This archive report was first published on 21 July 2019.
July 21, 2019
Religion has long been a powerful force in human history, capable of inspiring great acts of kindness and generosity, but also of unleashing destructive fervor. The story of Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life to serving the poor, is a testament to the former, while the tale of Esther Arunga, a former TV anchor who abandoned her career and family to follow a charismatic pastor, illustrates the latter.
Arunga's story sparked a wider conversation about the risks of blind devotion, with many sharing their own experiences of making sacrifices for their faith. For Peter Maina, a follower of the Tanakh Assembly group, this meant abandoning his family and job to pursue a 'clean slate' preached by the group's leader, Antoine Zeigler. Maina's wife was not supportive of his decision to bring another woman into their marriage, and his dreadlocks made his employer uncomfortable.
'The creator never rescinded the first command to be fruitful and multiply,' Zeigler said in a past interview, justifying polygamy as a biblical practice. 'Europeans legislated monogamy for colonial reasons - basically to control populations.'
But not everyone who follows a charismatic leader is so fortunate. Irene Ocholla still struggles to come to terms with how her mother was 'stolen' by a church in Nairobi, where she spent most of her nights and gave away their belongings to support the pastor's vision.
Fr Joachim Gitonga, a priest with decades of experience, warns that congregations often fail to read the Bible critically, leading them to follow false prophets. 'Not everyone who is preaching has God's word in them,' he says. 'Some are being pushed by the devil, so when you take all they say, you end up in trouble.'
Dr Lincon Khasakhala, a lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Nairobi, suggests that people who engage in abnormal religious practices may be suffering from a mental disorder. 'If they are delusional and do things that come off as bizarre, it could be a mood disorder which is fairly common, or they could be psychotic,' he says.
Pastor Gregory Kivanguli, a lecturer at Kenya Methodist University, recommends desensitization and counseling as therapy for those who have been affected by extremist religious practices.
