Violence and New Religious Movements

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Violence and New Religious Movements
Violence and New Religious Movements cover.png
Editor James R. Lewis
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publication date
April 6, 2011
Pages443
ISBN 978-0-19-973561-7
OCLC 612347811
200.086’92
LC Class BL65.V55 V55 2011

Violence and New Religious Movements is a 2011 edited volume. It was edited by sociologist James R. Lewis and published by Oxford University Press. Lewis' previous work had focused on new religious movements, and he had edited several books on the topic. Containing 19 articles by 22 academics, mostly sociologists or scholars in religious studies, it discusses the intersection between new religious movements and violence, both perpetrated by and against the groups. It is divided into five sections.

Contents

The book covers theoretical approaches to violence and NRMs at large, as well as individual chapters on as what the book classifies as the "big five" violent NRMs: the Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, the Order of the Solar Temple, Aum Shinrikyo, and Heaven’s Gate. Other sections cover less studied movements associated with violence, like Rodnoverie or Ananda Marga, or groups that had certain commonalities with violent groups but did not actually escalate to large scale violence.

It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its coverage of a variety of cases, including less studied and more obscure movements than the typical cases. The content of its individual chapters, as well as its usage of comparative analysis and new insights, was complimented. Its chapter on the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was singled out for praise by several reviewers.

Contents

In the introduction, Lewis gives a background of his own history with new religious movements; in the 1970s, he had been a member of the 3HO group, from which he eventually defected. He notes that many internal aspects of this organization were those deemed by analysts to be "essential" for a NRM to become violent – a millenarian outlook, charismatic leader, and totalistic social structure – however, the group did not become violent. Lewis focuses on how the typical criteria for analyzing which cults may or may not become violent are inadequate, and how several high profile acts of violence related to NRMs in the 1990s affected the field and the theories as to what makes groups result to violence. He says that given the "relatively mature state of the literature", different discussions and analyses could now be had on the topic, including discussions of other groups than the "big five" and more specific types of violence, or violence against NRMs. He then summarizes the content of the five parts and their chapters.

The first part, "Theorizing NRM Violence", contains what Lewis describes as "general theory" chapters. Bromley explores the connection between NRMs and violence, continuing the theory of "dramatic denouements" he had explored in Cults, Religion and Violence ; the theory of dramatic denouements is a four stage process of conflict amplification, which Bromley argues NRMs are often predisposed to due to common radical elements. James T. Richardson analyzes NRM violence through a lens of conflict orientation and a presupposed context of violence regarding the groups from the dominant culture. Dick Anthony, Thomas Robbins, and Steven Barrie-Anthony discuss the conflict between new religious movements and the anti-cult movement, viewing it through the lens of Erik Erikson and Robert Jay Lifton's treatment of totalism; they argue that responding to group totalism with state totalism only fuels the fire.

Following this, "The "Big Five" (Plus One)" covers the "big five" violent NRMs – the Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, the Order of the Solar Temple, Aum Shinrikyo, and Heaven’s Gate – the main groups that have been subject of scholarly discussion when it comes to the intersection of NRMs and violence, as well as the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, a lesser known group which is sometimes considered along with the others. Rebecca Moore covers the Jonestown mass murder-suicides, giving a brief history of the group, before focusing primarily on the violence within the organization and the message they had intended through their act. Stuart A. Wright critiques the argument of the scholar Kenneth C. G. Newport about the Branch Davidians, who has argued that the group had committed mass suicide; Wright critiques the evidence he presented, further arguing that the whole debate is inextricably tied to political circumstances of the time, and a "Rorschach test for social actors", which tells one more about their views than the group itself. Bogdan surveys the varying hypotheses as to what led to the murder-suicides of the Solar Temple, a French-speaking organization less studied by the academic community than the other "big five", but that was the deadliest of them. Bogdan analyzes their status as a western esoteric group, and notes the criticism of the comparative analytical approach and an over-reliance on millennialism.

Following this, Martin Repp discusses Aum, following the internal history of the group in the context of the wider social environment of Japan. He agures that the term "religious violence" should be used cautiously, and that religious justifications were after the fact; the group's actions were best understood similar to other kinds of violence. Benjamin E. Zeller discusses Heaven's Gate, tracing the group's history and highlighting the contradiction between their earlier theology and their eventual mass suicide, arguing that in a "euphemization of violence" they had transformed the idea of suicide internally within the group. Finally, Jean-François Mayer, one of only a few westerners to directly investigate the case, presents his investigation into the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God; his theory, one he acknowledges is among many, is that they wanted fame and media recognition. "Select Religious Groups Involved in Violence" profiles other, less known groups that have committed violent acts. Peste discusses the Knutby murder in a small Swedish Pentecostal community, which he compares to NRM violence, though note its lack of one strong leader. Aitamurto discusses Rodnoverie, a Slavic neo-pagan faith, and its warrior elements, as well as its relation to xenophobia and extremism. Helen Crovetto covers Ananda Marga and its political wing, as well as the mass murder of several of its members and murder by several members, and its relation to the group's ideals of usage of force. E. Burke Rochford Jr. discusses ISKCON and the history of New Vrindaban and its controversies.

