Cult and Anticult Totalism: Reciprocal Escalation and Violence

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 14, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 211-240

  Anthony, Dick ^a   Robbins, Thomas ^a   Barrie Anthony, Steven ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0346672698     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/714005607     Document Type: Article

References (130)

1. On 'cults' and the controversies surrounding them, see Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (eds.), Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (Toronto: Toronto University, 2001) and Lorne Dawson, Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
2. On 'cults' and the controversies surrounding them, see Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (eds.), Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (Toronto: Toronto University, 2001) and Lorne Dawson, Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
3. James Richardson and Massimo Introvigne, '"Brainwashing" Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on Sects and Cults', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40/2 (Summer 2001); Thomas Robbins, 'Combating "Cults" and "Brainwashing" in the United States and Western Europe', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40/2 (Summer 2001).
4. James Richardson and Massimo Introvigne, '"Brainwashing" Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on Sects and Cults', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40/2 (Summer 2001); Thomas Robbins, 'Combating "Cults" and "Brainwashing" in the United States and Western Europe', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40/2 (Summer 2001).
5. Jean Francois Mayer, 'The Vain Hopes of the Tabachnik Trial', La Liberté (30 April 2001). Distributed by The Family. See also note 2.
6. Jean Francois Mayer, 'The Vain Hopes of the Tabachnik Trial', La Liberté (30 April 2001). Distributed by The Family. See also note 2.
7. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', Terrorism and Political Violence 7/3 (1995), pp.1-30, Reprinted in Michael Barkun (ed.), Millennialism and Violence (London: Frank Cass, 1996); Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp.261-84; Thomas Robbins, 'The Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements', forthcoming in David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (eds.), New Religions, Cults and Violence in Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in Press); Steven Barrie-Anthony and Dick Anthony, 'Be Careful in the Pursuit of Monsters: Anticult Brainwashing Theory as a Totalistic Ideology', in preparation; Dawson (note 1).
8. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', Terrorism and Political Violence 7/3 (1995), pp.1-30, Reprinted in Michael Barkun (ed.), Millennialism and Violence (London: Frank Cass, 1996); Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp.261-84; Thomas Robbins, 'The Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements', forthcoming in David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (eds.), New Religions, Cults and Violence in Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in Press); Steven Barrie-Anthony and Dick Anthony, 'Be Careful in the Pursuit of Monsters: Anticult Brainwashing Theory as a Totalistic Ideology', in preparation; Dawson (note 1).
9. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', Terrorism and Political Violence 7/3 (1995), pp.1-30, Reprinted in Michael Barkun (ed.), Millennialism and Violence (London: Frank Cass, 1996); Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp.261-84; Thomas Robbins, 'The Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements', forthcoming in David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (eds.), New Religions, Cults and Violence in Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in Press); Steven Barrie-Anthony and Dick Anthony, 'Be Careful in the Pursuit of Monsters: Anticult Brainwashing Theory as a Totalistic Ideology', in preparation; Dawson (note 1).
10. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', Terrorism and Political Violence 7/3 (1995), pp.1-30, Reprinted in Michael Barkun (ed.), Millennialism and Violence (London: Frank Cass, 1996); Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp.261-84; Thomas Robbins, 'The Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements', forthcoming in David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (eds.), New Religions, Cults and Violence in Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in Press); Steven Barrie-Anthony and Dick Anthony, 'Be Careful in the Pursuit of Monsters: Anticult Brainwashing Theory as a Totalistic Ideology', in preparation; Dawson (note 1).
11. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', Terrorism and Political Violence 7/3 (1995), pp.1-30, Reprinted in Michael Barkun (ed.), Millennialism and Violence (London: Frank Cass, 1996); Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp.261-84; Thomas Robbins, 'The Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements', forthcoming in David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (eds.), New Religions, Cults and Violence in Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in Press); Steven Barrie-Anthony and Dick Anthony, 'Be Careful in the Pursuit of Monsters: Anticult Brainwashing Theory as a Totalistic Ideology', in preparation; Dawson (note 1).
12. Robert Lifton, 'Cults, Religious Totalism and Civil Liberties', in Robert Lifton (ed.), The Future of Immortality and Other Essays for a Nuclear Age (New York: Basic Books, 1987), p.219.
13. Erik Erikson, 'Wholeness and Totality - A Psychiatric Contribution', in Carl F. Friederich (ed.), Totalitarianism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp.156-71. For a fuller discussion of Erikson's concept of totalism than will be provided here, see note 4, Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism'. See also below.
14. Erik Erikson, 'Wholeness and Totality - A Psychiatric Contribution', in Carl F. Friederich (ed.), Totalitarianism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp.156-71. For a fuller discussion of Erikson's concept of totalism than will be provided here, see note 4, Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism'. See also below.
15. Erikson's totalism theory is a member of the general class of 'totalitarian influence' theories which describe the affinity between totalitarian ideologies and the personality makeup of individuals. The best known example of such a totalitarian influence theory is that of the 'authoritarian personality'. See Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswick, Daniel Sanford and R. Nevitt Sanford, The Authoritarian Personality (Boston: Norton, 1950). For a detailed discussion of the relation of Erikson's theory to other members of this class, see Dick Anthony, Brainwashing and Totalitarian Influence: An Exploration of Admissibility Criteria for Testimony in Brainwashing Trials (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Services, 1996).
16. Erikson's totalism theory is a member of the general class of 'totalitarian influence' theories which describe the affinity between totalitarian ideologies and the personality makeup of individuals. The best known example of such a totalitarian influence theory is that of the 'authoritarian personality'. See Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswick, Daniel Sanford and R. Nevitt Sanford, The Authoritarian Personality (Boston: Norton, 1950). For a detailed discussion of the relation of Erikson's theory to other members of this class, see Dick Anthony, Brainwashing and Totalitarian Influence: An Exploration of Admissibility Criteria for Testimony in Brainwashing Trials (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Services, 1996).
17. Robert Lifton, Chinese Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (New York: Norton, 1961), pp.419-38 (ch. 22).
18. Lifton (note 8), p.419.
19. Ibid., p.420.
20. Robert Lifton, 'Preface to the 1989 Edition' of Chinese Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (Chapel Hill, NC: UNCU, 1989), p.vii.
21. Robert Lifton, The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation (New York: Basic Books, 1993), p.161. See also Charles Strozier, Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism in America (Boston: Beacon, 1984), pp.153-66.
22. Robert Lifton, The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation (New York: Basic Books, 1993), p.161. See also Charles Strozier, Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism in America (Boston: Beacon, 1984), pp.153-66.
23. Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy' (note 4), p.419. The Report on Doomsday Religious Movements of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service notes that within the dualistic world views of some movements 'The world is fractured into two opposing camps of Good and Evil, which confers a profound significance on small social political conflicts as evidence of this great cosmic struggle, and which could precipitate a violent response'.
24. Bernard McGinn, Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of Human Fascination with Evil (San Francisco: Harper, 1994), p.32.
25. Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy' (note 4), p.274.
26. Erikson (note 6), p.159.
27. For a discussion of the concept of 'splitting' as used in contemporary psychodynamic psychology see Manfield, Split Self/Split Object: Understanding and Treating Borderline, Narcissistic and Schizoid Disorders (London and Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1992). For a discussion of intolerance of ambiguity as characteristic of authoritarian personalities see Adorno et al., note 7. See also Else Frenkel-Brunswick, 'Intolerance of Ambiguity as an Emotional and Perceptional Personality Variable', Journal of Personality (1949), pp.xviii.
28. For a discussion of the concept of 'splitting' as used in contemporary psychodynamic psychology see Manfield, Split Self/Split Object: Understanding and Treating Borderline, Narcissistic and Schizoid Disorders (London and Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1992). For a discussion of intolerance of ambiguity as characteristic of authoritarian personalities see Adorno et al., note 7. See also Else Frenkel-Brunswick, 'Intolerance of Ambiguity as an Emotional and Perceptional Personality Variable', Journal of Personality (1949), pp.xviii.
29. For a discussion of the concept of 'splitting' as used in contemporary psychodynamic psychology see Manfield, Split Self/Split Object: Understanding and Treating Borderline, Narcissistic and Schizoid Disorders (London and Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1992). For a discussion of intolerance of ambiguity as characteristic of authoritarian personalities see Adorno et al., note 7. See also Else Frenkel-Brunswick, 'Intolerance of Ambiguity as an Emotional and Perceptional Personality Variable', Journal of Personality (1949), pp.xviii.
30. Erikson (note 6), p.160.
31. Erikson's use of the 'pseudospeciation' term is discussed extensively in L. Friedman, Identity's Architect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson (New York: Scribners, 1999), pp.54-5, 187, 352, 442-3.
