One of my sisters and my wife also think the extremism is linked to efforts to retain traditional African beliefs and practices. The Kanungu victims were part of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments. What sets them apart is that all mix Christian teachings with traditional African beliefs. My sister wonders if the extremism has something to do with a strange over-respect that we Africans seem to have for authority in general, and for divine authority in particular, even when common sense rebels. I agree, yet I feel there is more to it than our psychology and our culture.
Religion looms large in national politics here as it does elsewhere.
It is often used to mobilize us. It is also used to confuse and divide us. None of the leaders of these new religious movements are poor. Their followers, for whom they reveal alternative sources of identity and hope, often generously open not only their hearts but their wallets and purses. And it seems that the more extreme and exclusive the message, the more money and possessions new converts are willing to part with.