Religious SDA "Zealots" Imprisoned

[Key Guy]

From "This Day" Online, Republic of Tanzania

http://www.thisday.co.tz/News/5697.html

Quote:

EARLIER this week some 24 religious zealots from the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) were thrown into the lam for a year each, for contempt of court. It’s about time too.

Whether you will call them Adventists or guys in the business adventurism, it’s just that the guys have been a thorn on the flesh of the society for over a year now. They have been seeing visions and getting all those calls from up high that they should go to the middle and Far East to teach the Gospel to non-believers.

So they bundled their lot to the airport and started waiting for flights to their destinations & all without travel documents. Nuts, of course!

Now some of us don’t mind having a few nuts amongst society, as long as they keep to themselves and don’t bother the rest of us. But, these guys did just that. What with going to the Dar International Airport and start to yell to the top of their voices about their religion?

The primary court in Ukonga ordered them to stop bothering other people and disassemble from the airport. They ignored the order. So primary court magistrate Patricia Komba obliged by throwing them in jail.

Asked to defend themselves one of them told the court: ’’We are just travellers, our home is in heaven. We sold everything, farms, houses and all we had. We are not going back we are waiting for the Lord’s order and not an order from human beings,’’ he said. It’s sad we don’t have shrinks in Tanzania. Because this is psycho material.

He added: ’’The government has changed the laws and no longer recognizes the freedom of worship. So we are waiting for the order of our shepherd (Jesus) and not that of human beings,’’ said one Zakayo.

Magistrate Komba decided to institute government measures to jail them for a year each as they await further orders from the Lord who has yet to intervene.

Our legal system should not end there. Lately there has been madness in the name of the Lord. You hear horror stories about those religious adventurists almost everywhere. I understand in Arusha there are those religious crazies who burn people to ’exorcise’ the devils from believers. I hear other crazies beat up believers to ’remove’ the devils from them!

This is simply criminal. The government should never let these people continue with their madness in the name of religion. That is not religious freedom. That is crude form of sadistic madness! The government should act before there are deaths and disaster.

Last week a Dar es Salaam regional head warned noisy groups, including some masquerading as churches, to curb their noisy and sometimes almost rabble rousing, in the name of the Lord.

These people, who regard themselves as on first name terms with God, think if they yell themselves hoarse through powerful amplifiers, then the Almighty will hear them loud and clear. This is a load of nonsense, of course, since the Lord hears you even if you only think and meditate of Him. The Almighty is not deaf!

Society should be protected from such psychological types. The next time we might face a situation whereby a group of nuts commit mass suicide, because their demented preacher tells them so. It has happened before many a time!

[Twilight]

I would not personally accept the original report is balanced or possibly even accurate. :-)

[Kountzer]

It's Tanzania! What you expect?