Cults, Religion, and Violence

by Edited by David G. Bromley , J. Gordon Melton

• ISBN13: 9780521660648
• ISBN10: 0521660645
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-05-06
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This explores the question of when and why violence by and against new religious cults erupts and whether and how such dramatic conflicts can be foreseen, managed and averted. The authors, leading international experts on religious movements and violent behavior, focus on the four major episodes of cult violence during the last decade: the tragic conflagration that engulfed the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas; the deadly sarin gas attack by the Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo; the murder-suicides by the Solar Temple in Switzerland and Canada; and the collective suicide by the members of Heaven's Gate. They explore the dynamics leading to these dramatic episodes in North America, Europe, and Asia, and offer insights into the general relationship between violence and religious cults in contemporary society. The authors conclude that these events usually involve some combination of internal and external dynamics through which a new religious movement and society become polarized.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Contributors	viii
Prologue	xiii
Violence and Religion in Perspective	1	(10)
David G. Bromley
J. Gordon Melton
Dramatic Denouements	11	(31)
David G. Bromley
Challenging Misconceptions about the New Religions-Violence Connection	42	(15)
J. Gordon Melton
David G. Bromley
Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements	57	(23)
Thomas Robbins
Crises of Charismatic Legitimacy and Violent Behavior in New Religious Movements	80	(22)
Lorne L. Dawson
Public Agency Involvement in Government-Religious Movement Confrontations	102	(21)
Stuart A. Wright
Watching for Violence: A Comparative Analysis of the Roles of Five Types of Cult-Watching Groups	123	(26)
Eileen Barker
Mass Suicide and the Branch Davidians	149	(21)
John R. Hall
Occult Masters and the Temple of Doom: The Fiery End of the Solar Temple	170	(19)
Massimo Introvigne
Jean-Francois Mayer
Dramatic Confrontations: Aum Shinrikyo against the World	189	(20)
Ian Reader
Making Sense of the Heaven's Gate Suicides	209	(20)
Robert W. Balch
David Taylor
Lessons from the Past, Perspective for the Future	229	(16)
J. Gordon Melton
David G. Bromley
Index	245