International Journal of Cultic Studies Vol. 4, 2013 65
havoc in ISKCON and its eventual denouement.
Rochford offers a useful analysis of how
charisma coupled with mismanaged authority
can lead to internal conflict in a new religion,
and how internal reform can reduce the conflict
and potential violence with outsiders.
Part IV covers Rhetorics of Violence and
Peaceful Denouements in four new movements:
“The Nation of Islam and Violence” (Martha F.
Lee) “Cultural Capital, Social Networks, and
Collective Violence at Rajneeshpuram” (Marion
S. Goldman) “‘Strong as Steel, Steady as
Stone’: Skirting Pitfalls in 3HO/Sikh Dharma”
(Constance Elsberg) and “‘Smite Him Hip and
Thigh’: Satanism, Violence, and Transgression”
(Jesper Aagaard Petersen). The takeaway from
Part IV can be summarized as the tendency for
many radical movements to do more posturing
toward than actively attacking perceived
enemies both within and without the movement.
However, this tendency does not preclude
isolated incidents of murder, as when alleged
agents of the Nation of Islam shot and killed
Malcolm X in 1965. A persistent perception of
satanism includes a vile disregard for morals,
laws, and the sanctity of life yet most satanists
by that name are better understood as self-
centered sensationalists and relatively intelligent
rationalists with no desire to go to jail. Satanism
occurs in three basic categories, according to
Jesper Petersen: as rationalist, esoteric, and
reactive. “The mythical realties of esotericism,
hellfire clubs, devil worship, and fascist
aesthetics are a necessary backdrop to rationalist
practices of lesser and greater magic, artistic
transgression, and personal empowerment” (pp.
370–371). Jesper cautions us to recall that
human evil and murderous behavior erupt at
soccer games and among Christian witch trials
far more readily than among self-proclaimed
satanists. The “other” is the evil in all of us.
Both Rajneesh (a.k.a. Osho) and Yogi Bhajan of
3HO had armed security and body guards by
midcareer as cult leaders, but no one actually
attacked these groups or leaders. Lead
“sannyasins” of the Rajneesh cult did poison
local folks with salmonella and did often harass
and terrorize fifty or so local residents of the tiny
town of Antelope, Oregon, with the
Rajneeshpuram police force. “There was an
armed communal city that was in high tension
with the surrounding culture, but the group did
not disintegrate because of extreme collective
conflict” (Goldman, p. 320). Of course, if the
“surrounding culture” had been in Iran or China,
the outcome may have been quite different.
Part V. Violence Against NRMs explores what
happens when the surrounding culture reacts to
cults with violence. “State Fostered Violence
Against the Falun Gong in China,” by James T.
Richardson and Bryan Edelman, offers a good
synopsis of the history of Falun Gong and the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reaction to it.
The authors are quick to point out that Chinese
officials by 2001 adopted the more strident
Western anticult (ACM) narratives about
destructive cults and brainwashing to define
Falun Gong members as both mentally
imbalanced and socially dangerous. “Most of
the claims put forth by the ACM lack empirical
verification or general acceptance within the
scientific community” (p. 388). By
marginalizing Falun Gong in this way despite
constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion,
the Chinese government could ramp up its
persecution and imprisonment of tens of
thousands of members to effectively
compromise if not shut down the cult in China.
Nevertheless, activist Falun members in the
West continue to garner support for their cause.
The leader and founder, Li Hongzhi, fled China
and has been in New York. Not discussed by
the authors are essential Falun teachings that
combine traditional beliefs about “chi” energy
and Hongzhi’s fanciful claims that true Falun
devotees will manifest magical powers such as
levitation and telepathic awareness of world
news.
The second and last article in Part V,
“Deprogramming Violence: The Logic,
Perpetration, and Outcomes of Coercive
Intervention,” by Anson Shupe, deserves special
attention, if not for its provocative use of
atrocity tales, then for errors in fact. By way of
disclosure here, I have a long history as a
deprogrammer and an exit counselor, by any
other name, since November of 1980 when I
first talked five people out of devotion to
controversial NRMs, including a small,
Christian cult and the large New Age sect that I
havoc in ISKCON and its eventual denouement.