32. Lifton (note 8), pp.433-5.
33. For a fuller discussion of the theme of individual predispositions to totalistic conversion in Lifton's early work, see Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Brainwashing and Totalitarian Influence', in Howard Friedman (Editor in Chief), Encyclopedia of Mental Health (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovonovich, 1998). Reprinted from the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (Academic Press, 1984). See also Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4).
34. For a fuller discussion of the theme of individual predispositions to totalistic conversion in Lifton's early work, see Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Brainwashing and Totalitarian Influence', in Howard Friedman (Editor in Chief), Encyclopedia of Mental Health (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovonovich, 1998). Reprinted from the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (Academic Press, 1984). See also Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4).
35. For a fuller discussion of the theme of individual predispositions to totalistic conversion in Lifton's early work, see Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Brainwashing and Totalitarian Influence', in Howard Friedman (Editor in Chief), Encyclopedia of Mental Health (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovonovich, 1998). Reprinted from the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (Academic Press, 1984). See also Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4).
36. S. Slipp, The Technique and Practice of Object Relations Family Therapy (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1991), pp.86-7. Slipp reports extensive research on the roles of splitting and projective identification in causing dysfunctional family dynamics and related personality disorders. For other discussions of the interaction of splitting and projective identification as primitive defense mechanisms see T. Ogden, The Primitive Edge of Experience (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1989), pp.19-30. See also S. Akhtar, Broken Structures: Severe Personality Disorders and Their Treatment (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1992), pp.92-4.
37. S. Slipp, The Technique and Practice of Object Relations Family Therapy (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1991), pp.86-7. Slipp reports extensive research on the roles of splitting and projective identification in causing dysfunctional family dynamics and related personality disorders. For other discussions of the interaction of splitting and projective identification as primitive defense mechanisms see T. Ogden, The Primitive Edge of Experience (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1989), pp.19-30. See also S. Akhtar, Broken Structures: Severe Personality Disorders and Their Treatment (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1992), pp.92-4.
38. S. Slipp, The Technique and Practice of Object Relations Family Therapy (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1991), pp.86-7. Slipp reports extensive research on the roles of splitting and projective identification in causing dysfunctional family dynamics and related personality disorders. For other discussions of the interaction of splitting and projective identification as primitive defense mechanisms see T. Ogden, The Primitive Edge of Experience (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1989), pp.19-30. See also S. Akhtar, Broken Structures: Severe Personality Disorders and Their Treatment (Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson, 1992), pp.92-4.
39. Lifton (note 12), p.202.
40. See Roy Wallis and Steven Bruce, 'Sex, Violence and Religion', in Roy Wallis and Steven Bruce (eds.), Sociological Theory, Religion, and Collective Action (Belfast, UK: Queens University, 1987), pp.115-27. See also Frederick Bird, 'Charisma and Leadership in New Religious Movements', Religion and the Social Order 3A (1993), pp.75-92.
41. See Roy Wallis and Steven Bruce, 'Sex, Violence and Religion', in Roy Wallis and Steven Bruce (eds.), Sociological Theory, Religion, and Collective Action (Belfast, UK: Queens University, 1987), pp.115-27. See also Frederick Bird, 'Charisma and Leadership in New Religious Movements', Religion and the Social Order 3A (1993), pp.75-92.
42. Len Oakes, Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Personalities (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, 1997). See Also Anthony Storrs, Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners, and Gurus (New York: Free Press, 1996); and Robert Lifton, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence and the New Global Terrorism (New York: Henry Holt, 1999).
43. Len Oakes, Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Personalities (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, 1997). See Also Anthony Storrs, Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners, and Gurus (New York: Free Press, 1996); and Robert Lifton, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence and the New Global Terrorism (New York: Henry Holt, 1999).
44. Len Oakes, Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Personalities (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, 1997). See Also Anthony Storrs, Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners, and Gurus (New York: Free Press, 1996); and Robert Lifton, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence and the New Global Terrorism (New York: Henry Holt, 1999).
45. Interestingly the FBI's Project Megiddo report strongly plays up the importance of charismatic leaders and somewhat plays down ideology. 'The potential for violence on behalf of members (sic) of biblically-driven cults is determined almost exclusively by the whims of the cult leader ... Cult members generally act to serve and please their leader rather than accomplish ideological objectives ... The cult leader's prophecies, preachings, orders and objectives are subject to indiscriminate change.' This viewpoint has some cogency, but it is certainly overstated. It may be recalled that during the 1993 Waco siege an FBI official in a commanding field position reportedly referred to David Koresh's insistence on preaching to the agents as 'bible babble'. But charismatic prophets can be prisoners of ideological perspectives, and the latter can influence their and their followers' actions. On the other hand prophets such as David Koresh can have sudden revelations which can alter doctrine. According to the Project Megiddo report the premium should be on 'examination of the cult leader, his position of power over his followers, and an awareness of the responding behavior and activity of the cult', which is more important than attention to formal beliefs and group goals. However, the Canadian report on Doomsday Religious Movements notes that in a crisis intervention, 'negotiators dealing with the movement must understand its belief structure, as ignorance of the minor differences between the beliefs of respective groups can have drastic outcomes'.
46. Thomas Young, 'Cult Violence and the Identity Movement', The Cultic Studies Journal 7/2 (1990), pp.150-57.
47. Young (note 27), p.157. The author drew on an earlier important theoretical paper by Fred Wright and Phyllis Wright, 'The Charismatic Leader and the Violent Surrogate Family', Annals of the New York Academy of Science 347 (1980), pp.226-76. As a 'transitional' object and parental surrogate the totalist charismatic leader helps (sometimes troubled or alienated) young persons manage their hostilities. This can be therapeutic and/or dangerous depending upon the world view and aggressiveness of the leader. A former German neo-Nazi leader remembers that he and his colleagues 'spent a lot of time indoctrinating beginners - not necessarily to make them more violent but to take the violence that was already in them and channel it in a politically useful manner'. Ingo Hasselbach and Tom Reiss, 'How Nazis Are Made', The New Yorker (8 Jan. 1996), pp.36-57.
48. Young (note 27), p.157. The author drew on an earlier important theoretical paper by Fred Wright and Phyllis Wright, 'The Charismatic Leader and the Violent Surrogate Family', Annals of the New York Academy of Science 347 (1980), pp.226-76. As a 'transitional' object and parental surrogate the totalist charismatic leader helps (sometimes troubled or alienated) young persons manage their hostilities. This can be therapeutic and/or dangerous depending upon the world view and aggressiveness of the leader. A former German neo-Nazi leader remembers that he and his colleagues 'spent a lot of time indoctrinating beginners - not necessarily to make them more violent but to take the violence that was already in them and channel it in a politically useful manner'. Ingo Hasselbach and Tom Reiss, 'How Nazis Are Made', The New Yorker (8 Jan. 1996), pp.36-57.
49. Young (note 27), p.157. The author drew on an earlier important theoretical paper by Fred Wright and Phyllis Wright, 'The Charismatic Leader and the Violent Surrogate Family', Annals of the New York Academy of Science 347 (1980), pp.226-76. As a 'transitional' object and parental surrogate the totalist charismatic leader helps (sometimes troubled or alienated) young persons manage their hostilities. This can be therapeutic and/or dangerous depending upon the world view and aggressiveness of the leader. A former German neo-Nazi leader remembers that he and his colleagues 'spent a lot of time indoctrinating beginners - not necessarily to make them more violent but to take the violence that was already in them and channel it in a politically useful manner'. Ingo Hasselbach and Tom Reiss, 'How Nazis Are Made', The New Yorker (8 Jan. 1996), pp.36-57.
50. This point is explored in more detail in Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4).
51. Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000). The Canadian Doomsday Religious Movement report highlights the 'early warning sign' of an apocalyptic movement being discomfited by the emergence of 'a humiliating circumstance running counter to their supposed glorious salvation before the onslaught of the apocalypse', as particularly seen in the Solar Temple violence. Volatility can be enhanced 'should a group be humiliated to the extent that either its leader or apocalyptic scenarios appears discredited'. The psychological dependency of devotees and leaders on their contrast symbols gives authorities unappreciated leverage 'over doomsday movements; which depend upon them to fulfill their apocalyptic scenarios. Failure to comprehend this symbolic role often results in actions that trigger violence.' See also Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', and Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy' (note 4).
52. Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000). The Canadian Doomsday Religious Movement report highlights the 'early warning sign' of an apocalyptic movement being discomfited by the emergence of 'a humiliating circumstance running counter to their supposed glorious salvation before the onslaught of the apocalypse', as particularly seen in the Solar Temple violence. Volatility can be enhanced 'should a group be humiliated to the extent that either its leader or apocalyptic scenarios appears discredited'. The psychological dependency of devotees and leaders on their contrast symbols gives authorities unappreciated leverage 'over doomsday movements; which depend upon them to fulfill their apocalyptic scenarios. Failure to comprehend this symbolic role often results in actions that trigger violence.' See also Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', and Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy' (note 4).
53. Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000). The Canadian Doomsday Religious Movement report highlights the 'early warning sign' of an apocalyptic movement being discomfited by the emergence of 'a humiliating circumstance running counter to their supposed glorious salvation before the onslaught of the apocalypse', as particularly seen in the Solar Temple violence. Volatility can be enhanced 'should a group be humiliated to the extent that either its leader or apocalyptic scenarios appears discredited'. The psychological dependency of devotees and leaders on their contrast symbols gives authorities unappreciated leverage 'over doomsday movements; which depend upon them to fulfill their apocalyptic scenarios. Failure to comprehend this symbolic role often results in actions that trigger violence.' See also Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism', and Anthony and Robbins, 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy' (note 4).
54. Lifton (note 25), pp.169-78.
55. Some reports concerning the violent Aum Shinrikyô sect in Japan have noted the decline of the movement's growth rate and the failure of the leader's political ambitions prior to the onset of major acts of collective violence. See Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000), pp.120-57. See also Ian Reader, A Poisonous Cocktail: Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Book, 1996). Psychiatrist Marc Galanter has developed a social systems model of 'cults' or 'charismatic groups' in which curtailment of proselytization leads to a redirection of energy from goal attainment to internal control and surveillance with the result that negative feedback is suppressed and the group becomes increasingly defensive and sensitive to the threat of external intrusion and violation of the group's boundary. Marc Galanter, Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, 1999).
56. Some reports concerning the violent Aum Shinrikyô sect in Japan have noted the decline of the movement's growth rate and the failure of the leader's political ambitions prior to the onset of major acts of collective violence. See Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000), pp.120-57. See also Ian Reader, A Poisonous Cocktail: Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Book, 1996). Psychiatrist Marc Galanter has developed a social systems model of 'cults' or 'charismatic groups' in which curtailment of proselytization leads to a redirection of energy from goal attainment to internal control and surveillance with the result that negative feedback is suppressed and the group becomes increasingly defensive and sensitive to the threat of external intrusion and violation of the group's boundary. Marc Galanter, Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, 1999).
57. Some reports concerning the violent Aum Shinrikyô sect in Japan have noted the decline of the movement's growth rate and the failure of the leader's political ambitions prior to the onset of major acts of collective violence. See Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000), pp.120-57. See also Ian Reader, A Poisonous Cocktail: Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Book, 1996). Psychiatrist Marc Galanter has developed a social systems model of 'cults' or 'charismatic groups' in which curtailment of proselytization leads to a redirection of energy from goal attainment to internal control and surveillance with the result that negative feedback is suppressed and the group becomes increasingly defensive and sensitive to the threat of external intrusion and violation of the group's boundary. Marc Galanter, Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, 1999).
58. Doomsday Religious Movements warns against 'Hasty action' by authorities which 'can trigger violence on the part of the [millennialist] group by forcing it to act out its "endtimes" scenario, especially when its grandiose apocalyptic scenario appears discredited under humiliating circumstances.' A similar point has been made by two of the authors; see Anthony and Robbins: 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4); and Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism, and the Waco Tragedy'. (note 4).
59. Doomsday Religious Movements warns against 'Hasty action' by authorities which 'can trigger violence on the part of the [millennialist] group by forcing it to act out its "endtimes" scenario, especially when its grandiose apocalyptic scenario appears discredited under humiliating circumstances.' A similar point has been made by two of the authors; see Anthony and Robbins: 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4); and Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism, and the Waco Tragedy'. (note 4).
60. Erikson (note 6). See also Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4).
61. Erikson (note 6). See also Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Violence and Exemplary Dualism' (note 4).
62. Research by psychiatrist Marc Galanter has pointed to a 'relief effect' whereby significant mitigation of neurotic distress symptoms is experienced by recruits to totalistic movements such as the Unification Church. Galanter's research also indicates that approximately 30 per cent of such recruits have experienced serious distress shortly prior to joining the group. Recognizing that the powerful psychological forces for identity transformation which are mobilized by close-knit 'charismatic groups' can also have dangerous (e.g., violent) and pathological consequences, Galanter develops comparisons between cults and therapeutic support groups. See Galanter (note 32).
63. Saul V. Levine, Radical Departures: Desperate Detours to Growing Up (London: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1984); see also Saul V. Levine 'Radical Departures', Psychology Today 18/8 (August 1984), pp.20-29.
64. Saul V. Levine, Radical Departures: Desperate Detours to Growing Up (London: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1984); see also Saul V. Levine 'Radical Departures', Psychology Today 18/8 (August 1984), pp.20-29.
65. Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony, Thomas Curtis and Madalyn Doucas, 'The Last Civil Religion: The Unification Church of Reverend Sun Myung Moon', Sociological Analysis 37/12 (1976), pp.111-23. There is a tradeoff here, e.g., we wouldn't applaud the creation of self-confident Nazis. On the other hand a student of one of the authors, who joined the Unification Church as a college undergraduate, developed journalistic and organizational skills working in the movement's divisions, and after leaving the Church became an executive in an important media enterprise.
66. Dr Lifton treats 'nuclearism' as a pathological mode of ideological totalism which was influential in the late-twentieth century 'Cold War' United States. Robert Lifton, The Future of Immortality and Other Essays for a Nuclear Age (New York: Basic Books, 1989).
67. This appears to be an implication of an interesting recent Canadian movie White Lies. A college student played by the young actress Sara Policy innocently questions a dictum of a liberal instructor, who stigmatizes her in class as a possible racist. Reacting against the unfair implication and the stifling milieu of political correctness, the student increasingly associates with seemingly iconoclastic, anti-conformist young persons who are really vicious 'White Power' racists. She is drawn into a violent neo-Nazi group from which she eventually defects.
68. A recent analysis of the worldwide surge of 'religious terrorism' identifies as a significant factor a reaction of young, pious males against sexual liberation and the related equality of women. Mark Jurgensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Violence (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000), pp.195-207.
69. Some sociologists have suggested that the surge of agitation against cults in Western Europe, although greatly intensified by the trauma of the Solar Temple murder-suicides, is also related to anxieties over national and cultural integration in a period of shifting ethno-demographic patterns, foreign in-migration, and the growth of Islam. Many religious movements which are viewed as problematic are also seen as 'alien' imports and 'religious multinationals' and thus make convenient scapegoats in a xenophobic or at least particularistic reaction against cultural globalization. See James Beckford, '"Cult" Controversies in Three European Countries', Journal of Oriental Studies 8 (1998), pp.174-84; Beckford, 'Religious Movements and Globalization', in Robin Cohen and Shirin Rai (eds.), Global Social Movements (London: Athlone Press, 2000), pp.166-83; Thomas Robbins, 'Alternative Religions, The State and The Globe', Nova Religio 4/2 (2001), pp.172-186; and Robbins (note 2).
70. Some sociologists have suggested that the surge of agitation against cults in Western Europe, although greatly intensified by the trauma of the Solar Temple murder-suicides, is also related to anxieties over national and cultural integration in a period of shifting ethno-demographic patterns, foreign in-migration, and the growth of Islam. Many religious movements which are viewed as problematic are also seen as 'alien' imports and 'religious multinationals' and thus make convenient scapegoats in a xenophobic or at least particularistic reaction against cultural globalization. See James Beckford, '"Cult" Controversies in Three European Countries', Journal of Oriental Studies 8 (1998), pp.174-84; Beckford, 'Religious Movements and Globalization', in Robin Cohen and Shirin Rai (eds.), Global Social Movements (London: Athlone Press, 2000), pp.166-83; Thomas Robbins, 'Alternative Religions, The State and The Globe', Nova Religio 4/2 (2001), pp.172-186; and Robbins (note 2).
71. Some sociologists have suggested that the surge of agitation against cults in Western Europe, although greatly intensified by the trauma of the Solar Temple murder-suicides, is also related to anxieties over national and cultural integration in a period of shifting ethno-demographic patterns, foreign in-migration, and the growth of Islam. Many religious movements which are viewed as problematic are also seen as 'alien' imports and 'religious multinationals' and thus make convenient scapegoats in a xenophobic or at least particularistic reaction against cultural globalization. See James Beckford, '"Cult" Controversies in Three European Countries', Journal of Oriental Studies 8 (1998), pp.174-84; Beckford, 'Religious Movements and Globalization', in Robin Cohen and Shirin Rai (eds.), Global Social Movements (London: Athlone Press, 2000), pp.166-83; Thomas Robbins, 'Alternative Religions, The State and The Globe', Nova Religio 4/2 (2001), pp.172-186; and Robbins (note 2).