"Rhetorics of Violence and Peaceful Denouements" follows several NRMs whose actions resulted in discussions over the connection between cults and violence, but which did not actually become violent. The Nation of Islam, an African American Muslim NRM, is discussed by Martha F. Lee, who argues that though radical and controversial it did not engage in religiously motivated violence. Marion S. Goldman follows the violence that occurred in Rajneeshpuram; she explores Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural theories as it relates to the group and how their class dynamics affected their dynamics. 3HO is covered by Constance Elsberg who discusses the factors relevant to the group that may have prevented violence. Jesper Aagaard Petersen's chapter on Satanism follows up on his earlier works, analyzing the distinction between violent actors that use Satanism as a guise (i.e. neo-nazis, serial killers) and symbolic violence common to Satanist groups. The fifth section, "Violence Against NRMs", covers the violence perpetrated against the Falun Gong group and the practice of deprogramming. James T. Richardson and Bryan Edelman discuss the Chinese state's hostility and usage of violence against the Falun Gong NRM. Anson Shupe discusses the controversy over deprogramming, a once common practice of forcible removal of members of NRMs from groups, which he harshly criticizes.

In an afterword, Lewis argues that violence within NRM groups is the result of a process of polarization, resulting from internal and external factors; however, this model fails to reliably predict such cases. Due to the variability of the NRM groups associated with violence, they must be discussed as a spectrum; Lewis encourages scholars to study more diverse arrays of groups to compensate for this. He disccuses how those tasked with responding to a possibly violent group may best respond to the crisis, and lays out possible directions for research to improve the field.

Contributors

Publication

Violence and New Religious Movements was published April 6, 2011 by Oxford University Press. Its editor, James R. Lewis, was an academic whose work focused on new religious movements, and who had edited several books on the topic. At the time of its publication, he was an associate professor at the University of Tromsø in Norway. [1] Most contributors to the book are American, while the majority of the rest are Scandinavian; most are academics in sociology or religious studies. [2]

Reception

John Walliss called it an "excellent collection", and a "state of the art survey of the field", recommending it. [3] Bernard Ineichen writing for the journal Mental Health, Religion & Culture in a review of multiple books, said the cases included in the book "present a rich stew of idealism, viciousness, petty meanness, and sheer stupidity." [2] Asbjørn Dyrendal of Numen said it was a "good mix of new and old", with the best contributions being of old cases, especially from new angles. [4] Walliss noted difficulties in studying the topic, as given that violent NRM incidents were rare comparative analysis was more difficult than in other fields; he praised the book for partially overcoming this with the inclusion of its last three sections of less studied movements. He said this, along with its inclusion of groups that did not commit violence, widened the debate on the issue, lending itself to better analysis. [3] Former deprogrammer Joseph Szimhart, writing for the International Journal of Cultic Studies , the journal of the anti-cult organization ICSA, called the book "highly nuanced" but also "sketchy". [5]

Ineichen complimented the third chapter by Robbins, Anthony, and Barrie-Anthony and the chapter by Shupe as "excellent" in their usage of psychological insights, but said "much more could be done". He noted that despite its title, many of the connections of the groups included to violence was "marginal". [2] Dyrendal praised Wright's chapter as arguing well, saying his chapter showed a need for interdisciplinary approaches in understanding groups like the Branch Davidians. [4] Dyrendal said he was ambivalent towards the work's discussion on non-physical violence, as it could conflate speech with physical violence, though he said Petersen's analysis of Satanism managed this better than Robbins, Anthony, or Richardson's chapters. [4] A reviewer for the International Journal for the Study of New Religions said the book had a "clear structure" and it succeeded in analyzing the "general; model" of NRM violence as well as more obscure groups. The reviewer praised it as "timely" and "well-structured"; comparing it to the 2002 book Cults, Religion and Violence (which she described as the first attempt to analyze the NRM-violence relationship), she said Violence and New Religious Movements succeeded in proposing new insights into this topic. [6]

