NAIROBI, Kenya — Led by charismatic preachers and self-proclaimed prophets, African churches are swelling with promises of miracle healings, signs and wonders.
While trying not to trample on religious freedom, governments are increasingly frustrated with tales of clergy fleecing their followers and are proposing a raft of new measures to protect unsuspecting church members from corrupt or immoral schemes.
For instance in Kenya, a Nairobi pastor, Njohi, banned women from wearing undergarments and bras to church. Njohi argued that the women should be free in body and spirit to receive Jesus.
In January, Kenya unveiled a number of rules designed to regulate religious groups and prevent youth radicalization by Muslim terrorist groups.
After bitter protests by church leaders, the attorney general withdrew the rules, including one that would have required all clergy to hold theological degrees. But President Uhuru Kenyatta indicated it remains his intention to rein in rogue preachers.
“Those evil men and women who use the name of God to take advantage of the citizens and fleece them must be uprooted,” Kenyatta told a gathering in Kisumu city days after the withdrawal of the regulations.
In South Africa, the South African Council of Churches has called for some kind of guidelines to help churches self-regulate.
Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, the council’s general secretary, said, “We believe there is a role for the government to play, for example to protect (followers) from harm.”
(RNS)
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