72. Some sociologists have suggested that the surge of agitation against cults in Western Europe, although greatly intensified by the trauma of the Solar Temple murder-suicides, is also related to anxieties over national and cultural integration in a period of shifting ethno-demographic patterns, foreign in-migration, and the growth of Islam. Many religious movements which are viewed as problematic are also seen as 'alien' imports and 'religious multinationals' and thus make convenient scapegoats in a xenophobic or at least particularistic reaction against cultural globalization. See James Beckford, '"Cult" Controversies in Three European Countries', Journal of Oriental Studies 8 (1998), pp.174-84; Beckford, 'Religious Movements and Globalization', in Robin Cohen and Shirin Rai (eds.), Global Social Movements (London: Athlone Press, 2000), pp.166-83; Thomas Robbins, 'Alternative Religions, The State and The Globe', Nova Religio 4/2 (2001), pp.172-186; and Robbins (note 2).
73. This may be why, notwithstanding the significant phenomenon of (primarily evangelical) Christian anticultism or 'countercultism', the attack on cults so often seems to come from the left. For example, repressive legislation against minority religions accused of 'mental manipulation' was recently introduced in the French National Assembly by the Socialists. The legislation was passed although the mental manipulation term was removed. Other language in the final law arguably produces the same effect of criminalizing minority religious beliefs.
74. In Chinese Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Lifton states: Such political inquisitions occur - as in thought reform - when ideological totalists set up their own theocratic search for heresy. One example of this variety of totalism in recent American history would be McCarthyism, a bizarre blend of political religion and extreme opportunism ... And among those most actively engaged in the McCarthyist movement were many former Communists turned anti-Communist - all of which again seems to confirm (at varying levels of politics and individual emotion) THE PRINCIPLE THAT TOTALISM BREEDS TOTALISM.' Lifton (note 8), pp.457-8 (emphasis ours). In a later publication he applies this principle to the tensions between the anticult movement and new religions. Lifton states 'Totalism begets totalism - and there can be notable totalism in so-called deprogramming. What is called deprogramming includes a continuum from intense dialogue on the one hand to physical coercion and kidnapping on the other ... I am against coercion at either end of the cult process.' Lifton (note 5), p.219 A somewhat similar point has been made more fervently by Lee Coleman: 'New Religions and "Deprogramming": Who's Brainwashing Whom?', in Thomas Robbins, William Shepherd and James McBride (eds.), Cults, Culture and the Law (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), pp.71-80. The tendency for totalistic attacks on movements to strengthen the internal totalism of targeted groups is illustrated by the effect of the fear of coercive deprogramming in the 1970s and early 1980s in increasing the suspicion felt by devotees toward outsiders. See Eileen Barker, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing (New York: Blackwell, 1984), p.64.
75. In Chinese Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Lifton states: Such political inquisitions occur - as in thought reform - when ideological totalists set up their own theocratic search for heresy. One example of this variety of totalism in recent American history would be McCarthyism, a bizarre blend of political religion and extreme opportunism ... And among those most actively engaged in the McCarthyist movement were many former Communists turned anti-Communist - all of which again seems to confirm (at varying levels of politics and individual emotion) THE PRINCIPLE THAT TOTALISM BREEDS TOTALISM.' Lifton (note 8), pp.457-8 (emphasis ours). In a later publication he applies this principle to the tensions between the anticult movement and new religions. Lifton states 'Totalism begets totalism - and there can be notable totalism in so-called deprogramming. What is called deprogramming includes a continuum from intense dialogue on the one hand to physical coercion and kidnapping on the other ... I am against coercion at either end of the cult process.' Lifton (note 5), p.219 A somewhat similar point has been made more fervently by Lee Coleman: 'New Religions and "Deprogramming": Who's Brainwashing Whom?', in Thomas Robbins, William Shepherd and James McBride (eds.), Cults, Culture and the Law (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), pp.71-80. The tendency for totalistic attacks on movements to strengthen the internal totalism of targeted groups is illustrated by the effect of the fear of coercive deprogramming in the 1970s and early 1980s in increasing the suspicion felt by devotees toward outsiders. See Eileen Barker, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing (New York: Blackwell, 1984), p.64.
76. In Chinese Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Lifton states: Such political inquisitions occur - as in thought reform - when ideological totalists set up their own theocratic search for heresy. One example of this variety of totalism in recent American history would be McCarthyism, a bizarre blend of political religion and extreme opportunism ... And among those most actively engaged in the McCarthyist movement were many former Communists turned anti-Communist - all of which again seems to confirm (at varying levels of politics and individual emotion) THE PRINCIPLE THAT TOTALISM BREEDS TOTALISM.' Lifton (note 8), pp.457-8 (emphasis ours). In a later publication he applies this principle to the tensions between the anticult movement and new religions. Lifton states 'Totalism begets totalism - and there can be notable totalism in so-called deprogramming. What is called deprogramming includes a continuum from intense dialogue on the one hand to physical coercion and kidnapping on the other ... I am against coercion at either end of the cult process.' Lifton (note 5), p.219 A somewhat similar point has been made more fervently by Lee Coleman: 'New Religions and "Deprogramming": Who's Brainwashing Whom?', in Thomas Robbins, William Shepherd and James McBride (eds.), Cults, Culture and the Law (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), pp.71-80. The tendency for totalistic attacks on movements to strengthen the internal totalism of targeted groups is illustrated by the effect of the fear of coercive deprogramming in the 1970s and early 1980s in increasing the suspicion felt by devotees toward outsiders. See Eileen Barker, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing (New York: Blackwell, 1984), p.64.
77. In Chinese Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Lifton states: Such political inquisitions occur - as in thought reform - when ideological totalists set up their own theocratic search for heresy. One example of this variety of totalism in recent American history would be McCarthyism, a bizarre blend of political religion and extreme opportunism ... And among those most actively engaged in the McCarthyist movement were many former Communists turned anti-Communist - all of which again seems to confirm (at varying levels of politics and individual emotion) THE PRINCIPLE THAT TOTALISM BREEDS TOTALISM.' Lifton (note 8), pp.457-8 (emphasis ours). In a later publication he applies this principle to the tensions between the anticult movement and new religions. Lifton states 'Totalism begets totalism - and there can be notable totalism in so-called deprogramming. What is called deprogramming includes a continuum from intense dialogue on the one hand to physical coercion and kidnapping on the other ... I am against coercion at either end of the cult process.' Lifton (note 5), p.219 A somewhat similar point has been made more fervently by Lee Coleman: 'New Religions and "Deprogramming": Who's Brainwashing Whom?', in Thomas Robbins, William Shepherd and James McBride (eds.), Cults, Culture and the Law (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), pp.71-80. The tendency for totalistic attacks on movements to strengthen the internal totalism of targeted groups is illustrated by the effect of the fear of coercive deprogramming in the 1970s and early 1980s in increasing the suspicion felt by devotees toward outsiders. See Eileen Barker, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing (New York: Blackwell, 1984), p.64.
78. In Chinese Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Lifton states: Such political inquisitions occur - as in thought reform - when ideological totalists set up their own theocratic search for heresy. One example of this variety of totalism in recent American history would be McCarthyism, a bizarre blend of political religion and extreme opportunism ... And among those most actively engaged in the McCarthyist movement were many former Communists turned anti-Communist - all of which again seems to confirm (at varying levels of politics and individual emotion) THE PRINCIPLE THAT TOTALISM BREEDS TOTALISM.' Lifton (note 8), pp.457-8 (emphasis ours). In a later publication he applies this principle to the tensions between the anticult movement and new religions. Lifton states 'Totalism begets totalism - and there can be notable totalism in so-called deprogramming. What is called deprogramming includes a continuum from intense dialogue on the one hand to physical coercion and kidnapping on the other ... I am against coercion at either end of the cult process.' Lifton (note 5), p.219 A somewhat similar point has been made more fervently by Lee Coleman: 'New Religions and "Deprogramming": Who's Brainwashing Whom?', in Thomas Robbins, William Shepherd and James McBride (eds.), Cults, Culture and the Law (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), pp.71-80. The tendency for totalistic attacks on movements to strengthen the internal totalism of targeted groups is illustrated by the effect of the fear of coercive deprogramming in the 1970s and early 1980s in increasing the suspicion felt by devotees toward outsiders. See Eileen Barker, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing (New York: Blackwell, 1984), p.64.
