traveled to the area searching for their relatives.

Many are decrying the Good News International Church as a cult and calling Nthenge a cult leader.

“It’s indeed a worrying trend to watch how many desperate and innocent Kenyans are being spiritually terrorized or swindled by multiple fake pastors and cultic leaders,” said Roman Catholic Bishop Wilybard Kitogho Lagho of the Malindi Diocese on April 24. “What makes cultism a complicated phenomena to deal with is that cult followers believe their religious, sect or cult leader is always right, and their leader has the exclusive means of knowing ‘truth.’”

Pastor Paul Makenzi, who was arrested on suspicion of telling his followers to fast to death in order to meet Jesus, accompanied by some of his followers, appears at a court in Malindi, Kenya on Monday, April 17, 2023. Kenya's president William Ruto said Monday, April 23 that the starvation deaths of dozens of followers of the pastor is akin to terrorism. (AP Photo)

Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who was arrested on suspicion of telling his followers to fast to death in order to meet Jesus, accompanied by some of his followers, appears at a court in Malindi, Kenya, on April 17, 2023. Kenya’s President William Ruto said on April 23, 2023, that the starvation deaths of dozens of followers of the pastor are akin to terrorism. (AP Photo)

The horrors began unfolding on April 14 when police raided the Nthenge compound on a tip that some people were starving to death there. They found 15 emaciated people, including four who later died. The survivors said they were following the pastor’s instructions to starve in order to meet Jesus.

Kenya’s President William Samoei Ruto described the incidents at the ranch as “akin to terrorism,” saying terrorists use religion to advance their heinous acts.

“People like Mackenzie are using religion to do exactly that,” said Ruto.

Religious leaders and human rights campaigners have criticized the pastor’s actions as an abuse of Kenya’s right to freedom of worship. Kenya is majority Christian: About 85% of the country’s nearly 53 million population is Christian, while about 10% are Muslim.

“While the state remains respectful of religious freedom, the horrendous blight on the conscience must lead not only to the most severe punishment, but tighter regulation of every church, mosque, temple or synagogue going forward,” said Kindiki Kithure, Kenya’s Interior Cabinet secretary.

Most of the exhumed bodies have been children’s, but the extreme indoctrination of their parents has shocked clerics and religious analysts. Many of them sold all their belongings or left good-paying jobs to join the pastor at the ranch. The promise was simple: “Come and meet Jesus and go to heaven.”

Some scholars highlight the pastor’s actions and teachings as an example of heretical Christian theology, a surging problem in Africa. Such practices arise out of Christian teachings but ignore the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ or challenge or misrepresent the divine sovereignty of God, notes the Rev. Gibson Ezekiel Lesmore, an official at the All Africa conference of Churches.

“It is an example of misleading theologies. However, it is also demonic. The pastor should be treated as a deadly criminal,” said Lesmore.

The exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult are laid out in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya Sunday, April 23, 2023. Dozens of bodies have been discovered so far in shallow graves on land owned by a pastor Paul Makenzi in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death. (AP Photo)

The exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult are laid out in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya on April 23, 2023. Dozens of bodies have been discovered so far in shallow graves on land owned by a pastor, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death. (AP Photo)

Media reports describe Nthenge as a dynamic and charismatic speaker and an author of books on Christian living and spirituality. He started the church in Malindi in 2003. However, he was forced out of the town in 2015 after a controversy over the kind of religious teaching he was giving to children. It was then that he settled in the forest.

In November 2019, the pastor announced the closure of the church and his digital television station, saying the message God had given him was already delivered. In May the same year, at a magistrate’s court in Malindi, he faced charges of disobeying the law, religious incitement and indoctrination of children. Earlier, he had been found with films that discouraged children from attending school. The films also incited the children against Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. The court had released him on a Kenya Shilling 1 million bond with an alternative of 500,000 cash bail.

