International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012 59
represented by the United Nations led
by the United States. (Tabor &
Gallagher, 1995, p. 61)
Koresh, meanwhile, asserted that, as God’s end-
time messenger, he had become “the perfect
mate of all the female adherents” (Bromley &
Silver, 1995, p. 58), and from his unions with
them would appear “a new lineage of God’s
children from his own seed.” This lineage,
comprising these children and the “wives” who
produced them, would constitute the House of
David, and ultimately it would rule the world
(Bromley &Silver, 1995, p. 59 Reavis, 1995, p.
285). Among the “wives” he took were a 12-
year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl in 1987, and
a 13-year-old girl in 1989 (with whom he had a
child in 1992 [Thibodeau &Whiteson, 1999, p.
109]). One Davidian who survived the Waco
flames was David Thibodeau, and even he
concluded, “[o]f all the charges levelled against
[Koresh] in the media and by government
officials—including child abuse and gun
stockpiling—the only case in which he grossly
violated the law was the crime of statutory
rape.” Koresh, he pointed out, “was guilty on
multiple charges that could have sent him to
prison for a very long time, perhaps for life”
(Thibodeau &Whiteson, 1999, pp. 113–114).
No indication exists, however, that any of the
men or women in the Davidian compound
challenged Koresh about the young ages of some
of his lovers. For years I have thought that the
reason Koresh refused to surrender to authorities
was that he feared child sexual-abuse
convictions and a lifetime prison sentence for his
crimes.
Antinomianism
As occasionally happens in high-intensity
religious movements, the behavior of leaders
and their followers contributes to a collective
sense of antinomianism—the rejection of the
established morality. Again, the theological
phrase that epitomizes antinomianism comes
from the Christian Bible/The New Testament, in
Titus 1:15: “to the pure all things are pure, but to
the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure their
very minds and consciences are corrupted.”
This statement contains the essence of
antinomian beliefs, which is that no actions can
corrupt those persons whose purity has saved
them. Some new religions, and especially their
leaders, claim that their enlightenment places
them “beyond good and evil.” They therefore
have permission to do anything, since their
purity elevates them beyond taint or corruption.
All is permitted, they believe, since nothing
stains. Traditional morality is only for the weak
and the damned. This concept frequently
overlaps with millenarianism (as it did, for
example, in the Children of God), 4 but it does
not have to be related to beliefs in the end of the
world. Group leaders may hold both antinomian
and millenarian beliefs simultaneously.
The Doukhobor Sons of Freedom
In the context of new religions in British
Columbia, Canada, antinomianism may have
been the justification that a radical Doukhobor
Sons of Freedom leader used to justify his
sexual behaviors and teachings. For nearly four
decades (from the early 1920s to the early
1960s), this schismatic group was notorious for
protesting materialism through nude marches,
arson, and bombings against a wide range of
Doukhobor and non-Doukhobor targets (see
Woodcock &Avakumovic, 1968, pp. 308–333).
During protest training meetings in 1931 run by
Sons of Freedom leader Peter Petrovich Verigin,
he
“fondled the breasts of the younger
women standing there in the nude, and
the one who cringed ...he rudely
castigated by telling her that she 'wasn't
eligible for the Kingdom of God on
earth....’
In conclusion ...he ordered everyone to
go to bed, wives and husbands in mixed
order.... As to the leader himself, he
made a couple of teen-age girls
accompany him to his own quarters to
4 The Children of God’s leader David Berg paraphrased the
biblical verse in Titus while presenting to group members his
aberrant views on sexuality, especially adult/child and child/child
sexuality, but he had enough sense to realize that authorities likely
would arrest him and his followers if they caught them acting upon
their beliefs. After, for example, a wide-ranging interpretation of
different issues related to sexuality, Berg cautioned, “11. BUT AS
THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID, ‘ALL THINGS ARE LAWFUL
TO US, BUT NOT ALL ARE EXPEDIDENT” (Berg, 1973, p.