79. Richard Delgado, 'Religious Totalism: Gentle and Ungentle Persuasion Under the First Amendment', So. California Law Review 51 (1977), pp.1-99. Professor Delgado later backed off support of court ordered coercive deprogramming and shifted his focus to litigation by ex-members against the groups alleged to have psychologically imprisoned them. On the history of legal 'cult wars' in the United States, see Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Negligence, Coercion and the Protection of Religious Belief', Journal of Church and State 37 (1995), pp.509-36.
80. Richard Delgado, 'Religious Totalism: Gentle and Ungentle Persuasion Under the First Amendment', So. California Law Review 51 (1977), pp.1-99. Professor Delgado later backed off support of court ordered coercive deprogramming and shifted his focus to litigation by ex-members against the groups alleged to have psychologically imprisoned them. On the history of legal 'cult wars' in the United States, see Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Negligence, Coercion and the Protection of Religious Belief', Journal of Church and State 37 (1995), pp.509-36.
81. The Unification Church indoctrination center in Booneville, N. California, was notorious for 'luring' targeted recruits without first informing them under whose auspices the camp was being run. Delgado seems to have extrapolated this operation into a general model of cult recruitment and conversion.
82. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Law, Social Science and the "Brainwashing" Amendment to the First Amendment', Behavioral Science and the Law 10/1 (Winter 1992), pp.1-30. For the senior author's recent strong critique of 'brainwashing' models with particular emphasis on legal testimony - which has been influential in continental Western Europe, where the climate seems currently more repressive than in the USA - see Dick Anthony, 'Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall', Social Science Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999), pp.421-56. For a variety of viewpoints on cult/brainwashing issues, see contributions by Dick Anthony, Lorne Dawson, Stephen Kent and Benjamin Zablocki in Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (eds.), Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (note 1).
83. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Law, Social Science and the "Brainwashing" Amendment to the First Amendment', Behavioral Science and the Law 10/1 (Winter 1992), pp.1-30. For the senior author's recent strong critique of 'brainwashing' models with particular emphasis on legal testimony - which has been influential in continental Western Europe, where the climate seems currently more repressive than in the USA -see Dick Anthony, 'Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall', Social Science Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999), pp.421-56. For a variety of viewpoints on cult/brainwashing issues, see contributions by Dick Anthony, Lorne Dawson, Stephen Kent and Benjamin Zablocki in Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (eds.), Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (note 1).
84. Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins, 'Law, Social Science and the "Brainwashing" Amendment to the First Amendment', Behavioral Science and the Law 10/1 (Winter 1992), pp.1-30. For the senior author's recent strong critique of 'brainwashing' models with particular emphasis on legal testimony - which has been influential in continental Western Europe, where the climate seems currently more repressive than in the USA - see Dick Anthony, 'Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall', Social Science Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999), pp.421-56. For a variety of viewpoints on cult/brainwashing issues, see contributions by Dick Anthony, Lorne Dawson, Stephen Kent and Benjamin Zablocki in Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (eds.), Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (note 1).
85. Congressman Richard Ottinger, 'Cults and Their Slaves', Congressional Record (1980), E3578-3579. Cong. Ottinger proposed a National Conservatorship law through which parents could forcibly remove adult children from totalist movements.
86. Barrie-Anthony and Anthony (note 4). See also Eileen Barker's discussion of dehumanization in 'the construction of "otherness"' in cult conflicts'. Eileen Barker, 'Watching for Violence: A Comparative Analysis of Five Cult-Watching Groups', in David Bromley and Gordon Melton (eds.), New Religions, Cults and Violence in Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
87. Barrie-Anthony and Anthony (note 4). See also Eileen Barker's discussion of dehumanization in 'the construction of "otherness"' in cult conflicts'. Eileen Barker, 'Watching for Violence: A Comparative Analysis of Five Cult-Watching Groups', in David Bromley and Gordon Melton (eds.), New Religions, Cults and Violence in Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
88. In a pluralistic society with a multicultural ethos it is difficult to degrade persons by reference to either their innate characteristics such as race or their religious beliefs. However the issue of personal autonomy/heteronomy provides a basis for stigmatization and control. Non-autonomous persons can be held subject to special controls, and rights and freedoms can be viewed as presupposing autonomy. On the focus upon autonomy as the key value motif in modern society see Richard Sennett, Autonomy (New York: Random House, 1981). See also James Beckford, Cult Controversies (London: Tavistock, 1985).
89. In a pluralistic society with a multicultural ethos it is difficult to degrade persons by reference to either their innate characteristics such as race or their religious beliefs. However the issue of personal autonomy/heteronomy provides a basis for stigmatization and control. Non-autonomous persons can be held subject to special controls, and rights and freedoms can be viewed as presupposing autonomy. On the focus upon autonomy as the key value motif in modern society see Richard Sennett, Autonomy (New York: Random House, 1981). See also James Beckford, Cult Controversies (London: Tavistock, 1985).
90. Richard Delgado refers to cultists as 'cheerful robots' who aren't aware of their actual enslavement and degradation. Richard Delgado, 'Religious Totalism as Slavery', New York Review of Law and Social Change 4/1 (1979-80), pp.51-68. The models of brainwashing employed by crusaders against 'cults' have been related by Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins to the early anti-communist rhetoric of Edward Hunter, a CIA publicist, who referred to Maoist brainwashing as creating 'robots' and 'puppets'. See Edward Hunter, Brainwashing In Red China (New York: Vanguard, 1951) and Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers (New York: The Bookmaster, 1961). Anthony and Robbins have contrasted this 'robot' brainwashing model with the 'totalitarian influence' models exemplified by Robert Lifton and Edgar Schein. See also Anthony and Robbins (note 21).
91. Richard Delgado refers to cultists as 'cheerful robots' who aren't aware of their actual enslavement and degradation. Richard Delgado, 'Religious Totalism as Slavery', New York Review of Law and Social Change 4/1 (1979-80), pp.51-68. The models of brainwashing employed by crusaders against 'cults' have been related by Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins to the early anti-communist rhetoric of Edward Hunter, a CIA publicist, who referred to Maoist brainwashing as creating 'robots' and 'puppets'. See Edward Hunter, Brainwashing In Red China (New York: Vanguard, 1951) and Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers (New York: The Bookmaster, 1961). Anthony and Robbins have contrasted this 'robot' brainwashing model with the 'totalitarian influence' models exemplified by Robert Lifton and Edgar Schein. See also Anthony and Robbins (note 21).
92. Richard Delgado refers to cultists as 'cheerful robots' who aren't aware of their actual enslavement and degradation. Richard Delgado, 'Religious Totalism as Slavery', New York Review of Law and Social Change 4/1 (1979-80), pp.51-68. The models of brainwashing employed by crusaders against 'cults' have been related by Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins to the early anti-communist rhetoric of Edward Hunter, a CIA publicist, who referred to Maoist brainwashing as creating 'robots' and 'puppets'. See Edward Hunter, Brainwashing In Red China (New York: Vanguard, 1951) and Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers (New York: The Bookmaster, 1961). Anthony and Robbins have contrasted this 'robot' brainwashing model with the 'totalitarian influence' models exemplified by Robert Lifton and Edgar Schein. See also Anthony and Robbins (note 21).
93. Richard Delgado refers to cultists as 'cheerful robots' who aren't aware of their actual enslavement and degradation. Richard Delgado, 'Religious Totalism as Slavery', New York Review of Law and Social Change 4/1 (1979-80), pp.51-68. The models of brainwashing employed by crusaders against 'cults' have been related by Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins to the early anti-communist rhetoric of Edward Hunter, a CIA publicist, who referred to Maoist brainwashing as creating 'robots' and 'puppets'. See Edward Hunter, Brainwashing In Red China (New York: Vanguard, 1951) and Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers (New York: The Bookmaster, 1961). Anthony and Robbins have contrasted this 'robot' brainwashing model with the 'totalitarian influence' models exemplified by Robert Lifton and Edgar Schein. See also Anthony and Robbins (note 21).
94. Philip Jenkins, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American
95. John Young and Ezra Griffith, 'A Critical Evaluation of Coercive Persuasion as Used in the Assessment of Cults', Behavioral Science and the Law 10/1 (1992), pp.89-101.
96. See note 3.
97. Lifton (note 25), pp.329-30.
98. Thomas Robbins, 'Balance and Fairness Toward Alternative Religions', in Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (eds.), Misunderstanding Cults: Searching For Objectivity In A Controversial Field (note 1).
99. Anthony and Robbins suggest that at the Waco siege 'federal agents were also thinking and acting in a dualistic and apocalyptic mode such that extreme inflexibility and machiavellian subtlety [were] attributed to a stressed sect leader, who was actually vacillating and confused'. Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy' (note 4), p.282. In his theoretical treatise on the rhetoric of apocalypticism, Stephen O'Leary comments that at Waco, 'In the end the government's agents were probably motivated by the same sense of ending that governs the logic of apocalyptic drama: the need to control the script by seizing the initiative and seeking some form of narrative closure.' Stephen O'Leary, Arguing the Apocalypse (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p.228. Movement totalism and anti-movement totalism interact explosively and, reinforcing each other, contribute through deviance amplification to a catastrophe such as the tragedy at Waco.
