Jesus Christians - Controversy

Controversy

In 2000 the group made front-page headlines in the British tabloids, which declared that they had kidnapped a 16-year-old boy, Bobby Kelly. The boy, who members of the community in England claim had written permission from his grandmother to travel with them, was made a ward of the state in an effort to pry him away from the group. When the Jesus Christians refused to hand the boy over to the authorities, and when Bobby started doing telephone interviews with the media declaring that he had not been kidnapped, the courts imposed a national media ban on any interviews with either Bobby or members of the Jesus Christians until Bobby turned 18. Bobby was eventually located and placed in a foster home. No members of the Jesus Christians were charged with kidnapping and a charge of contempt of court (for failing to hand Bobby over) was dropped against two members of the community. ("Boy found safe..." Guardian, 28 July 2000)

In January 2003, Jon Ronson's documentary called Kidneys for Jesus aired on Channel 4. After an invite from Dave McKay, Jon Ronson exclusively followed the group over a year as they attempted to donate their kidneys to strangers in the UK and the US. The film documents the tension arising between Ronson and McKay during filming, as McKay becomes increasingly concerned that Ronson was portraying the Jesus Christians in a poor light.

In 2005 another charge of kidnapping was made against members of the group in Kenya, this time by the father of a 23-year-old woman who had joined the community. The woman released a video on the group's website declaring that she had not been kidnapped. One member of the community was arrested, however, and held for several weeks in a prison in Nairobi until a worldwide letter writing campaign convinced the Attorney General of Kenya that the charge should be dropped. Upon his release it was learned that the member had contracted tuberculosis while in prison. He and his wife and child left Kenya shortly after his release and they have not returned since. ("Persecution in Kenya", Pine Rivers World News, 3 September 2005)

In October 2006 the group held a mock trial in Long Beach, California where they charged the parents and two brothers of one of their members with attempted murder and with aiding and abetting others in doing this. It followed an attack on one of their members in which he received a fractured spine, bleeding on the brain, broken teeth and numerous cuts to the head and face. An amateur video was made of the attack, but the police never prosecuted the case. Although the family did not attend the trial, various sentences of 5-25 lashes of the whip were carried out on volunteers from the Jesus Christians themselves, as an attempt to illustrate their understanding of the cross of Christ. "God hates the sin, but loves the sinner", they said, in an effort to summarize what they were doing. ("The Trial")

In July 2009 Civil action was taken against the family members involved in the attack, the outcome of which is still pending and a restraining order has also been taken out against them.

This family also went to the police, claiming that their son, a top student and basketball player with a scholarship to Yale University, had been kidnapped. The FBI acted on the report for a while but when the son turned up at a police station in Kentucky, stating that he had not been kidnapped, the missing persons report was dropped.

On December 11, 2007, Dave and Cherry McKay were interviewed on stage as part of a two-day feature on religious cults on the UK television programme The Jeremy Kyle Show. The show attempted to link the Jesus Christians with such groups as Jim Jones' People's Temple, and the Children of God sex cult. Dave and Cherry and two other members of the Jesus Christians were questioned by Jeremy Kyle and several opponents of the Jesus Christians. At one point, due to the nature of the questioning, members refused to reply to any more questions and McKay walked out of the interview and then returned to say "Just let them do their thing". In spite of the seemingly negative report by Jeremy Kyle, the Jesus Christians have reported an increased number of sympathetic inquiries.

In February 2008, a Jesus Christian family was featured on the Channel 4 program Wife Swap where the freegan wife of the Jesus-Christian family went to live with the millionaire family of an IT consultant.

In June 2008, The ABC in Australia aired a report on one young Jesus Christian's fight for his right to donate a kidney to a stranger. The documentary covers the attempts of the parents to thwart the young man's intentions and his final success.