1334 see p. 1350 [capitalization and boldface in original see also
David and Davidito, 1979, p. 6239).
represented by the United Nations led
by the United States. (Tabor &
Gallagher, 1995, p. 61)
Koresh, meanwhile, asserted that, as God’s end-
time messenger, he had become “the perfect
mate of all the female adherents” (Bromley &
Silver, 1995, p. 58), and from his unions with
them would appear “a new lineage of God’s
children from his own seed.” This lineage,
comprising these children and the “wives” who
produced them, would constitute the House of
David, and ultimately it would rule the world
(Bromley &Silver, 1995, p. 59 Reavis, 1995, p.
285). Among the “wives” he took were a 12-
year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl in 1987, and
a 13-year-old girl in 1989 (with whom he had a
child in 1992 [Thibodeau &Whiteson, 1999, p.
109]). One Davidian who survived the Waco
flames was David Thibodeau, and even he
concluded, “[o]f all the charges levelled against
[Koresh] in the media and by government
officials—including child abuse and gun
stockpiling—the only case in which he grossly
violated the law was the crime of statutory
rape.” Koresh, he pointed out, “was guilty on
multiple charges that could have sent him to
prison for a very long time, perhaps for life”
(Thibodeau &Whiteson, 1999, pp. 113–114).
No indication exists, however, that any of the
men or women in the Davidian compound
challenged Koresh about the young ages of some
of his lovers. For years I have thought that the
reason Koresh refused to surrender to authorities
was that he feared child sexual-abuse
convictions and a lifetime prison sentence for his
crimes.
Antinomianism
As occasionally happens in high-intensity
religious movements, the behavior of leaders
and their followers contributes to a collective
sense of antinomianism—the rejection of the
established morality. Again, the theological
phrase that epitomizes antinomianism comes
from the Christian Bible/The New Testament, in
Titus 1:15: “to the pure all things are pure, but to
the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure their
very minds and consciences are corrupted.”
This statement contains the essence of
antinomian beliefs, which is that no actions can
corrupt those persons whose purity has saved
them. Some new religions, and especially their
leaders, claim that their enlightenment places
them “beyond good and evil.” They therefore
have permission to do anything, since their
purity elevates them beyond taint or corruption.
All is permitted, they believe, since nothing
stains. Traditional morality is only for the weak
and the damned. This concept frequently
overlaps with millenarianism (as it did, for
example, in the Children of God), 4 but it does
not have to be related to beliefs in the end of the
world. Group leaders may hold both antinomian
and millenarian beliefs simultaneously.
The Doukhobor Sons of Freedom
In the context of new religions in British
Columbia, Canada, antinomianism may have
been the justification that a radical Doukhobor
Sons of Freedom leader used to justify his
sexual behaviors and teachings. For nearly four
decades (from the early 1920s to the early
1960s), this schismatic group was notorious for
protesting materialism through nude marches,
arson, and bombings against a wide range of
Doukhobor and non-Doukhobor targets (see
Woodcock &Avakumovic, 1968, pp. 308–333).
During protest training meetings in 1931 run by
Sons of Freedom leader Peter Petrovich Verigin,
he
“fondled the breasts of the younger
women standing there in the nude, and
the one who cringed ...he rudely
castigated by telling her that she 'wasn't
eligible for the Kingdom of God on
earth....’
In conclusion ...he ordered everyone to
go to bed, wives and husbands in mixed
order.... As to the leader himself, he
made a couple of teen-age girls
accompany him to his own quarters to
4 The Children of God’s leader David Berg paraphrased the
biblical verse in Titus while presenting to group members his
aberrant views on sexuality, especially adult/child and child/child
sexuality, but he had enough sense to realize that authorities likely
would arrest him and his followers if they caught them acting upon
their beliefs. After, for example, a wide-ranging interpretation of
different issues related to sexuality, Berg cautioned, “11. BUT AS
THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID, ‘ALL THINGS ARE LAWFUL
TO US, BUT NOT ALL ARE EXPEDIDENT” (Berg, 1973, p.
1334 see p. 1350 [capitalization and boldface in original see also
David and Davidito, 1979, p. 6239).
