Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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1. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

2. 

   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

3. 

   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

4. 

   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

5. 

   Yes, if I’ve got anything remotely like a phobia, as an ex-fundy, its bibles, churches, tracts etc. I like to…

GOOD News International Ministries, led by a Kenyan pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, inset above, has been forced to close, along with four other “extremists” churches, including the Helicopter Church of Christ in Nairobi.

Religion News Service reports that Kenya’s Registrar of Societies deregisted the death cult, founded in 2003 with an “End Times” message.

Earlier this year, authorities learned that Mackenzie had been asking his followers to fast themselves to death in order to meet Jesus. Those who complied were quickly buried in shallow graves in the expansive Shakahola forest in the coastal county of Kilifi.

By August the total number of deaths in what is being called the Shakahola starvation massacre had reached 427.

Mackenzie remains in prison in Mombasa, where he has been held since surrendering to authorities in April. On August 8, the court allowed the police to detain him for another 47 days to allow the completion of their investigation.

He faces charges of cruelty toward children, kidnapping and murder, in addition to terrorism. Most of his victims died of starvation, but others were said to be suffocated, strangled or beaten to death.

Image via YouTube

The registrar also outlawed the New Life Prayer Centre, a fast-growing church in Kilifi owned by Pastor Ezekiel Odero, above, who is being investigated on suspicion of money laundering, aiding suicide and radicalisation.

Also banned are Kings Outreach Church and the Theophilus Church in Nairobi, suspected of “cultic activities.”

The Rev. Joachim Omollo Ouko, a Catholic priest in the Kisumu archdiocese in Western Kenya, said;

Some of these groups lack the features that make a church. We have just seen them emerging. We don’t know which theological schools their leaders attended. We only see their leaders emerging and seeking to be glorified. These leaders should be questioned and checked.

Soon after the Shakahola deaths, renewed calls came for the closer regulation of faith, but religious leaders resisted the move, saying the Shakahola massacre was “an isolated crime.”

In May, President William Ruto announced a task force to review Kenya’s legal and regulatory governance of religious organisations to identify gaps in the law that allow the growth of extremist groups in the country.

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