Szimhart said a prospective reader would come away understanding that "to understand an NRM, per se, one must view it as a dynamic". He said Lewis's view of the anti-cult movement, followed by most of the authors in the book, was "narrow", but that in his view many other writers in the volume escaped this view; he wished that the book had included scholars such as Janja Lalich, Benjamin Zablocki, and Stephen A. Kent to provide more contrasting voices to the volume. Szimhart argued that Robbins, Anthony, and Barrie-Anthony minimized the responsibility that NRMs had, but that he agreed with their point that law enforcement and anti-cult overreaction in some cases could make things worse, as with the Branch Davidians. He noted the second section as "enlightening" in its "consideration of underlying nuances that cult critics often overlook". He however extensively criticized Shupe's chapter in specific, arguing that it contained "provocative use of atrocity tales" and "errors in fact". [5]

Mayer's chapter on the "Plus One" the MRTC was singled out for praise by several reviewers. Walliss noted that the group had received little study compared to the other groups, and that this was a "welcome addition to the collection and will hopefully inspire further comparative work." [3] Ineichen said he had done an "admirable job" in creating a comprehensive account of the group's activities; [2] Dyrendal praised what he viewed as "good scholarship" on the part of Mayer in weighing the different arguments as to what occurred with the group, though he said this did not lead Mayer to "any firm conclusion", but that his offered conclusion was "possible and plausible" but with room for additional research and disagreement. [4]

Related Research Articles

Deprogramming is a controversial tactic that seeks to dissuade someone from "strongly held convictions" such as religious beliefs. Deprogramming purports to assist a person who holds a particular belief system—of a kind considered harmful by those initiating the deprogramming—to change those beliefs and sever connections to the group associated with them. Typically, people identifying themselves as deprogrammers are hired by a person's relatives, often parents of adult children. The subject of the deprogramming is usually forced to undergo the procedure, which might last days or weeks, against their will.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cult Awareness Network</span> 1978–1996 American organization

The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an anti-cult organization founded by deprogrammer Ted Patrick that provided information on groups it considered "cults", as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. It operated from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New religious movement</span> Religious community or spiritual group of modern origin

A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges that the modernizing world poses to them by embracing individualism, while other NRMs deal with them by embracing tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs number in the tens of thousands worldwide. Most NRMs only have a few members, some of them have thousands of members, and a few of them have more than a million members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Hassan</span> American mental health professional, writer

Steven Alan Hassan is an American mental health professional and author who specializes in the area of cults. He worked as a deprogrammer in the late 1970s, but since then has advocated a non-coercive form of exit counseling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Gordon Melton</span> American religious scholar (born 1942)

John Gordon Melton is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he resides. He is also an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.

Cult is a lay term for a group perceived as requiring unwavering devotion to a set of beliefs and practices which are considered deviant outside the norms of society. Such groups are typically perceived as being led by a charismatic leader who tightly controls its members. It is in some contexts a pejorative term, also used for new religious movements and other social groups which are defined by their unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or their common interest in a particular person, object, or goal. This sense of the term is weakly defined – having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia – and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.

David G. Bromley is a professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, specialized in sociology of religion and the academic study of new religious movements. He has written extensively about cults, new religious movements, apostasy, and the anti-cult movement.

The anti-cult movement, abbreviated ACM and also known as the countercult movement, consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of religious groups that they consider to be "cults", uncover coercive practices used to attract and retain members, and help those who have become involved with harmful cult practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anson D. Shupe</span> American sociologist and author (1948–2015)

Anson David Shupe, Jr. was an American sociologist and author noted for his studies of religious groups and their countermovements, family violence and clergy misconduct.

<i>Misunderstanding Cults</i> Book by Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins

Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field is an edited volume discussing various topics related to cults, including the scholarly field itself, the concept of brainwashing, and the public perception of the groups. The book was edited by Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins, and was published by University of Toronto Press on December 1, 2001. It includes contributions from 12 religious, sociological, and psychological scholars, in 14 essays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James R. Lewis (scholar)</span> Author and academic (1949–2022)

James Roger Lewis was an American philosophy professor at Wuhan University. He was a religious studies scholar, sociologist of religion, and writer, who specialized in the academic study of new religious movements, astrology, and New Age.

<i>Deadly Cults</i> 2003 book by Robert L. Snow

Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers is a book about cults by Robert L. Snow. It was published November 30, 2003 by Praeger Publishers in hardcover format. Snow, a retired police captain and former commander of the homicide branch of the Indianapolis Police Department, has authored several other books on crime including SWAT Teams and Technology and Law Enforcement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Anthony</span> American psychologist (1939–2022)

Dick Anthony was a forensic psychologist noted for his writings on the validity of brainwashing as a determiner of behavior, a prolific researcher of the social and psychological aspects of involvement in new religious movements.

