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Tag: Evangelical Christianity

  • Takeaways from AP’s report updating the cult massacre that claimed hundreds of lives in Kenya

    Takeaways from AP’s report updating the cult massacre that claimed hundreds of lives in Kenya

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    In one of the deadliest cult-related massacres ever, the remains of more than 430 victims have been recovered since police raided Good News International Church in a forest some 70 kilometers (40 miles) inland from the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi.

    Seventeen months later, many in the area are still shaken by what happened despite repeated warnings about the church’s leader.

    Autopsies on more than 100 bodies showed deaths from starvation, strangulation, suffocation, and injuries sustained from blunt objects. A gravedigger, Shukran Karisa Mangi, said he believed more mass graves were yet to be discovered. At least 600 people are reported missing, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

    Here are some details about the case.

    The evangelical leader of Good News, Paul Mackenzie, is accused of instructing his followers to starve to death for the opportunity to meet Jesus. Mackenzie pleaded not guilty to charges in the murders of 191 children, multiple counts of manslaughter and other crimes. If convicted, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

    Some in Malindi who spoke to The Associated Press said Mackenzie’s confidence while in custody showed the wide-ranging power some evangelists project even as their teachings undermine government authority, break the law, or harm followers desperate for healing and other miracles.

    It’s not only Mackenzie, said Thomas Kakala, a self-described bishop with the Malindi-based Jesus Cares Ministry International, referring to questionable pastors he knew in the capital Nairobi. “You look at them. If you are sober and you want to hear the word of God, you wouldn’t go to their church. But the place is packed.”

    A man like Mackenzie, who refused to join the fellowship of pastors in Malindi and rarely quoted Scripture, could thrive in a country like Kenya, said Kakala. Six detectives have been suspended for ignoring multiple warnings about Mackenzie’s illegal activities.

    Kakala said he felt discouraged in his attempts to discredit Mackenzie years ago. The evangelist had played a tape of Kakala on his TV station and declared him an enemy. Kakala felt threatened.

    Mackenzie, a former street vendor and cab driver with a high-school education, apprenticed with a Malindi preacher in the late 1990s. There, in the laid-back tourist town, he opened his own church in 2003.

    A charismatic preacher, he was said to perform miracles and exorcisms, and could be generous with his money. His followers included teachers and police officers. They came to Malindi from across Kenya, giving Mackenzie national prominence that spread the pain of the deaths across the country.

    The first complaints against Mackenzie concerned his opposition to formal schooling and vaccination. He was briefly detained in 2019 for opposing the government’s efforts to assign national identification numbers to Kenyans, saying the numbers were satanic.

    He closed his Malindi church premises later that year and urged his congregation to follow him to Shakahola, where he leased 800 acres of forest inhabited by elephants and big cats.

    Church members paid small sums to own plots in Shakahola. They were required to build houses and live in villages with biblical names like Nazareth, according to survivors. They said Mackenzie grew more demanding, with people from different villages forbidden from communicating or gathering.

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, which witnesses said strengthened Mackenzie’s vision of the end times, the leader ordered more rigorous fasting that became even more stringent by the end of 2022. Parents were forbidden from feeding their children, witnesses said.

    Like much of East Africa, Kenya is dominated by Christians. While many are Anglican or Catholic, evangelical Christianity has been spreading widely since the 1980s. Many pastors style their ministries in the manner of successful U.S. televangelists, investing in broadcasting and advertising.

    Many of Africa’s evangelical churches are run like sole proprietorships, without the guidance of trustee boards or laity. Pastors are often unaccountable, deriving authority from their perceived ability to perform miracles or make prophecies. Some, like Mackenzie, can seem all-powerful.

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • How women of color with Christian and progressive values are keeping the faith — outside churches

    How women of color with Christian and progressive values are keeping the faith — outside churches

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    Brandi Brown has yet to find a Black church near her Southern California home that feels right for her. So when she wants to talk about God, she relies on someone over a thousand miles (1,600 kilometers) away.

    Like her, Ellen Lo Hoffman, who lives just outside Seattle and is Chinese American, is a progressive Christian. They have known each other through a Christian fellowship for six years. But for the past three years, Hoffman has supported Brown, a former minister, through monthly virtual chats.

    “How Black women and how women of color experience God is different than how other people experience God,” said Brown, who is Black. “If I imagine myself, like, sitting on a bench trying to talk to God, Ellen is there too — to sit on the bench with me and point out observations and allow me to interpret things that I’m experiencing.”

    For some Christian progressives, the lack of acknowledgement by their churches or ministries of the 2020 racial reckoning was the final push to go elsewhere. Some women of color have been disappointed and upset by evangelical Christian churches — both predominantly white and multiracial — whose leaders failed to openly decry racism or homophobia. Traditional pastors and other leaders often see congregants’ concerns through a patriarchal lens, leaving many feeling dismissed or overlooked. Still, others said they felt alienated by evangelical supporters of former President Donald Trump, with whom they disagree on politics.