Rochford offers a useful analysis of how
charisma coupled with mismanaged authority
can lead to internal conflict in a new religion,
and how internal reform can reduce the conflict
and potential violence with outsiders.
Part IV covers Rhetorics of Violence and
Peaceful Denouements in four new movements:
“The Nation of Islam and Violence” (Martha F.
Lee) “Cultural Capital, Social Networks, and
Collective Violence at Rajneeshpuram” (Marion
S. Goldman) “‘Strong as Steel, Steady as
Stone’: Skirting Pitfalls in 3HO/Sikh Dharma”
(Constance Elsberg) and “‘Smite Him Hip and
Thigh’: Satanism, Violence, and Transgression”
(Jesper Aagaard Petersen). The takeaway from
Part IV can be summarized as the tendency for
many radical movements to do more posturing
toward than actively attacking perceived
enemies both within and without the movement.
However, this tendency does not preclude
isolated incidents of murder, as when alleged
agents of the Nation of Islam shot and killed
Malcolm X in 1965. A persistent perception of
satanism includes a vile disregard for morals,
laws, and the sanctity of life yet most satanists
by that name are better understood as self-
centered sensationalists and relatively intelligent
rationalists with no desire to go to jail. Satanism
occurs in three basic categories, according to
Jesper Petersen: as rationalist, esoteric, and
reactive. “The mythical realties of esotericism,
hellfire clubs, devil worship, and fascist
aesthetics are a necessary backdrop to rationalist
practices of lesser and greater magic, artistic
transgression, and personal empowerment” (pp.
370–371). Jesper cautions us to recall that
human evil and murderous behavior erupt at
soccer games and among Christian witch trials
far more readily than among self-proclaimed
satanists. The “other” is the evil in all of us.
Both Rajneesh (a.k.a. Osho) and Yogi Bhajan of
3HO had armed security and body guards by
midcareer as cult leaders, but no one actually
attacked these groups or leaders. Lead
“sannyasins” of the Rajneesh cult did poison
local folks with salmonella and did often harass
and terrorize fifty or so local residents of the tiny
town of Antelope, Oregon, with the
Rajneeshpuram police force. “There was an
armed communal city that was in high tension
with the surrounding culture, but the group did
not disintegrate because of extreme collective
conflict” (Goldman, p. 320). Of course, if the
“surrounding culture” had been in Iran or China,
the outcome may have been quite different.
Part V. Violence Against NRMs explores what
happens when the surrounding culture reacts to
cults with violence. “State Fostered Violence
Against the Falun Gong in China,” by James T.
Richardson and Bryan Edelman, offers a good
synopsis of the history of Falun Gong and the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reaction to it.
The authors are quick to point out that Chinese
officials by 2001 adopted the more strident
Western anticult (ACM) narratives about
destructive cults and brainwashing to define
Falun Gong members as both mentally
imbalanced and socially dangerous. “Most of
the claims put forth by the ACM lack empirical
verification or general acceptance within the
scientific community” (p. 388). By
marginalizing Falun Gong in this way despite
constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion,
the Chinese government could ramp up its
persecution and imprisonment of tens of
thousands of members to effectively
compromise if not shut down the cult in China.
Nevertheless, activist Falun members in the
West continue to garner support for their cause.
The leader and founder, Li Hongzhi, fled China
and has been in New York. Not discussed by
the authors are essential Falun teachings that
combine traditional beliefs about “chi” energy
and Hongzhi’s fanciful claims that true Falun
devotees will manifest magical powers such as
levitation and telepathic awareness of world
news.
The second and last article in Part V,
“Deprogramming Violence: The Logic,
Perpetration, and Outcomes of Coercive
Intervention,” by Anson Shupe, deserves special
attention, if not for its provocative use of
atrocity tales, then for errors in fact. By way of
disclosure here, I have a long history as a
deprogrammer and an exit counselor, by any
other name, since November of 1980 when I
first talked five people out of devotion to
controversial NRMs, including a small,
Christian cult and the large New Age sect that I
