64 International Journal of Cultic Studies Vol. 4, 2013
refers to. In “Reciprocal Totalism: The Toxic
Interdependence of Anticult and Cult Violence,”
Dick Anthony, Thomas Robbins, and Steven
Barrie-Anthony offer an interesting if somewhat
equivocal notion that violent projections beget
violence, while they tend to minimize the
responsibility that extremist groups have for
unnecessarily irritating their neighbors or
triggering the sequence that ends in violent
outcomes. But I get their point: Overreaction by
cult critics and law enforcement can have dire,
self-fulfilling consequences with already edgy,
paranoid groups (the Branch Davidian debacle at
Waco in 1993 is a prime example discussed in
this book). In his introduction, Lewis does
assign some of the blame for social conflict to
the inherent “radical attributes and
millennialism, totalism, and charisma” of many
NRMs (pp. 26–27).
In Part II. The “Big Five” (Plus One), we find
articles about Peoples Temple and Jonestown by
Rebecca Moore, the Branch Davidians by Stuart
A. Wright, Order of the Solar Temple by Henrik
Bogdan, Aum Shinrikyo by Martin Repp,
Heaven’s Gate by Benjamin E. Zeller, and the
Movement for the Restoration of the Ten
Commandments in Africa by Jean-Francois
Mayer. The reason for the “big five”
designation comes from a proliferation of media
coverage and books after a tragic outcome,
although we heard very little about these groups
outside of regional coverage and incidental ex-
member complaints prior to tragedy.
Opportunistically, naive cult critics will point to
The “Big Five” Plus One as the potential end of
everything called a “cult,” and this is what irks
scholars who paint the so-called ACM with
stereotyping and fear mongering. But I found
this section enlightening, if for nothing else, for
the consideration of underlying nuances that cult
critics often overlook. Stuart Wright with his in-
depth analysis of the Branch Davidian holocaust
reminds us that
we may never know how the fire started
at Mount Carmel … Waco has become
something of a Rorschach test for social
actors, telling us more about their
politics and values than about the actual
chain of events that led to the
annihilation of this religious community.
(p. 127)
Part III covers Select Religious Groups Involved
in Violence, including murder among members
in a Swedish Pentecostal community called
Knutby Filadelfia (Jonathan Peste, Chapter 10),
and the Rodnovers, a Slavic neopagan
movement with “warriors” and traits similar to
Wicca, Druidism, and Asatru found mainly in
Russia. The Rodnoverie includes disparate
groups and individuals with a spiritual
connection to ancient pagan gods and various
degrees of anti-Christian and anti-Semitic
sympathies. “Rodnoverie is not a religion that
would actively propagate violence, but there are
Rodnovers who have committed horrendous
violent acts” (Kaarina Aitamurto, p. 245).
Part III continues with “Ananda Marga, PROUT
(Progressive Utilization Theory), and the Use of
Force,” by Helen Crovetto, who offers an
excellent summary about the history of this
quasifascist movement. Founded by P. R.
Sarkar (1921–1990) using Manichean principles
of a “never-ending struggle between good and
evil” (p. 264) that underscore the Margiis’
“ideological totalism” as the answer to all the
world’s problems (p. 267). Sarkar preached that
violence is useful for establishing a proper
society that he called “benevolent dictatorship of
the Sadvipras” (p. 259), or spiritual elites of his
choosing. Crovetto assures us that Sarkar and
the Margiis were not inclined to terrorism but to
“revolution” (p. 268). Any “incidents of
extraorganizational violence … were an
aberration” (p. 268) while Sarkar was in prison.
Next, E. Burke Rochford, Jr. discusses
“Violence, Charisma, and the Transformation of
New Vrindaban,” the most famous if not
representative commune of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
in West Virginia. Rochford is a reliable scholar
who has studied this movement for decades.
