https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/6/kenya-religious-cult-leader-29-others-charged-with-murder-of-191-children
Kenya religious cult leader, 29 others charged with murder of 191 children
Kenyan cult leader Paul NthengeMackenzie and 29 associates were on Tuesday charged with the murder of 191 children whose bodies were found among hundreds of people buried in a forest.
Mackenzie was arrested for allegedly directing his followers to fast to death in order to meet Jesus.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven before the world ended, in one of the world’s worst cult-related disasters in recent history.
The 191 children were among the 425 victims found in the Shakahola forest in coastal Kenya last year.
The former taxi driver turned self-proclaimed pastor has already been charged with “terrorism”, manslaughter as well as child torture and cruelty. He was arrested in April last year after bodies were found in the Shakahola forest.
Autopsies revealed that the majority of the 429 victims had died of hunger. But others, including children, appeared to have been strangled, beaten, or suffocated.
The case, dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”, led the government to flag the need for tighter control of fringe denominations.
A largely Christian nation, Kenya has struggled to regulate unscrupulous churches and cults that dabble in criminality.
@vivify saidWe dealt with this matter before in another thread about another African pastor who abused people in the church. This is not a matter specific to churches or any religion or lack of religion. People can be very stupid regardless of their race, colour, religious beliefs, country of origin etc etc. Stupidity leads to poor decision-making, and the consequences can be fatal. It really is a very simple thing.
Religious people often claim "atheism is a cult" or "evolution is a cult".
Well, no one dies from those alleged "cults". Countless die because of religious ones.
@vivify saidWell, there is also the part of history where the Soviets executed over 300,000 Orthodox clergy and the Khmer Rouge killed so many Buddhist monks and nuns and drove so many to exile that now the history of Cambodian Buddhism can only be known from resources left in Thailand...
Religious people often claim "atheism is a cult" or "evolution is a cult".
Well, no one dies from those alleged "cults". Countless die because of religious ones.
But I suppose that is not something you'd be interested in talking about.
@vivify saidYou may be one of the first people I've heard make this claim about what "religious people often claim" about atheism and evolution. I can't recall anyone making it here on this forum over the last 15+ years despite some of the boneheaded superstitious people there have been. Maybe there were some and I've forgotten. If I do encounter them, to what extent do you think I should worry about what they think?
Religious people often claim "atheism is a cult" or "evolution is a cult".
@vivify saidA largely Christian nation, Kenya has struggled to regulate unscrupulous churches and cults that dabble in criminality.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/6/kenya-religious-cult-leader-29-others-charged-with-murder-of-191-children
Kenya religious cult leader, 29 others charged with murder of 191 children
Kenyan cult leader Paul NthengeMackenzie and 29 associates were on Tuesday charged with the murder of 191 children whose bodies were found among hundreds of people buried ...[text shortened]... Kenya has struggled to regulate unscrupulous churches and cults that dabble in criminality.
Kenyan cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is little different than Jim Jones, David Koresh and other cult leaders These people use religion to hold sway over others, driven a by greed and lust for power. Their reigns are often short lived, and don't end well.
Kenya, and most of the sub-Sarahann African countries struggle with political and economic corruption, failure to provide basic services to it's citizens, and 3rd world economies. Its governing leaders are little more than greedy corrupt dictators in suits. These countries have little resources to curb cult leaders because their dear leaders steal most of the money.
88d
@philokalia saidFascist states and dictatorships are cults of a different kind.
Well, there is also the part of history where the Soviets executed over 300,000 Orthodox clergy and the Khmer Rouge killed so many Buddhist monks and nuns and drove so many to exile that now the history of Cambodian Buddhism can only be known from resources left in Thailand...
But I suppose that is not something you'd be interested in talking about.
It is not healthy for any leader to have unquestioned power.
I'm not sure why you would think religious skeptics would do anything other than condemn these examples as flagrant abuses of power / genocides.