    Many are now finding solace and reaffirming their faith on their own terms through what they call “spiritual directors,” who are not necessarily priests, pastors, counselors or therapists, but can help others explore thoughts about God or broader concepts around a higher power.

    With nearly 24 years of ministry leadership experience, Hoffman has been a self-employed spiritual director for the past seven years. The 2014 death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer was a pivotal moment for her. She gathered staff members of color, as the associate regional director of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, in a discussion.

    Hoffman came away vowing to be a better ally.

    So when the murder of George Floyd and anti-Asian hate crimes soon dominated national conversation, Hoffman wanted to do more than march in protests and facilitate bystander training. She said she noticed that a lot of people of color needed “care in the midst of racial trauma.” So with her husband, she created Soul Reparations, a nonprofit providing free spiritual support to women.

    “With the people that I was already meeting with, the impact of the racial trauma in 2020 was constantly coming up,” Hoffman said. “And then the people who were reaching out looking for a spiritual director was all women of color looking for spaces to process.”

    The sessions are intimate one-on-one chats in person or over Zoom. It’s the client who drives the conversation. Often, there’s no Bible talk or preaching from Hoffman. The discussions can be more philosophical.

    “Simply allowing them to tell their story, giving them space to share their pain — is really healing for them and it restores a sense of identity,” Hoffman said. Churches, religious leaders and officials don’t get to “have the last word” on how women choose to express their Christianity.

    She has since recruited seven other women of color to serve as directors. In total, they have helped more than 200 women, including queer women, over the past three years. The demand hasn’t waned. Recently, Hoffman had to close a 60-person waitlist.

    That number doesn’t surprise Jessica Chen, of Los Angeles, who virtually meets with Hoffman monthly.

    “I do see this kind of movement of women of color who’ve left kind of the traditional church environment to create these spaces for other women of color,” Chen said. “So, sort of reimagining what community can look like for women of color, I think that’s very much needed.”

    Only in the last few years did Chen consider she might be limiting herself by only hearing male pastors who have a specific perspective that’s been “universalized,” she said. While her last church was diverse and multigenerational, she felt like she wasn’t growing as a person.

    “I want to hear from Black women, Asian women, Indigenous folks … queer folks. What has your faith experience been and how can I learn from your experiences as well?” Chen said. “And I think that makes our understanding and relationship with God or spirituality a lot richer.”

    In 2020, Rebekah James Lovett, of Chicago, tried to broach the subject of social justice with her evangelical pastor. She stayed up till 4 a.m. crafting a written plea to him. The pastor met with her but she came away feeling like he was simply placating her.

    Raised in Christianity by Indian immigrant parents, she said she came to a realization, “I can’t ever go back” to white, male-dominated churches that don’t consider other viewpoints.

    She felt liberated — but also a bit rudderless. Then she heard Hoffman speak on a podcast, “Reclaiming My Theology.”

    “The idea of going to a woman who also is pastorally trained was interesting to me,” Lovett said. “Christianity as we’ve been sold it is built on this sense of certainty that somebody has the answer and you just have to look to the Bible and it’s all right there. Whereas for Ellen, there’s this invitation to wonder. That was never there before.”

    After adding her name to the waitlist, Lovett became a regular client of Hoffman’s in fall 2021.

    Hoffman’s rates for spiritual direction range from $85-$100 per session — or, in some cases, are free. Her paying clients, or “directees,” don’t seem to mind. They liken it to a regular check-up or therapy session.

    “I do feel like it is a wellness practice as well as a spiritual practice. It’s something that keeps me centered,” Brown said. “I’m not trying to reach a goal. My only desire is to, deepen my personal relationship with God.”

    Many have left churches across the U.S. over the past few decades. Around 30% of Americans identify as “the nones” or people with no organized religion affiliation, according to a 2023 AP-NORC poll. They include atheists, agnostics and people who are “nothing in particular.”

    The Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, who last year became the first woman and woman of color elected general minister and president of the socially liberal United Church of Christ, agrees churches are often patriarchal. They “continue to be exclusive and bring narratives of hatred, diminishing the human spirit and decrying people’s humanity,” she said. While UCC congregations have become more racially and ethnically diverse, Thompson wants to see that diversity reflected at the top as well.

    “We continue to include the voices of all in the leadership — as best we can — paying attention to those whose presence and voices have been historically underrepresented in the life of the UCC,” Thompson said in an email.

    Spiritual direction has actually reinvigorated Brown to not give up on looking for a church.

    “I’m excited about joining a church that talks about justice, that cares about LGBTQ+ people,” Brown said. “I want to be a part of a community.”

    ___ This story has been corrected to show Hoffman’s group has assisted more than 200 women or 70 per year, not 70 overall.

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  • Pope joins shamans, monks and evangelicals to highlight Mongolia’s faith diversity, harmony

    Pope joins shamans, monks and evangelicals to highlight Mongolia’s faith diversity, harmony

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    ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — With China’s crackdown on religious minorities as a backdrop, Pope Francis joined Mongolian shamans, Buddhist monks and a Russian Orthodox priest Sunday to highlight the role that religions can play in forging world peace, as he presided over an interfaith meeting highlighting Mongolia’s tradition of religious tolerance.

    Francis listened intently as a dozen faith leaders — Jewish, Muslim, Bahai, Hindu, Shinto and evangelical Christian among them — described their beliefs and their relationship with heaven. Several said the traditional Mongolian ger, or round-shaped yurt, was a potent symbol of harmony with the divine — a warm place of family unity, open to the heavens, where strangers are welcome.

    “The fact that we are meeting together in one place already sends a message: it shows that the religious traditions, for all their distinctiveness and diversity, have impressive potential for the benefit of society as a whole,” Francis said in remarks that cited Buddhist writings, his namesake St. Francis of Assisi and the existential philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

    “If the leaders of nations were to choose the path of encounter and dialogue with others, it would be a decisive contribution to ending the conflicts continuing to afflict so many of the world’s peoples,” he said.

    The interfaith event, held at a theater in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, came midway through Francis’ four-day visit to Mongolia, the first by a pope. He is in Mongolia to minister to one of the world’s smallest and newest Catholic communities and highlight Mongolia’s tradition of tolerance in a region where the Holy See’s relations with neighboring China and Russia are often strained.

    According to statistics by the Catholic nonprofit group Aid to the Church in Need, Mongolia is 53% Buddhist, 39% atheist, 3% Muslim, 3% Shaman and 2% Christian.

    Later Sunday, Francis was to preside over a Mass in the capital’s sports stadium that the Vatican had said would also be attended by pilgrims from China. One small group of Chinese faithful from Xinjiang attended his meeting at the city’s cathedral Saturday. They held up a Chinese flag and chanted “All Chinese love you” as his car drove by.

    “We have always been looking forward to it. We really hope that gradually our government and leaders will accept him and invite him to visit our country,” said Yan Zhiyong, a Chinese Catholic businessman in Mongolia who attended the event. “That would be the most joyful thing for us.”

    The Vatican’s difficult relations with China and Beijing’s crackdown on religious minorities have been a constant backdrop to the trip, even as the Vatican hopes to focus attention instead on Mongolia and its 1,450 Catholics. No mainland Chinese bishops are believed to have been allowed to travel to Mongolia, whereas at least two dozen bishops from other countries across Asia have accompanied pilgrims for the events.

    Hong Kong Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow, who made a historic visit to Beijing earlier this year, was on hand and accompanied 40 pilgrims to Mongolia, saying it was an event highlighting the reach of the universal church. He declined to discuss the absence of his mainland Chinese counterparts, focusing instead on Francis and the importance of his visit to Mongolia for the Asian church.

    “I think the Asian church is also a growing church. Not as fast as Africa — Africa is growing fast — but the Asian church also has a very important role to play now in the universal church,” he told reporters.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded that Catholicism and all other religions adhere strictly to party directives and undergo “Sinicization.” In the vast Xinjiang region, that has led to the demolition of an unknown number of mosques, but in most cases it has meant the removal of domes, minarets and exterior crosses from churches.

    The Vatican and China did sign an accord in 2018 over the thorny issue of Catholic bishop nominations, but Beijing has violated it.

    Most Mongolians follow the dominant Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and revere its leader, the Dalai Lama. As a result, many Mongolians are concerned with the Chinese Communist Party’s opposition to the exiled Tibetan leader and its heavy-handed control over monastic life and what appears to be a concerted effort to gradually eliminate Tibetan culture.

    Yet, given the need to maintain stable relations with Beijing — China is Mongolia’s top export partner — the country’s leaders have not spoken out on the matter, just as they have remained largely silent about repressive linguistic and cultural policies toward their ethnic brethren in China’s Inner Mongolia region.

    Francis also has largely avoided antagonizing Beijing, most significantly by avoiding any criticism of Beijing’s religious crackdown or by meeting with the Dalai Lama.

    While the Dalai Lama wasn’t on hand Sunday, he was mentioned by the head of Mongolia’s main Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Khamba Nomun Khan Gabju Choijamts Demberel.

    The abbot noted that “His Holiness,” as the Dalai Lama is known, had recently recognized the 10th reincarnation of the head lama of Mongolian Buddists known as the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu.

    “This is an extraordinary fortune for us,” said the abbot, adding that the young lama was currently enaged in his studies of religion and other subjects.

    The Dalai Lama’s recognition of the new lama has posed a problem, given that China has required all reincarnated lamas to be born within China and be officially certified by Beijing. The newly recognized Mongolian lama meets neither criteria.

    In addition to China, Russia’s war in Ukraine also loomed large in the background of Sunday’s encounter.

    The rector of the only Russian Orthodox Church in Ulaanbaatar, Father Antony Gusev, told the gathering the history of the church in Mongolia, recalling that the current head of the Russian church — Patriarch Kirill — laid the foundation stone for the building in 2001.

    Kirill has strongly backed Russia’s war in Ukraine, straining relations with the Holy See that had made a breakthrough only a few years ago when Francis and Kirill met in Hanava in the first-ever meeting between a pope and Russian patriarch.

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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