The internal violence at New Vrindaban
included murders and a severe head beating of
the leader, Kirtanananda (Keith Hamm), in 1985
by an irate Krishna devotee that caused a serious
change in Hamm’s mental status this, in turn,
led to an increase in criminal behaviors
including drug distribution, racketeering, and
sexual abuse. This progression added to the
refers to. In “Reciprocal Totalism: The Toxic
Interdependence of Anticult and Cult Violence,”
Dick Anthony, Thomas Robbins, and Steven
Barrie-Anthony offer an interesting if somewhat
equivocal notion that violent projections beget
violence, while they tend to minimize the
responsibility that extremist groups have for
unnecessarily irritating their neighbors or
triggering the sequence that ends in violent
outcomes. But I get their point: Overreaction by
cult critics and law enforcement can have dire,
self-fulfilling consequences with already edgy,
paranoid groups (the Branch Davidian debacle at
Waco in 1993 is a prime example discussed in
this book). In his introduction, Lewis does
assign some of the blame for social conflict to
the inherent “radical attributes and
millennialism, totalism, and charisma” of many
NRMs (pp. 26–27).
In Part II. The “Big Five” (Plus One), we find
articles about Peoples Temple and Jonestown by
Rebecca Moore, the Branch Davidians by Stuart
A. Wright, Order of the Solar Temple by Henrik
Bogdan, Aum Shinrikyo by Martin Repp,
Heaven’s Gate by Benjamin E. Zeller, and the
Movement for the Restoration of the Ten
Commandments in Africa by Jean-Francois
Mayer. The reason for the “big five”
designation comes from a proliferation of media
coverage and books after a tragic outcome,
although we heard very little about these groups
outside of regional coverage and incidental ex-
member complaints prior to tragedy.
Opportunistically, naive cult critics will point to
The “Big Five” Plus One as the potential end of
everything called a “cult,” and this is what irks
scholars who paint the so-called ACM with
stereotyping and fear mongering. But I found
this section enlightening, if for nothing else, for
the consideration of underlying nuances that cult
critics often overlook. Stuart Wright with his in-
depth analysis of the Branch Davidian holocaust
reminds us that
we may never know how the fire started
at Mount Carmel … Waco has become
something of a Rorschach test for social
actors, telling us more about their
politics and values than about the actual
chain of events that led to the
annihilation of this religious community.
(p. 127)
Part III covers Select Religious Groups Involved
in Violence, including murder among members
in a Swedish Pentecostal community called
Knutby Filadelfia (Jonathan Peste, Chapter 10),
and the Rodnovers, a Slavic neopagan
movement with “warriors” and traits similar to
Wicca, Druidism, and Asatru found mainly in
Russia. The Rodnoverie includes disparate
groups and individuals with a spiritual
connection to ancient pagan gods and various
degrees of anti-Christian and anti-Semitic
sympathies. “Rodnoverie is not a religion that
would actively propagate violence, but there are
Rodnovers who have committed horrendous
violent acts” (Kaarina Aitamurto, p. 245).
Part III continues with “Ananda Marga, PROUT
(Progressive Utilization Theory), and the Use of
Force,” by Helen Crovetto, who offers an
excellent summary about the history of this
quasifascist movement. Founded by P. R.
Sarkar (1921–1990) using Manichean principles
of a “never-ending struggle between good and
evil” (p. 264) that underscore the Margiis’
“ideological totalism” as the answer to all the
world’s problems (p. 267). Sarkar preached that
violence is useful for establishing a proper
society that he called “benevolent dictatorship of
the Sadvipras” (p. 259), or spiritual elites of his
choosing. Crovetto assures us that Sarkar and
the Margiis were not inclined to terrorism but to
“revolution” (p. 268). Any “incidents of
extraorganizational violence … were an
aberration” (p. 268) while Sarkar was in prison.
Next, E. Burke Rochford, Jr. discusses
“Violence, Charisma, and the Transformation of
New Vrindaban,” the most famous if not
representative commune of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
in West Virginia. Rochford is a reliable scholar
who has studied this movement for decades.
The internal violence at New Vrindaban
included murders and a severe head beating of
the leader, Kirtanananda (Keith Hamm), in 1985
by an irate Krishna devotee that caused a serious
change in Hamm’s mental status this, in turn,
led to an increase in criminal behaviors
including drug distribution, racketeering, and
sexual abuse. This progression added to the