100. Anthony and Robbins suggest that at the Waco siege 'federal agents were also thinking and acting in a dualistic and apocalyptic mode such that extreme inflexibility and machiavellian subtlety [were] attributed to a stressed sect leader, who was actually vacillating and confused'. Anthony and Robbins 'Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism and the Waco Tragedy' (note 4), p.282. In his theoretical treatise on the rhetoric of apocalypticism, Stephen O'Leary comments that at Waco, 'In the end the government's agents were probably motivated by the same sense of ending that governs the logic of apocalyptic drama: the need to control the script by seizing the initiative and seeking some form of narrative closure.' Stephen O'Leary, Arguing the Apocalypse (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p.228. Movement totalism and anti-movement totalism interact explosively and, reinforcing each other, contribute through deviance amplification to a catastrophe such as the tragedy at Waco.
101. Anti-cult activists and 'experts' often testify to alleged cultic brainwashing on behalf of ex-devotee plaintiffs in civil suits against the movements which have allegedly enslaved them. See Anthony and Robbins (note 44). Other 'experts' testify for the defense upon the alleged scientific flaws of the cultic brainwashing theory upon which the legal action is based. (Dick Anthony is the scholar who has most often performed this role.)
102. Richardson and Introvigne (note 2). See also 'French Senate Passes Anti-Sect Law With Amendments', Human Rights Without Frontiers News Brief, see www.hrwf.net (5/17/01). The new legislation criminalizes mind control or the use of techniques that 'aim at altering the capacity or judgment' to create a 'state of subjection' (physical or psychological). Offenders can be imprisoned for five years and heavily fined. Religious organizations can be dissolved. For detailed coverage of recent (late 1990s through 2000) legal and church-state vicissitudes involving alternative religions or 'cults', see: James Richardson (ed.), 'Justice and New Religious Movements', special issue of Social Justice Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999); Pauline Coté (ed.), Frontier Religions in Public Space (Ottawa: Oxford University Press, 2001); 'Symposium: New Religions in Their Political, Legal and Religious Contexts Around the World', Nova Religio 4/2 (Spring 2001).
103. Richardson and Introvigne (note 2). See also 'French Senate Passes Anti-Sect Law With Amendments', Human Rights Without Frontiers News Brief, see www.hrwf.net (5/17/01). The new legislation criminalizes mind control or the use of techniques that 'aim at altering the capacity or judgment' to create a 'state of subjection' (physical or psychological). Offenders can be imprisoned for five years and heavily fined. Religious organizations can be dissolved. For detailed coverage of recent (late 1990s through 2000) legal and church-state vicissitudes involving alternative religions or 'cults', see: James Richardson (ed.), 'Justice and New Religious Movements', special issue of Social Justice Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999); Pauline Coté (ed.), Frontier Religions in Public Space (Ottawa: Oxford University Press, 2001); 'Symposium: New Religions in Their Political, Legal and Religious Contexts Around the World', Nova Religio 4/2 (Spring 2001).
104. Richardson and Introvigne (note 2). See also 'French Senate Passes Anti-Sect Law With Amendments', Human Rights Without Frontiers News Brief, see www.hrwf.net (5/17/01). The new legislation criminalizes mind control or the use of techniques that 'aim at altering the capacity or judgment' to create a 'state of subjection' (physical or psychological). Offenders can be imprisoned for five years and heavily fined. Religious organizations can be dissolved. For detailed coverage of recent (late 1990s through 2000) legal and church-state vicissitudes involving alternative religions or 'cults', see: James Richardson (ed.), 'Justice and New Religious Movements', special issue of Social Justice Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999); Pauline Coté (ed.), Frontier Religions in Public Space (Ottawa: Oxford University Press, 2001); 'Symposium: New Religions in Their Political, Legal and Religious Contexts Around the World', Nova Religio 4/2 (Spring 2001).
105. Richardson and Introvigne (note 2). See also 'French Senate Passes Anti-Sect Law With Amendments', Human Rights Without Frontiers News Brief, see www.hrwf.net (5/17/01). The new legislation criminalizes mind control or the use of techniques that 'aim at altering the capacity or judgment' to create a 'state of subjection' (physical or psychological). Offenders can be imprisoned for five years and heavily fined. Religious organizations can be dissolved. For detailed coverage of recent (late 1990s through 2000) legal and church-state vicissitudes involving alternative religions or 'cults', see: James Richardson (ed.), 'Justice and New Religious Movements', special issue of Social Justice Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999); Pauline Coté (ed.), Frontier Religions in Public Space (Ottawa: Oxford University Press, 2001); 'Symposium: New Religions in Their Political, Legal and Religious Contexts Around the World', Nova Religio 4/2 (Spring 2001).
106. Richardson and Introvigne (note 2). See also 'French Senate Passes Anti-Sect Law With Amendments', Human Rights Without Frontiers News Brief, see www.hrwf.net (5/17/01). The new legislation criminalizes mind control or the use of techniques that 'aim at altering the capacity or judgment' to create a 'state of subjection' (physical or psychological). Offenders can be imprisoned for five years and heavily fined. Religious organizations can be dissolved. For detailed coverage of recent (late 1990s through 2000) legal and church-state vicissitudes involving alternative religions or 'cults', see: James Richardson (ed.), 'Justice and New Religious Movements', special issue of Social Justice Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999); Pauline Coté (ed.), Frontier Religions in Public Space (Ottawa: Oxford University Press, 2001); 'Symposium: New Religions in Their Political, Legal and Religious Contexts Around the World', Nova Religio 4/2 (Spring 2001).
107. Richardson and Introvigne (note 2). See also 'French Senate Passes Anti-Sect Law With Amendments', Human Rights Without Frontiers News Brief, see www.hrwf.net (5/17/01). The new legislation criminalizes mind control or the use of techniques that 'aim at altering the capacity or judgment' to create a 'state of subjection' (physical or psychological). Offenders can be imprisoned for five years and heavily fined. Religious organizations can be dissolved. For detailed coverage of recent (late 1990s through 2000) legal and church-state vicissitudes involving alternative religions or 'cults', see: James Richardson (ed.), 'Justice and New Religious Movements', special issue of Social Justice Research 12/4 (Dec. 1999); Pauline Coté (ed.), Frontier Religions in Public Space (Ottawa: Oxford University Press, 2001); 'Symposium: New Religions in Their Political, Legal and Religious Contexts Around the World', Nova Religio 4/2 (Spring 2001).
108. See note 6.
109. The section of the Project Megiddo report on 'Apocalyptic Cults' has three citations to a work co-authored by Dr Margaret Singer, a psychologist and an influential theorist of cult/brainwashing dynamics, Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich, Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995). Another cited work emphasizes how the isolation of members in a totalistic cult undermines the capacity for critical thought. Kevin Gilmartin, 'The Lethal Triad: Understanding the Nature of Isolated Extremist Groups', accessed at www.leo.gov/tlib/lebl996/sept96/text (sic). In partial contrast the editors of the Canadian report on Doomsday Religious Movements appear to have been less influenced by clinicians and 'cult experts' and more open to the somewhat different views of sociologists of religion and students of millenarian movements. However, this is not an absolute contrast, and the Canadian report and the 'cult' section of the Project Megiddo report manifest some conceptual and analytical overlay, particularly involving nuances of apocalyptic beliefs.
110. The section of the Project Megiddo report on 'Apocalyptic Cults' has three citations to a work co-authored by Dr Margaret Singer, a psychologist and an influential theorist of cult/brainwashing dynamics, Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich, Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995). Another cited work emphasizes how the isolation of members in a totalistic cult undermines the capacity for critical thought. Kevin Gilmartin, 'The Lethal Triad: Understanding the Nature of Isolated Extremist Groups', accessed at www.leo.gov/tlib/lebl996/sept96/text (sic). In partial contrast the editors of the Canadian report on Doomsday Religious Movements appear to have been less influenced by clinicians and 'cult experts' and more open to the somewhat different views of sociologists of religion and students of millenarian movements. However, this is not an absolute contrast, and the Canadian report and the 'cult' section of the Project Megiddo report manifest some conceptual and analytical overlay, particularly involving nuances of apocalyptic beliefs.
