In the previous post, we discussed how cults operated and recruited members prior to the Internet age. We discussed two prominent cults that existed during the second half of the 1900s: the Manson Family and the Peoples Temple. The latter of these organizations was technically considered to be a New Religious Movement (NRM). But what does that mean?
Defining new religious movements has been difficult because of the terminology used to describe them. The term “new” indicates that the organization has not been around for a long time, but that can be said about any religion at one time or another; every religion was once “new.” Additionally, NRM’s have become synonymous with the word “cult” for main three reasons: they operate on the fringes of society; they have a marginal group membership in comparison to traditional religions; and they often represent beliefs that deviate from the norm (Saliba & Melton, 2003, p. 10).
For our purposes, New Religious Movements can be defined as
modern spiritual or religious groups that operate on the fringes of society
without being consumed by mainstream culture. NRM’s operate across the globe,
and based on the culture in which they are formed, they can either be
individual-focused or collectively-minded. In this post, we're going to discuss two prominent NRM's that had widely differing beliefs, but both met grisly ends in the 1990s.
Heaven’s Gate
Another cult that was founded in California, Heaven’s Gate was an organization created by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles in the early 1970s. Applewhite and Nettles “preached that they were Christ-like extraterrestrials who had taken human form” (Robinson, 1997) and their mythology centered on UFO’s and outer space. The central belief of this group was that human beings originated in a distant location in outer space, and following one’s time on earth, they would be charted away in an extraterrestrial spacecraft and transcend human existence.
The organization toured the United States similar to how the Peoples Temple did, recruiting new members with pamphlets that promised a spiritual awakening unlike what traditional religions such as Christianity and Judaism had to offer. The group “flourished in the Southwest, where UFO sightings have been common since the postwar boom in aviation and the government's use of the region for nuclear testing” (Robinson, 1997). Eventually, the group transitioned to the Internet world and transmitted messages to their followers online. Applewhite and Nettles provided an alternative faith for the group’s members to believe in while cementing a collective purpose and internalized identity, all built on the mythology of extraterrestrial life.
The conformity of Heaven’s Gate’s members was as much physical as it was mental. All of the group’s members dressed identically, had matching haircuts, and would refer to each other by androgynous names and pronouns. Their clothing included a patch that had the Heaven's Gate logo on it. On Applewhite's orders, many of the men in the group were also castrated in order to ensure that procreation was impossible.
This all led to the events of 1997, when Applewhite convinced 38 of his followers to commit mass suicide in order to begin their transcendence to their extraterrestrial existence and ensure their immortality. The suicide, which was carried out in a ritualized fashion in order to ensure safe passage onto the space craft, had members dress identically and ingest a lethal dose of phenobarbital mixed with apple sauce and washed down with vodka. Members also placed a plastic bag over their heads to ensure asphyxiation would occur. This event brought an end to Heaven's Gate.
Branch Davidians
This NRM was founded by Victor Houteff, a Seventh Day Adventist (a denomination of Protestantism) in 1935. Houteff called for the reformation of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and after it was rejected, he splintered off from the Church and created the group that would become known as the Branch Davidians. Houteff originally planned for a “literal restoration of the kingdom of David in Jerusalem,” and saw himself as a “truth teller” for those who had been led astray by the Church, sent by Christ to plan for the Second Coming (Newport, 2006).
Houteff died in 1955, and his wife Florence took over the organization, sold their land and moved the group to a settlement just north of Waco, Texas. Here, the New Mount Carmel Centre was built, and eventually purchased by one of Houteff’s most loyal followers, Benjamin Roden, who referred to himself as “the Branch.” The group continued to plan for the Second Coming, and Roden conveyed a “message [concerning] the imminent end of the world and the salvation of God's chosen group” to his followers” (Newport, 2006).
In the early 1980s, a man named Vernon Howell arrived at Mount Carmel to study under the compound’s new prophet, Lois Roden (Benjamin’s wife who became the new prophet following his death). Howell rose in the ranks of the Branch Davidians and within only a few years, and following Lois’ death, her son George challenged Howell for leadership of the group. The group eventually pledged their allegiance to Howell, who changed his name to David Koresh as a nod to King David.
The group is best known, however, for the raid that occurred in February 1993 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on a warrant relating to abuse charges within the organization. Commonly referred to as the Waco Siege, ten people were killed in the initial attack, including four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians. The standoff lasted fifty-one days, and ended on April 19, 1993, when several fires broke out in different sections of the Mount Carmel compound, killing 76 of the 85 Branch Davidians residing there. Koresh was killed during the siege, and of the survivors, many were sent to prison for various charges including manslaughter and firearms possession.
New religious movements have become widely regarded as cults due to the fact that they exist on the peripherals of society, have a significantly smaller following than traditional religions, and represent deviant and sometimes dangerous beliefs. Heaven’s Gate and the Branch Davidians are only two examples of hundreds (if not thousands) of NRM’s that exist or have existed in the past. As evidenced by these two examples, as well as the Peoples Temple, groups that promise spiritual awakening and implore total capitulation to their leader can often lead to destruction of human life.
Some of you might be wondering why this blog post didn’t discuss Scientology, which is arguably the most well-known new religious movement. We’ll be taking a look at that topic more in-depth in next week’s post, which focuses on escaping cults, since Scientology is a cult that continues to operate currently and has drawn many high-profile members. Stay tuned!
Cheers!
References
Robinson, Wendy Gale. “Heaven’s Gate: the End.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3:3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1997.tb00077.x. 1997.
Saliba, John A. & Melton, J. Gordon. Understanding New Religious Movements. Lanham:
Rowman Altamira. 2003.
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