By Rev. Brian R. Louis
(July 28, 2023) — I think it’s time for me to change my news sources and go overseas to find the best, most comprehensive news of the world. I used to have a New York Times subscription, but it was quite expensive each month and I didn’t have the time to read it. After a while, the papers would pile up, unread. It was a waste. I subscribe to my local paper, the Herald/Review, to know what’s going on in Sierra Vista, Ariz., Cochise County, and Arizona. I listen to National Public Radio for their news updates frequently, and I subscribe to a couple of news podcasts.
I bring all this up because one of the stories that I don’t think is getting the attention it should is the story of the cult in Kenya where hundreds of its members have starved themselves to death so they can die and be with Jesus. Why isn’t this story bigger than it is? Why isn’t it everywhere?
Here is a recap of what is going on from AFP (the news service formerly known as Agence France-Presse, where I applied for a job decades ago and was not hired) from July 17:
“The death toll in an investigation linked to a Kenyan cult that practised (sic) starvation to “meet Jesus Christ” has exceeded 400 after 12 more bodies were found on Monday, a senior official said.
“’Total death Toll – 403,’ Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha told AFP in a message, following the latest round of exhumations in the Shakahola forest, where cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie allegedly urged followers to starve to death.”
What a ghastly and tragic story. It’s a story I suspect years ago would have dominated the news the way the Jonestown tragedy of 1978 did. I was a boy of nine at the time and even I knew sort of what was happening there. Growing up I sure knew where the saying “drink the Kool-Aid” came from (it was Flavor Aid that they drank when they poisoned themselves in Jonestown, just for the record).
It seems to me this story of hundreds of people killing themselves in a horrific way under the alleged influence of a religious cult leader should be bigger news. But why isn’t it?
I suppose one reason is that it is in Africa, which is far away from the United States, so, news organizations don’t care as much. Second, where would it even fit in the news? There’s too much political theater to cover with the 2024 Republican presidential primary and the presidential race looming, that there isn’t much airtime or space in newspapers and on a paper’s website to devote to the story. Third, it would cost money to send reporters there. I suspect many news organizations have shut their bureaus in Africa in recent years as the news business has collapsed. And if they have a bureau or two, sending folks to a remote region of Kenya would be expensive.
Some news organizations have done some good reporting on the cult, including CNN and Reuters. But for those of us who still have a news diet, it hasn’t made much of a dent. A person has to work to find out what’s going on with the cult in Kenya.
Which brings me to my point of finding foreign news sources a part of my news menu. AFP, BBC, all need to be part of my regular scan of news sources.
This story of vast human tragedy, and how it managed to happen and carry on for so long without being stopped, deserves more attention than it has gotten, so something like this can never happen again.
A Reformed Pastor 