Christians wary of Kaunda's somewhat unorthodox theological positions in the past were further antagonised when the President began openly flirting with Eastern Religious beliefs. The growing perception in Zambia was "that Kaunda had not just forsaken true Christianity, but had fallen under the sway of Eastern gurus… in the 1980s he became linked with a Dr M. A. Ranganathan and established his David Universal Temple at State House." Phiri states that the association with "Eastern Religions… was not acceptable to Zambian Christians." The tensions caused by the perceived drift of Kaunda from Christian orthodoxy were exacerbated when Kaunda alleged "churches were preaching hatred" in response to negative articles about his regime in two Christian publications. Possibly in an attempt to antagonise the churches even more Kaunda joined with a television project with the Marharishi Mahesh Yogi launching a scheme to make Zambia "Heaven on Earth"" Kaunda was forced in a television interview to deny practising Transcendental Meditation., this was televised on the state-run channel days before polling. Gifford notes that the response by senior pastors from Ndola, the principal town of the Copperbelt, was to call the project "demonic" and they "deplored the fact that the government 'had banned the registration of more churches but permitted occult systems to enter Zambia'".