In 2017, police raided his church and rescued 93 children. He was arraigned in court on charges of radicalization and teaching in an unregistered school. The pastor denied the charges and was released on bond.

Nthenge demanded that his adherents stop sending their children to school and that they burn all academic certificates. He also banned women from shaving their hair and the sick from seeking treatment in hospitals. Church members were required to live on his ranch.

“We need to review the proposed state laws and amend them where necessary to ensure such rogue preachers are exposed and denied space for their dangerous activities,” said Lagho.

Kenya starvation cult 'massacre' toll hits 90 as search paused

Dylan GAMBA

AFP
Tue, Apr 25, 2023

The death toll from a suspected Kenyan starvation cult climbed to 90 on Tuesday, including many children, as police said investigators were pausing the search for bodies because the morgues were full.

The discovery of mass graves in Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi has shocked Kenyans, with cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge accused of driving his followers to death by preaching that starvation was the only path to God.

There are fears more corpses could be found as search teams unearthed 17 bodies on Tuesday, with investigators saying children made up the majority of victims of what has been dubbed the "Shakahola Forest Massacre".

Kenya's government has vowed to crack down on fringe religious outfits in the largely Christian country.

"We don't know how many more graves, how many more bodies, we are likely to discover," Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki told reporters, adding the crimes were serious enough to warrant terrorism charges against Nthenge.

"Those who urged others to fast and die were eating and drinking and they were purporting that they were preparing them to meet their creator."

The majority of the dead were children, according to three sources close to the investigation, highlighting the macabre nature of the cult's alleged practices which included urging parents to starve their offspring.

"The majority of the bodies exhumed are children," a forensic investigator told AFP on condition of anonymity.

- 'The horror is traumatising' -

An officer from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) also confirmed that children accounted for more than half of the victims, followed by women.

Hussein Khalid, executive director of the rights group Haki Africa that tipped off the police to Nthenge's activities, told AFP that the cult appeared to require children to starve first, followed by women, and finally men.

He said 50 to 60 percent of the victims were children, whose bodies were found wrapped in cotton shrouds.

"The horror that we have seen over the last four days is traumatising. Nothing prepares you for shallow mass graves of children," he said.

Investigators told AFP they found bodies squeezed into shallow pits -- with up to six people inside one grave -- while others were simply left exposed in the open air.

As the fatalities mounted, the DCI officer told AFP that search teams would have to pause their efforts until autopsies were completed.

"We won't dig for a couple of days, so we have time to do the autopsies because the mortuaries are full," he said on condition of anonymity.

The state-run Malindi Sub-County Hospital had warned that its morgue was running out of space to store the bodies and was already operating well over capacity.

"The hospital mortuary has a capacity of 40 bodies," said the hospital's administrator Said Ali, adding that officials had reached out to the Kenya Red Cross for refrigerated containers.

Kindiki said 34 people had been found alive so far in the 325-hectare (800-acre) area of woodland.

It is believed that some followers of Nthenge's Good News International Church could still be hiding in the bush around Shakahola and at risk of death if not quickly found.

- 'Unacceptable ideology' -

Kenya's President William Ruto has vowed to take action against rogue pastors like Nthenge "who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology", comparing them to terrorists.

As the investigation unfolds, questions have emerged about how the cult was able to operate undetected despite Nthenge attracting police attention six years ago.

The televangelist had been arrested in 2017 on charges of "radicalisation" after urging families not to send their children to school, saying education was not recognised by the Bible.

Nthenge was arrested again last month, according to local media, after two children starved to death in the custody of their parents.

He was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($700) before surrendering to police following the Shakahola raid.

Nthenge is due to appear in court on May 2.

The Kenya Red Cross said 212 people had been reported missing to its support staff in Malindi, out of which two were reunited with their families.

The case has prompted calls for tighter control of fringe denominations in a country with a troubling history of self-declared pastors and cults that have dabbled in criminality.

str-ho-dyg-amu/txw/gw

'Abusing scripture': The rise of Kenya's Christian cults

Hillary ORINDE
Tue, April 25, 2023

"Jesus told me that the work he gave me had come to an end," said Kenyan self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, explaining his 2019 decision to close the Good News International Church.

