Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 20
had drifted away from his teachings (Earley 1991:268, 284-291 Sassé and Widder
1991:108-118).
During the Spring of 1989, law enforcement uncovered twelve bodies in a ranch in
Matamoros, Mexico, where drug dealers had killed victims and then used them in Palo
Mayombe rites of protection (Kilroy and Stewart 1990:112 Schutze 1989).
Four federal agents and at least six members died in a gunfight with the Branch Davidians
on February 28, 1993, followed by the deaths of seventy-four Davidians on April 19 in a
building fire (that some leaders may have started) and related ‗mercy killings‘ (Hall with
Schuyler and Trinh. 2000:44).
Seventy-nine members of the Order of the Solar Temple died in murder-suicides at various
times in Quebec, France, and Switzerland in October 1994, 1995, and 1997, and several
members murdered an apostate couple and their infant son (Hall with Schuyler and Trinh
2000:111-114).
Members of Aum Shrinri Kyo released sarin gas on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995,
killing 12 and injuring 5,510 people (Hall with Schuyler and Trinh 2000:79-80). Some of the
group‘s leaders also had been involved in other murders (Brackett 1996:121-123 Kaplan
and Marshall 1996:40-43, 274).
Thirty-nine members of Heaven‘s Gate committed suicide on March 22 or 23, 1997, in
southern California (Hall with Schuyler and Trinh 2000:149).
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God killed an estimated
780 members at various times in March 2000 in Uganda (Mayer 2001).
In August 2003, South Korean investigators discovered that adherents to a sect devoted to
a leader named Cho had killed nine members whom Cho believed questioned his authority.
The group‘s main dogma ―is that eternal life can be obtained by observing Cho‘s 131
commandments, which include avoiding sexual relations during marriage. It once had over
3,000 devotees‖ (Ja-young, 2003).
In early September 2003, five members of a sect named Superior Universal Alignment were
sentenced in a Brazilian court for having tortured, killed, and mutilated up to 19 boys
(whose ages ranged from 8 to 13) between 1989 and 1983. The female leader of the sect,
Valentina de Andrade, believed that a medium had told her that ―boys born after 1981 were
possessed by the devil,‖ so she and her followers slit their victims‘ wrists, cut out their eyes,
and sliced off their sexual organs (Reuters 2003).
Notes
[1] This article is a revised version of an invited paper presented at a conference with the theme,
―Public Management of Religious Diversity: Dangerous Religion and Endangered Religion,‖ held at
Laval University (Quebec City, Quebec) on September 26-28, 2003. I am grateful to Michael Langone,
Rod Marshall, Jessie Meikle, Susan Raine, and Maryam Razavy for their comments and assistance in
various stages of this article.
[2] My preference for the term domains, rather than levels, stems from comments made by
psychologist Roger Sapsford, who proposes a fourfold model of ―domains of analysis‖ very similar to
this one. His domains are societal (which correlates closely with Roy‘s intergroup) group (which
correlates with Roy‘s intragroup) interpersonal/personal (which correlates with Roy‘s interpersonal)
and intrapersonal (which correlates with Roy‘s intrapsychic, and which I will call biopsychosocial). He
rejects conceiving of them as levels, because ―levels are ‗higher‘ or ‗lower,‘ and can be identified as
‗foundation,‘ ‗basis,‘ ‗superstructure,‘ ‗pinnacle,‘ none of which is necessarily appropriate for discussing
different ways of doing social psychology.‖ He prefers to call them ―domains,‖ because they ―may be
adjacent, but none is identifiable as ‗above‘ or ‗below,‘ so we are not tempted to regard one domain as
in some way primary just because of the nature of the metaphor‖ (Sapsford 1998:65).
had drifted away from his teachings (Earley 1991:268, 284-291 Sassé and Widder
1991:108-118).
During the Spring of 1989, law enforcement uncovered twelve bodies in a ranch in
Matamoros, Mexico, where drug dealers had killed victims and then used them in Palo
Mayombe rites of protection (Kilroy and Stewart 1990:112 Schutze 1989).
Four federal agents and at least six members died in a gunfight with the Branch Davidians
on February 28, 1993, followed by the deaths of seventy-four Davidians on April 19 in a
building fire (that some leaders may have started) and related ‗mercy killings‘ (Hall with
Schuyler and Trinh. 2000:44).
Seventy-nine members of the Order of the Solar Temple died in murder-suicides at various
times in Quebec, France, and Switzerland in October 1994, 1995, and 1997, and several
members murdered an apostate couple and their infant son (Hall with Schuyler and Trinh
2000:111-114).
Members of Aum Shrinri Kyo released sarin gas on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995,
killing 12 and injuring 5,510 people (Hall with Schuyler and Trinh 2000:79-80). Some of the
group‘s leaders also had been involved in other murders (Brackett 1996:121-123 Kaplan
and Marshall 1996:40-43, 274).
Thirty-nine members of Heaven‘s Gate committed suicide on March 22 or 23, 1997, in
southern California (Hall with Schuyler and Trinh 2000:149).
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God killed an estimated
780 members at various times in March 2000 in Uganda (Mayer 2001).
In August 2003, South Korean investigators discovered that adherents to a sect devoted to
a leader named Cho had killed nine members whom Cho believed questioned his authority.
The group‘s main dogma ―is that eternal life can be obtained by observing Cho‘s 131
commandments, which include avoiding sexual relations during marriage. It once had over
3,000 devotees‖ (Ja-young, 2003).
In early September 2003, five members of a sect named Superior Universal Alignment were
sentenced in a Brazilian court for having tortured, killed, and mutilated up to 19 boys
(whose ages ranged from 8 to 13) between 1989 and 1983. The female leader of the sect,
Valentina de Andrade, believed that a medium had told her that ―boys born after 1981 were
possessed by the devil,‖ so she and her followers slit their victims‘ wrists, cut out their eyes,
and sliced off their sexual organs (Reuters 2003).
Notes
[1] This article is a revised version of an invited paper presented at a conference with the theme,
―Public Management of Religious Diversity: Dangerous Religion and Endangered Religion,‖ held at
Laval University (Quebec City, Quebec) on September 26-28, 2003. I am grateful to Michael Langone,
Rod Marshall, Jessie Meikle, Susan Raine, and Maryam Razavy for their comments and assistance in
various stages of this article.
[2] My preference for the term domains, rather than levels, stems from comments made by
psychologist Roger Sapsford, who proposes a fourfold model of ―domains of analysis‖ very similar to
this one. His domains are societal (which correlates closely with Roy‘s intergroup) group (which
correlates with Roy‘s intragroup) interpersonal/personal (which correlates with Roy‘s interpersonal)
and intrapersonal (which correlates with Roy‘s intrapsychic, and which I will call biopsychosocial). He
rejects conceiving of them as levels, because ―levels are ‗higher‘ or ‗lower,‘ and can be identified as
‗foundation,‘ ‗basis,‘ ‗superstructure,‘ ‗pinnacle,‘ none of which is necessarily appropriate for discussing
different ways of doing social psychology.‖ He prefers to call them ―domains,‖ because they ―may be
adjacent, but none is identifiable as ‗above‘ or ‗below,‘ so we are not tempted to regard one domain as
in some way primary just because of the nature of the metaphor‖ (Sapsford 1998:65).
