To curb rising cultism, State should regulate churches

William Shakespeare wrote: “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves” and that  “We know what we are, but know not what we may be”. Several weeks back, Paul Magu knew himself as a father, husband and a promising lawyer. He may have been a troubled man at some point, but before going completely overboard, he probably did not think himself capable of homicide or suicide. When media reports emerged he had killed his wife, committed suicide and their children were missing, many people held their breath, hoping the children would turn up safe later. That was not to be as the decomposing bodies of the little angels were discovered in a field in Ruiru, decapitated.

It gives me the creeps trying to mentally re-enact their last moments. I visualise a father coming home, promising the kids a treat which they react to with all the glee a child would master. I see the unquestioning trust a child would have in a parent. I cringe and my heart constricts when I imagine the horror on the little girls face when the man she loved as a father and trusted to the last moment of her life lifts that machete and slits her throat. To say it was horrifying is an understatement. Suppositions have been bandied around, but we will never know the true answers.

Generally, many believe the killings had to do with cultism, which raises a pertinent question; what allure moves civilised, erudite people to willingly and blindly believe in the nefarious power of dark forces against biblical teachings? In the past, it was argued that people join cults to make loads of money upon offering the occasional human sacrifice. This ties in with the macabre killings witnessed across the country. In Kakamega, for instance, three girls were separately found murdered, their bodies placed next to a church that has, for long, been associated with devil worship.

Cultism is on the rise as more people take to devil worship. Largely, blame can be apportioned to desperation and poverty which lead many to seek shortcuts, consequences notwithstanding. While a majority find solace in some obscure churches where quack psychologists masquerading as prophets prey on their insecurities, others don’t have the patience of waiting for a God who is obviously not in a hurry to grant their wishes.

When comedian, amateur scientist cum Prophet Dr Kanyari was exposed, the government threatened action. The Attorney General made proposals to regulate churches but backed off when mainstream churches objected.

Government exists for the good of society and while the State can never be subservient to the Church, the reverse is true. The State licences and gives protection to the Church. When the licensed decide the licensee has no business regulating them, something is amiss. Mainstream churches; Catholics, Quakers, Salvation Army, Anglican church, Pentecostal Assemblies and Seventh Day Adventists have constitutions while most of the latter day churches have no discernible structures; the pastor is everything rolled into one. It is in most of these churches that moral decadence and cultism reside.

Islam does not advocate violence, yet miscreants, knowing mosques are sacred and not often desecrated by law enforcers, hide weapons and carry out subversive activities. There are churches with weird teachings whose congregants are one hundred per cent illiterate.

We have churches in which pastors not only defile, but sodomise and rape. Yet other churches degrade hospitals, causing believers to die of treatable diseases. An increase in unconventional churches calls for State regulation. Kenyans are given to a wild carefree nature, which calls for the occasional firm hand. One only needs to see the mess the new constitutional freedoms have landed the country in to appreciate that we cannot handle total freedom well enough for our own good.