111. Jenkins (note 51), p.222.
112. Hall et al. argue that anti-cult activists and officials influenced by them conceptualized the problem posed by the Branch Davidians in terms of a mass suicide stereotype arising from the prior Jonestown catastrophe and were therefore led to take forceful actions which helped provoke the holocaust they feared, i.e., the 'dynamic entry' which federal agents planned at Waco was intended to transpire so rapidly as to forestall the emergence of mass suicide during a lengthy siege. Mass suicide and the threat of 'another Jonestown' became a 'narrative of law enforcement' which ultimately helped create the Waco debacle. John Hall, Philip Schuyler and Salvaine Trinh, Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in N. America, Europe and Japan (New York: Routledge, 2000), pp.44-67.
113. Hall (note 62). See also James Richardson, 'Minority Religions and the Context of Violence: A Conflict/Interactionist Perspective', Terrorism and Political Violence 13/1 (Spring 2001), pp.103-33.
114. Hall (note 62). See also James Richardson, 'Minority Religions and the Context of Violence: A Conflict/Interactionist Perspective', Terrorism and Political Violence 13/1 (Spring 2001), pp.103-33.
115. What is being described here is what sociologists have termed the deviance amplification process which entails a model of spiraling escalation between a deviant religious or cultural minority and alarmed public authorities. Both parties become enmeshed in mutual interpretive feedback loops which mediate concurrent increases in both sectarian alienation and official control. Neither party may thus be exclusively responsible for a culminating violent catastrophe. Although initially developed by British experts in crime and deviance, the classic application to cult/state conflicts is Roy Wallis' discussion of conflicts involving the Scientology movement in the United Kingdom and Australia. See Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology (New York: Columbia University, 1977). A much more recent application has been made to Christian Identity paramilitarists; see Michael Barkun, 'Millenarians and Violence: The Case of the Christian Identity Movement', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennialism, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge 1997), pp.247-60. Thomas Robbins has made a somewhat cryptic application to huge, incendiary mass suicides in early modern Russia among the Old Believers. Thomas Robbins, 'Apocalypse, Persecution and Self-Immolation', in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.205-19. See also Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Mass Suicide Before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers', Sociological Analysis 41/1 (1986), pp.1-20. Finally, see Barker (note 48). The Canadian report includes Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (note 4) in its bibliography and may have been influenced by the contribution by Michael Barkun dealing with deviance amplification and Christian Identity and the Anthony-Robbins chapter on exemplary dualism and Waco.
116. What is being described here is what sociologists have termed the deviance amplification process which entails a model of spiraling escalation between a deviant religious or cultural minority and alarmed public authorities. Both parties become enmeshed in mutual interpretive feedback loops which mediate concurrent increases in both sectarian alienation and official control. Neither party may thus be exclusively responsible for a culminating violent catastrophe. Although initially developed by British experts in crime and deviance, the classic application to cult/state conflicts is Roy Wallis' discussion of conflicts involving the Scientology movement in the United Kingdom and Australia. See Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology (New York: Columbia University, 1977). A much more recent application has been made to Christian Identity paramilitarists; see Michael Barkun, 'Millenarians and Violence: The Case of the Christian Identity Movement', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennialism, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge 1997), pp.247-60. Thomas Robbins has made a somewhat cryptic application to huge, incendiary mass suicides in early modern Russia among the Old Believers. Thomas Robbins, 'Apocalypse, Persecution and Self-Immolation', in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.205-19. See also Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Mass Suicide Before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers', Sociological Analysis 41/1 (1986), pp.1-20. Finally, see Barker (note 48). The Canadian report includes Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (note 4) in its bibliography and may have been influenced by the contribution by Michael Barkun dealing with deviance amplification and Christian Identity and the Anthony-Robbins chapter on exemplary dualism and Waco.
117. What is being described here is what sociologists have termed the deviance amplification process which entails a model of spiraling escalation between a deviant religious or cultural minority and alarmed public authorities. Both parties become enmeshed in mutual interpretive feedback loops which mediate concurrent increases in both sectarian alienation and official control. Neither party may thus be exclusively responsible for a culminating violent catastrophe. Although initially developed by British experts in crime and deviance, the classic application to cult/state conflicts is Roy Wallis' discussion of conflicts involving the Scientology movement in the United Kingdom and Australia. See Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology (New York: Columbia University, 1977). A much more recent application has been made to Christian Identity paramilitarists; see Michael Barkun, 'Millenarians and Violence: The Case of the Christian Identity Movement', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennialism, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge 1997), pp.247-60. Thomas Robbins has made a somewhat cryptic application to huge, incendiary mass suicides in early modern Russia among the Old Believers. Thomas Robbins, 'Apocalypse, Persecution and Self-Immolation', in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.205-19. See also Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Mass Suicide Before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers', Sociological Analysis 41/1 (1986), pp.1-20. Finally, see Barker (note 48). The Canadian report includes Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (note 4) in its bibliography and may have been influenced by the contribution by Michael Barkun dealing with deviance amplification and Christian Identity and the Anthony-Robbins chapter on exemplary dualism and Waco.
118. What is being described here is what sociologists have termed the deviance amplification process which entails a model of spiraling escalation between a deviant religious or cultural minority and alarmed public authorities. Both parties become enmeshed in mutual interpretive feedback loops which mediate concurrent increases in both sectarian alienation and official control. Neither party may thus be exclusively responsible for a culminating violent catastrophe. Although initially developed by British experts in crime and deviance, the classic application to cult/state conflicts is Roy Wallis' discussion of conflicts involving the Scientology movement in the United Kingdom and Australia. See Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology (New York: Columbia University, 1977). A much more recent application has been made to Christian Identity paramilitarists; see Michael Barkun, 'Millenarians and Violence: The Case of the Christian Identity Movement', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennialism, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge 1997), pp.247-60. Thomas Robbins has made a somewhat cryptic application to huge, incendiary mass suicides in early modern Russia among the Old Believers. Thomas Robbins, 'Apocalypse, Persecution and Self-Immolation', in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.205-19. See also Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Mass Suicide Before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers', Sociological Analysis 41/1 (1986), pp.1-20. Finally, see Barker (note 48). The Canadian report includes Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (note 4) in its bibliography and may have been influenced by the contribution by Michael Barkun dealing with deviance amplification and Christian Identity and the Anthony-Robbins chapter on exemplary dualism and Waco.
119. What is being described here is what sociologists have termed the deviance amplification process which entails a model of spiraling escalation between a deviant religious or cultural minority and alarmed public authorities. Both parties become enmeshed in mutual interpretive feedback loops which mediate concurrent increases in both sectarian alienation and official control. Neither party may thus be exclusively responsible for a culminating violent catastrophe. Although initially developed by British experts in crime and deviance, the classic application to cult/state conflicts is Roy Wallis' discussion of conflicts involving the Scientology movement in the United Kingdom and Australia. See Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology (New York: Columbia University, 1977). A much more recent application has been made to Christian Identity paramilitarists; see Michael Barkun, 'Millenarians and Violence: The Case of the Christian Identity Movement', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennialism, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge 1997), pp.247-60. Thomas Robbins has made a somewhat cryptic application to huge, incendiary mass suicides in early modern Russia among the Old Believers. Thomas Robbins, 'Apocalypse, Persecution and Self-Immolation', in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.205-19. See also Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Mass Suicide Before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers', Sociological Analysis 41/1 (1986), pp.1-20. Finally, see Barker (note 48). The Canadian report includes Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (note 4) in its bibliography and may have been influenced by the contribution by Michael Barkun dealing with deviance amplification and Christian Identity and the Anthony-Robbins chapter on exemplary dualism and Waco.
120. What is being described here is what sociologists have termed the deviance amplification process which entails a model of spiraling escalation between a deviant religious or cultural minority and alarmed public authorities. Both parties become enmeshed in mutual interpretive feedback loops which mediate concurrent increases in both sectarian alienation and official control. Neither party may thus be exclusively responsible for a culminating violent catastrophe. Although initially developed by British experts in crime and deviance, the classic application to cult/state conflicts is Roy Wallis' discussion of conflicts involving the Scientology movement in the United Kingdom and Australia. See Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology (New York: Columbia University, 1977). A much more recent application has been made to Christian Identity paramilitarists; see Michael Barkun, 'Millenarians and Violence: The Case of the Christian Identity Movement', in Thomas Robbins and Susan Palmer (eds.), Millennialism, Messiahs, and Mayhem (New York: Routledge 1997), pp.247-60. Thomas Robbins has made a somewhat cryptic application to huge, incendiary mass suicides in early modern Russia among the Old Believers. Thomas Robbins, 'Apocalypse, Persecution and Self-Immolation', in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.205-19. See also Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Mass Suicide Before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers', Sociological Analysis 41/1 (1986), pp.1-20. Finally, see Barker (note 48). The Canadian report includes Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (note 4) in its bibliography and may have been influenced by the contribution by Michael Barkun dealing with deviance amplification and Christian Identity and the Anthony-Robbins chapter on exemplary dualism and Waco.
121. James Richardson, 'Minority Religions and The Context of Violence: A Conflict/Interaclionist Perspective', Terrorism and Political Violence 13/1 (Spring 2001), pp.103-33. Richardson cites and discusses the conflict interaction perspective on violence by Sandra Ball-Rokeach, 'Normative and Deviant Violence from a Conflict Perspective', Social Problems 28/1 (1980), pp.45-62. In the note attached to the passage we've quoted in our text, Richardson cites the 'fine discussion of such interactions' in Michael Barkun, 'Millennial Violence in Contemporary America', in Catherine Wessinger, Millennialism, Persecution, & Violence; Historical Cases (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.352-63; and Barkun (note 64), pp.247-60.
122. James Richardson, 'Minority Religions and The Context of Violence: A Conflict/Interaclionist Perspective', Terrorism and Political Violence 13/1 (Spring 2001), pp.103-33. Richardson cites and discusses the conflict interaction perspective on violence by Sandra Ball-Rokeach, 'Normative and Deviant Violence from a Conflict Perspective', Social Problems 28/1 (1980), pp.45-62. In the note attached to the passage we've quoted in our text, Richardson cites the 'fine discussion of such interactions' in Michael Barkun, 'Millennial Violence in Contemporary America', in Catherine Wessinger, Millennialism, Persecution, & Violence; Historical Cases (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.352-63; and Barkun (note 64), pp.247-60.
123. James Richardson, 'Minority Religions and The Context of Violence: A Conflict/Interaclionist Perspective', Terrorism and Political Violence 13/1 (Spring 2001), pp.103-33. Richardson cites and discusses the conflict interaction perspective on violence by Sandra Ball-Rokeach, 'Normative and Deviant Violence from a Conflict Perspective', Social Problems 28/1 (1980), pp.45-62. In the note attached to the passage we've quoted in our text, Richardson cites the 'fine discussion of such interactions' in Michael Barkun, 'Millennial Violence in Contemporary America', in Catherine Wessinger, Millennialism, Persecution, & Violence; Historical Cases (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.352-63; and Barkun (note 64), pp.247-60.
124. James Richardson, 'Minority Religions and The Context of Violence: A Conflict/Interaclionist Perspective', Terrorism and Political Violence 13/1 (Spring 2001), pp.103-33. Richardson cites and discusses the conflict interaction perspective on violence by Sandra Ball-Rokeach, 'Normative and Deviant Violence from a Conflict Perspective', Social Problems 28/1 (1980), pp.45-62. In the note attached to the passage we've quoted in our text, Richardson cites the 'fine discussion of such interactions' in Michael Barkun, 'Millennial Violence in Contemporary America', in Catherine Wessinger, Millennialism, Persecution, & Violence; Historical Cases (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp.352-63; and Barkun (note 64), pp.247-60.
125. As noted above, the most complete and even-handed analysis of endogenous vs. exogenous factors in violence involving new religions is Richardson's article (note 65). For recent discussions of a debate concerning the relative salience of such factors, see Thomas Robbins, '"Quo Vadis": The Scientific Study of New Religious Movements', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 39/4 (Dece. 2000), pp.515-23; and Robbins, 'Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements' (note 4). In fact the relative weight of internal or external inputs to millennialist mayhem appears to differ markedly from fiasco to fiasco, as does the role of the state. Action by the state was probably hasty and provocative toward the defensive Davidians at Waco in 1993, but tardy and belated in Japan with respect to the escalating criminality of Aum Shinrikyô in 1995, i.e., less aggressive officials might have saved lives in Texas while more aggressive officials might have saved lives in Japan. Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Movements and Violence', Nova Religio 1/1 (1997), pp.13-29. This contrast is related to the emergence of partly competing 'post-Waco' and 'post-Aum' modes of scholarly reaction and recrimination. This has been noted by Ian Reader, '"Scholarship," Aum Shinrikyo and Academic Integrity', Nova Religio 3/2 (2000), pp.368-82.
126. As noted above, the most complete and even-handed analysis of endogenous vs. exogenous factors in violence involving new religions is Richardson's article (note 65). For recent discussions of a debate concerning the relative salience of such factors, see Thomas Robbins, '"Quo Vadis": The Scientific Study of New Religious Movements', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 39/4 (Dece. 2000), pp.515-23; and Robbins, 'Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements' (note 4). In fact the relative weight of internal or external inputs to millennialist mayhem appears to differ markedly from fiasco to fiasco, as does the role of the state. Action by the state was probably hasty and provocative toward the defensive Davidians at Waco in 1993, but tardy and belated in Japan with respect to the escalating criminality of Aum Shinrikyô in 1995, i.e., less aggressive officials might have saved lives in Texas while more aggressive officials might have saved lives in Japan. Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Movements and Violence', Nova Religio 1/1 (1997), pp.13-29. This contrast is related to the emergence of partly competing 'post-Waco' and 'post-Aum' modes of scholarly reaction and recrimination. This has been noted by Ian Reader, '"Scholarship," Aum Shinrikyo and Academic Integrity', Nova Religio 3/2 (2000), pp.368-82.
127. As noted above, the most complete and even-handed analysis of endogenous vs. exogenous factors in violence involving new religions is Richardson's article (note 65). For recent discussions of a debate concerning the relative salience of such factors, see Thomas Robbins, '"Quo Vadis": The Scientific Study of New Religious Movements', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 39/4 (Dece. 2000), pp.515-23; and Robbins, 'Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements' (note 4). In fact the relative weight of internal or external inputs to millennialist mayhem appears to differ markedly from fiasco to fiasco, as does the role of the state. Action by the state was probably hasty and provocative toward the defensive Davidians at Waco in 1993, but tardy and belated in Japan with respect to the escalating criminality of Aum Shinrikyô in 1995, i.e., less aggressive officials might have saved lives in Texas while more aggressive officials might have saved lives in Japan. Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Movements and Violence', Nova Religio 1/1 (1997), pp.13-29. This contrast is related to the emergence of partly competing 'post-Waco' and 'post-Aum' modes of scholarly reaction and recrimination. This has been noted by Ian Reader, '"Scholarship," Aum Shinrikyo and Academic Integrity', Nova Religio 3/2 (2000), pp.368-82.
128. As noted above, the most complete and even-handed analysis of endogenous vs. exogenous factors in violence involving new religions is Richardson's article (note 65). For recent discussions of a debate concerning the relative salience of such factors, see Thomas Robbins, '"Quo Vadis": The Scientific Study of New Religious Movements', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 39/4 (Dece. 2000), pp.515-23; and Robbins, 'Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements' (note 4). In fact the relative weight of internal or external inputs to millennialist mayhem appears to differ markedly from fiasco to fiasco, as does the role of the state. Action by the state was probably hasty and provocative toward the defensive Davidians at Waco in 1993, but tardy and belated in Japan with respect to the escalating criminality of Aum Shinrikyô in 1995, i.e., less aggressive officials might have saved lives in Texas while more aggressive officials might have saved lives in Japan. Thomas Robbins, 'Religious Movements and Violence', Nova Religio 1/1 (1997), pp.13-29. This contrast is related to the emergence of partly competing 'post-Waco' and 'post-Aum' modes of scholarly reaction and recrimination. This has been noted by Ian Reader, '"Scholarship," Aum Shinrikyo and Academic Integrity', Nova Religio 3/2 (2000), pp.368-82.
129. In this connection Project Megiddo cites the work of Jeffrey Kaplan, who distinguished between defensive, revolutionary (offensive) and rhetorical violence in the Christian Identity subculture (rhetorical violence predominated). See Jeffrey Kaplan, Radical Religion in America: Millenarian Movements from the Far Right to the Children of Noah (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997).
130. Lifton (note 25), pp.59-88, 270-340. Charles Manson's 'Family' actually 'committed at least ten murders and probably many more as part of a project that was meant to destroy the "bourgeois" world and bring about Armageddon' (p 274). Lifton also compares homicidal Aum Shinrikyô and the suicidal Heaven's Gate group (pp.306-27) and appears to interpret the ideology of the latter group as a dualist-totalist world view in which 'Luciferians' or demonic space aliens/fallen angels/world conspirators represent the exemplars of ultimate evil (p.314). The Peoples Temple is also discussed in terms of a lethal apocalyptic totalism led by an unhinged prophet (pp.281-302). However, the Branch Davidians, 'an armed but not violent small apocalyptic religious sect', are treated as primarily victims of the FBI's 'tragically ill-advised assault after a long siege in Waco, Texas in 1993' (p.329). They are exempted from the rogues' gallery of violent movements which aim to 'force the End'.