<i>Armageddon in Waco</i> Anthology on the Waco siege

Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict is a 1995 non-fiction anthology book on the Waco siege edited by Stuart A. Wright. It was published by the University of Chicago Press.

<i>From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco</i> Non-fiction anthology on the Waco siege

From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco is a 1994 edited volume edited by James R. Lewis about the Waco siege. It was published by Rowman & Littlefield. The book contains 46 essays from people like Franklin Littell, Stuart A. Wright, David G. Bromley, Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony, James A. Beckford, James T. Richardson. Some of the essays are scholarly articles, while others are opinion pieces. Other contents include press releases, personal correspondences, and a poem from a surviving Branch Davidian. Catherine Wessinger notes in her review of the book that it was a chance for new religious movement scholars to respond to the siege.

<i>Sacred Suicide</i> 2014 book by James R. Lewis and Carole M. Cusack

Sacred Suicide is a 2014 edited volume about suicide and religion, particularly as it relates to cults or new religious movements. It was published by Ashgate and edited by James R. Lewis and Carole M. Cusack, part of the Ashgate New Religions series. Other contributors to the book include Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Mattias Gardell, and Thomas Robbins. It is divided into five sections.

<i>The Order of the Solar Temple: The Temple of Death</i> 2006 book by James R. Lewis

The Order of the Solar Temple: The Temple of Death is an edited volume about the Order of the Solar Temple, a religious group notorious for the mass deaths of its members in several mass murders and suicides throughout the 1990s. It was edited by James R. Lewis, and published in 2006 by Ashgate Publishing as part of its Controversial New Religions series. Contributors to the book include Jean-François Mayer, Massimo Introvigne, Susan J. Palmer, and George D. Chryssides.

<i>Apocalypse Observed</i> 2000 book by John R. Hall

Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in North America, Europe and Japan is a book about millennialism, apocalypticism and religious violence, written by sociologist John R. Hall. Philip D. Schuyler and Sylvaine Trinh, also sociologists, co-authored two of the chapters. It was published in December 2000 by Routledge. The book analyzes five new religious movements known for high profile acts of violence from a sociological perspective: the Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, the Order of the Solar Temple, and Heaven's Gate.

<i>How the Millennium Comes Violently</i> 2000 book by Catherine Wessinger

How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate is a book about millennialist violence by Catherine Wessinger, published in 2000 by Seven Bridges Press. The book covers various millennialist new religious movements (NRMs) and their relation to violence, including the Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, the Order of the Solar Temple, and Heaven's Gate, and attempts to set out a typology for dealing with millennial NRMs.

<i>Controversial New Religions</i> 2004 book by James R. Lewis and Jesper Aagaard Petersen

Controversial New Religions is an edited volume discussing new religious movements, or cults, that have resulted in controversy. It was co-edited by James R. Lewis and Jesper Aagaard Petersen, and was first published in 2004 by Oxford University Press. A second edition containing mostly new content was published with the same two editors in 2014. The first edition contains 19 essays, while the second contains 22. Both editions are divided into four sections by topic, and cover numerous groups.

References

  1. ↑ "Violence and New Religious Movements". Oxford University Press . Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ineichen, Bernard (April 21, 2015). "Cruel creeds, virtuous violence: religious violence across culture and history / Fields of blood: religion and the history of violence / Violence and new religious movements". Mental Health, Religion & Culture . 18 (4): 312–315. doi:10.1080/13674676.2015.1042850. ISSN   1367-4676.
  3. 1 2 3 Walliss, John (2012). "Review". Nova Religio . 16 (2): 106–107. doi:10.1525/nr.2012.16.2.106. ISSN   1092-6690.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Dyrendal, Asbjørn (2013). "Review of Violence and New Religious Movements". Numen . 60 (4): 473–475. ISSN   0029-5973. JSTOR   24644731.
  5. 1 2 Szimhart, Joseph (February 2013). "Violence and New Religious Movements". International Journal of Cultic Studies . 4: 63–69. ISSN   2154-7270 . Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  6. ↑ Alisauskiene, Milda (September 7, 2013). "Violence and New Religious Movements, edited by James R. Lewis. Oxford University Press. 2011. 456pp. hb., $99.00/£65.00, ISBN-13: 9780199735631; pb., $35.00/£22.50, ISBN-13: 9780199735617". International Journal for the Study of New Religions. 4. doi:10.1558/ijsnr.v4i1.139. ISSN   2041-9511.
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