CITIZENS COMPASS—A court in Kenya yesterday sentenced Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years imprisonment for killing 191 of his own followers. But the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has taken up the story from a different angle.
For while the media describes the crime as a cult incident, MURIC insists it is an act of Christian terrorism. The civil liberties group said Mackenzie is the pastor of the Good News International Church and all those killed were members of his church.
The group further argued that some media houses always shield Christian fanatics while they are always overzealous in labeling criminals bearing Muslim names as terrorists. MURIC accused mainstream media of selective judgement.
This was contained in a public statement issued yesterday by the Executive Director of the human rights organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The group expatiated:
”The world boiled with controversy yesterday as a Kenya court sentenced a man, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie to 200 years imprisonment for killing 191 of his own followers in Shakahola Forest.
But the critical mind must interrogate the story from a different angle. Although mainstream Christo-Western media called it a cult incident, we are inclined towards calling it exactly what it is: a Christian act of terrorism pure and simple.
This is because the last time we checked, Mackenzie was a pastor of the Good News International Church, also known as Good News International Ministries. The church was founded on August 17, 2003, by Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his wife, Agnes Mongeli (also referred to in some reports as Mary Mwongeli).
According to the Pulitzer Center, they married around 2002 but the wife and church co-founder died in childbirth in 2009. They had two children. His second wife died in 2017. His third and current wife is Rhoda Mumbua Maweu.
It is therefore sheer bias for cable network news stations like CNN, BBC, France 24 and some Nigerian stables to stick to calling Mackenzie a cult leader. How can we keep calling a church pastor a cult leader? Why does this axis of the press rush to call Muslims involved in similar criminal acts terrorists, fanatics, extremists and fundamentalists but change the narrative when a church pastor is involved?
MURIC rejects the asymmetric stereotyping of Muslims alone as fanatics and terrorists. Stigmatization blurs vision and beclouds the mind. No one with a mindset can see any good on the other side. Neither can he see any wrong in the anointed. It is selective justice. There are terrorists and fanatics everywhere.
”Had Mackenzie been a Muhammad or an Ibrahim, the narrative would have been different. The world can be better with less stigma and reduced lopsidedness.
”Even Mackenzie is not alone in Christian fanaticism and terrorism. It has become a pattern. Reverend Jim Jones who killed 900 people in Guyana in 1978 was also called a cult leader, not a terrorist, his proper nomenclature, afterall he was a reverend, a Christian cleric.
”On 15th March, 2019, Australian white supremacist, Brenton Tarrant, attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, murdering 51 Muslim worshippers and injuring many others. No mainstream media outfit called him a Christian terrorist. How balanced is media opinion?
”Nigeria had the experience of Nathaniel Samuel, the Christian suicide bomber. Submachine guns, deadly weapons capable of firing up to 1,400 bullets within minutes were among weapons found with Christian militia captured in Plateau State.
Mackenzie is a Christian terrorist, not a cult leader. When a Christian commits a terrorist act, it is trivialised and mulled into oblivion. But when it involves a Muslim, it is hyped, sensationalized and hyperbolised. We must give all to create a level playing field,
The world must learn to call a spade a spade. Mackenzie is a Christian terrorist, not a cult leader.