But the notorious televangelist instead led his followers deep into the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi, allegedly convincing them to starve to death to meet God.

The discovery last week of mass graves topped with crucifixes -- many housing the remains of children apparently starved by their parents -- has shocked Kenya.

Yet the country is no stranger to larger-than-life pastors preaching fire and brimstone sermons and predicting the end of the world, with attempts to regulate religion running into fierce opposition in the largely Christian nation.

There are more than 4,000 churches registered in the East African country of around 50 million people, according to government figures.

Some preach the so-called prosperity gospel, urging members to donate heavily to church coffers in order to improve their own financial fortunes.

Others operate with much darker consequences.

All tend to be dominated by leaders who exercise virtually unlimited control over members' lives, twisting the Bible to promote their authority.

Nthenge's YouTube channel posted flashy videos about "demonic" practices such as wearing wigs and using mobile money to an audience of some 6,000 subscribers.

"Most of these self-styled pastors have never stepped a foot in any theological college", Stephen Akaranga, professor of religion at the University of Nairobi, told AFP.

But the lack of theological education makes little difference to their flock, he acknowledged, adding that in recent years, such churches have mushroomed across rural Kenya, "where people have little information about schooling".

- Toxic impact -

A toxic cocktail of poverty, poor education and easy access to entertaining online sermons have helped these cults thrive in Kenya, to deadly effect.

In 2018, news emerged of a family that lost seven children within four years because their organisation, Kanitha wa Ngai (Church of God), did not believe in using hospitals and modern medicine.

The same year, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) warned citizens to watch out for a cult called Young Blud Saints targeting university students.

"Members are expected to sacrifice what they love most to prove loyalty to the organisation," the DCI said in a statement, urging "parents to keep a keen eye on their children to deter them from being recruited to such evil organisations".

But Kenyan cults have managed to evade the law even after repeatedly attracting police attention.

Nthenge himself fell foul of the law in 2017 after he was accused of urging children not to attend school, claiming the Bible did not recognise education.

He was arrested again as recently as last month, after two children starved to death in the custody of their parents.

He denied the allegations and was released on bail, meeting reporters at his Malindi home and even taking them on a tour of his church.

The grisly findings in what has been dubbed the "Shakahola Forest Massacre" case and the mounting death toll -- currently at 90 -- have prompted calls to regulate religion in Kenya.

"The horror that we have seen over the last four days is traumatising," said Hussein Khalid, executive director of the rights group Haki Africa that tipped off police about Nthenge's actions.

"Nothing prepares you for shallow mass graves of children," he told AFP.

- 'Nobody cares' -

President William Ruto has pledged a crackdown on "unacceptable" religious movements, comparing their leaders to terrorists -- a position echoed by Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki.

"What happened here in Shakahola is the turning point of how Kenya handles serious threats to security posed by religious extremists," Kindiki said Tuesday during a visit to the site.

"The purported use of the Bible to kill people, to cause widespread massacre of innocent civilians cannot be tolerated."

Even clerics have flagged the need for regulation.

"These are people who have misinterpreted and are abusing scripture rather than using them the right way," said Calisto Odede, presiding bishop of the Pentecostal denomination, Christ Is The Answer Ministries.

"We need to be able to vet the messages we are hearing from some preachers."

Efforts at regulation will likely run into stiff resistance however, with Odede saying Monday that independent churches have previously rejected suggestions on self-monitoring from the National Council of Churches of Kenya.

Fifteen people, including Nthenge, are in custody over the Shakahola deaths.

The government has threatened to charge Nthenge with terrorism, but academic Akaranga expressed doubts about whether the gruesome saga would lead to a more robust approach to cults.

"So long as you are dancing and making noise, nobody cares."

ho/amu/txw/gw

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment