{"id":100801,"date":"2023-08-18T18:48:14","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T18:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers"},"modified":"2023-08-18T19:20:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T19:20:00","slug":"ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers","title":{"rendered":"ban on churches accused of murdering starving worshippers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>Kenyan authorities have banned five churches, including that of a pastor accused of inciting more than 400 followers to fast to death, according to a government document made public on Friday.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Associations Registration Office said the license of self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie’s Good News International Church had been cancelled on May 19.<\/p>\n

The self-proclaimed pastor had urged followers of his movement to fast until death in order to “meet Jesus”, a case which shocked Kenyans after the discovery of corpses in the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi.<\/p>\n

To date, 425 bodies have been found in this forest.<\/p>\n

Although most of the victims died of starvation, autopsies have also revealed that some, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated.<\/p>\n

The authorities have also banned four other churches, including the New Life Prayer Centre and Church run by Mackenzie-linked televangelist Ezekiel Odero.<\/p>\n

Odero is under investigation on charges of murder, aiding suicide, radicalization and money laundering.<\/p>\n

His arrest in April followed the discovery of human remains in the Shakahola forest.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors linked the two preachers, but Odero was released on bail in May, while last week a court extended Mackenzie’s detention by 47 days pending further investigation.<\/p>\n

A predominantly Christian country, Kenya is faced with the uncontrolled proliferation of churches and sects whose unscrupulous leaders border on criminality.<\/p>\n

Previous attempts by the government to control these movements have met with fierce opposition, with critics denouncing a breach of constitutional guarantees concerning the separation of church and state.<\/p>\n

There are 4,000 registered churches in Kenya, a country of 53 million inhabitants, according to government figures.<\/p>\n

Many, led by charismatic pastors, preach the so-called prosperity gospel, calling on the faithful to make substantial donations to their church in return for the promise of an improvement in their own financial situation.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenyan authorities have banned five churches, including that of a pastor accused of inciting more than 400 followers to fast to death, according to a government document made public on Friday. The Associations Registration Office said the license of self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie’s Good News International Church had been cancelled on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":100800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[6857,7003,8247,8633,6123,544,10469],"class_list":["post-100801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-africanews","tag-ban","tag-church","tag-kenya","tag-religion"],"yoast_head":"\nban on churches accused of murdering starving worshippers - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kenyan authorities have banned five churches, including that of a pastor accused of inciting more than 400 followers ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ban on churches accused of murdering starving worshippers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kenyan authorities have banned five churches, including that of a pastor accused of inciting more than 400 followers ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-18T18:48:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-18T19:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/08\/sm_1692370135.466245.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ban on churches accused of murdering starving worshippers\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-18T18:48:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-18T19:20:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers\"},\"wordCount\":317,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/08\/sm_1692370135.466245.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Africanews\",\"ban\",\"church\",\"Kenya\",\"Religion\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/ban-on-churches-accused-of-murdering-starving-worshippers\",\"name\":\"ban on churches accused of murdering starving worshippers - 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