• From the streets to house of God, saga has had outsized effect on believers' psyche
Image: PIXABAY
"It's been hard," Job Otieno admits.
He is a Christian preacher who usually spends weekdays sharing Biblical teachings with travellers in public transport vehicles at Nairobi's River Road. Otieno says the horror news from Pr Paul Mackenzie's cult in Shakahola has tarnished the image of all preachers.
"Nowadays, I get into buses to preach and some people shout at me to go to Shakahola. It's very discouraging," he explains. Even where his audience is calm, he has noticed a marked lack of interest in his sermons.
"People used to give me offerings whenever I preached before their journeys, but since the Shakahola story broke, people are not giving as much as they used to," Otieno says. "Some people are saying they won't go to church any more because pastors are liars."
The effects of the Shakahola cult are being felt in churches all across the country. It's almost as though Pr Mackenzie's doings have broken the trust the Christian flock have in their "Wachungaji" (shepherds).
Tom Jalio, a journalist in Nairobi, doesn't usually pay attention to street preachers. However, he recently heard one referring to changing attitudes among the public. "It caught my ear when he started lamenting about being bundled together with Shakahola," Jalio recalls.
Mackenzie is not the first rogue preacher in Kenya. Many other cases have emerged in the past, where clerics were accused of financial fraud, false teachings and psychologically exploiting their followers.
Mackenzie's case is unusual because of the large number of people who died in his cult. As of the start of this week (May 29), the official death count was 241. Government officials, including Interior CS Prof Kithure Kindiki, believe there are more victims buried at Shakahola.
NEED FOR CONTROL
Joel Mwanganda, a taxi driver and part-time Christian preacher in Taita Taveta county, believes it's time to control the proliferation of churches. "There are too many churches being formed in the villages, and they are all competing for the same believers. The intense competition is driving some pastors to turn to witchcraft, thinking it will help them attract more people," Mwanganda says.
Pastor Mwanganda narrates a case where witchcraft paraphernalia was found in a preacher's bedroom. "It was during the Covid-19 lockdowns. That preacher had travelled upcountry but could not return to the Coast after the government declared a lockdown," he recalls.
"After several months of not receiving rent, the preacher's landlord decided to break into the house to prepare it for a new tenant. That's when they encountered strange objects under the preacher's bed. It's shocking that a Christian was using witchcraft to attract followers!"
The behaviour of rogue clerics has led to a growing movement of Christians wanting to experience spirituality without organised religion. Some Christians, as well as members of other faiths, are starting to identify as "spiritual but not religious" in an apparent rejection of churches.
Prof Amy Hollywood, a religious scholar at Harvard University, says the "spiritual but not religious" movement is motivated by presumptions that thinking and acting within an existing religious tradition risks making one less spiritual.
"With the phrase (spiritual but not religious) generally comes the presumption that religion has to do with doctrines, dogmas and ritual practices, whereas spirituality has to do with the heart, feeling and experience," she says. Supporters of that line of thought criticise organised religion as something inert, arid and dead.
Prof Hollywood questions the idea that individuals can separate themselves from a community of fellow believers. "If we are born into sets of practices, beliefs and affective relationships that are essential to who we are and who we become, can we ever claim the kind of radical freedom that some contemporary spiritual seekers seem to demand?" she asks.
Street preacher Pr Job Otieno strongly asserts that there's no Christianity without the church. "Those saying they can be Christians without going to church are only fooling themselves," Otieno says. "The Bible tells us the Kingdom of God belongs to those who worship together."
CHURCH ZAPPING
Disillusion with mainstream churches has given rise to the phenomenon of "church zapping", whereby people stay at home to watch church services and evangelical crusades on television. According to a report titled, "Christian Forms of Religion in Kenya," by Yvan Droz and Yonatan Gez, church zapping is growing because of discontent with pastors who live lavishly while their congregations languish in poverty.
Indeed religious television channels have grown in number since the advent of digital TV in 2014. The Media Council of Kenya's list of registered TV stations shows at least 20 of them are religious. The list does not include TV channels operating exclusively on social media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube. Worth noting is that Pr Mackenzie recruited followers from across the country through his now-closed TV channel.
Rogue clerics have certainly tarnished the reputation of the church, leading to calls for strict regulation. The Religious Societies Rules proposed in 2016 would have required clerics (of all religions) to be licensed only after showing proof of theological training from recognised institutions. However, the proposals were withdrawn in the face of public pressure.
Despite the Shakahola horrors, opinion on regulating religion remains split. In April, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) expressed support for tighter regulation. The organisation argued that the regulation of churches would protect the public from cult leaders.
On the other hand, Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi (also known as Pastor Dorcas) argues that regulating churches would amount to restricting the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution. "When it comes to matters divine, they better leave it to us and our God. The more you try to persecute the church, the bigger and greater it becomes," she said.
A section of Christian clerics at the Coast have called on the government to identify rogue elements and deal with them as individuals without resorting to arbitrary control of religion.
"The church and other people reported Mackenzie's activities and teachings to the relevant authorities early enough for investigation," Bishop Peter Mwero, the National Council of Churches of Kenya Coast regional chairman, said in remarks published by the Kenya News Agency.
Debate is raging over how much supervision the state should impose on religion. There are valid arguments on either side of the fence, but the Shakahola horrors have shaken the confidence of Christian believers in the Church. If the clergy don't find mechanisms for resolving the concerns of the Christian faithful, more believers may repudiate organised religion. They might join those who say they are spiritual but not religious.