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Apocalyptic Religious Groups: Do They Pose a Threat?
Hype over the millennium has taken many different forms. Commercial industries are using New Year's 2000 as a way to increase profits by selling hotel packages, cruises, and memorabilia. Many governments and organizations are using the year 2000 to promote new programs and bookstores are filled with books telling the history of the past century or millennium. New buildings (such as the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, England) will be unveiled around the new year.1 And how could the public possible survive without hundreds of "top hundred" lists?
Hype over religious prophecies has been largely overshadowed by the Y2K "computer crisis." During the last few decades of the twentieth century, the world has become highly dependent on computers to regulate nearly ever dimension of our lives. Fear over the potential shutdown of streetlights, air traffic controls, and business systems has caused governments and corporations to make preparations for dealing with potential massive failure of power systems crucial to the smooth function of society. Special law enforcement have been put in place just in case they may be needed to deal with computer failures that would interrupt everyday life.
If the religious dimensions have been overshadowed by fear of Y2K computer failures and commercial hype for profit, religious prophecies are being made and it seems likely that they will move toward the center of millennium issues as the calendar inches ever nearer to the mystical date of January 1, 2000.
This brief essay will explore some of what has happened already and offer modest speculations about what might be in store. It is followed by a selection of briefly annotated links to some of the most interesting material about public response to the Millennium that we have found.2
The public discovery of "cults" usually occurs because of one or more of three developments: (1) the group has aroused the indignation of one of many groups that make it their business to challenge the legitimacy of new religions, (2) the group has engaged in an activity that has caused them to come to the attention of law enforcement agencies, or (3) they are publicized by an enterprising investigative reported.
Any one of these developments is likely to unleash a variety of efforts to challenge the group's legitimacy. Because apocalyptic groups almost always deviate from established social norms, when "discovered" they tend to face an even higher level of scrutiny. No better example might be offered than the disappearance from Denver in 1998 of a small apocalyptic group who called themselves Concerned Christians.
Denver newspaper headlines quickly became national and then international stories. When fourteen members of the group were discovered in Jerusalem in early 1999, the Israeli authorities acted swiftly and deported the group. There is no evidence that the group was allowed to legitimate its presence in Israel before court of law. Rumors that members of the group were dangerous preceded them and they were treated accordingly.
The presence of Concerned Christians in Jerusalem had significance much beyond the question of whether this particular group might actually be dangerous. The government of Israel projected they would have three million tourists in 1999 to celebrate the millennium. While they expected that most would be peaceful, they budget an additional $11.5 million for security for protection against possible Millenniarian related acts of violence. The swift action against Concerned Christians was a symbolic statement that the legitimate government of Israel would act quickly and decisively against any perceived threat to public safety.
Shortly after the deportation of the fourteen members from Jerusalem, it was rumored that the group's leader was London. This was followed by rumors reported in London newspapers that Monte Kim Miller, the leader of Concerned Christians, might be planning an attack on the new 1.2 billion-dollar Millennium Dome. Scotland Yard quickly announced that an additional 10 million dollars would be spent on protection of the Dome against potential terrorists.
Clearly the world has become a more dangerous place in the latter portion of the twentieth century, and threats of terrorism have to be taken seriously. But do religious millennarian groups constitute a real threat to public safety in Israel, London, the United States or anywhere else in the world? Will the public display of force aimed at protecting life and property against the threat of apocalyptic terrorist make the world safer against the threat of other terrorists who might find the year of the Millennium an opportunity to engage in violence?
How much preparation is too much?3 At what point is it proper to raise concern about the rights of religious to believe in their apocalyptic world view without threat of apparently indiscriminate harassment?
No nation can ignore potential threats to public safety. At the same time, it is important that some common sense and perspective be brought to the problem of potential Millennial violence to avoid overreacting and abuse of human rights.
At least two factors should be kept in mind in avoiding overreaction. First, authorities need to know that in many nations there are active anti-cult groups who actively seek to play off fear to promote their campaigns of intolerance toward new religious movements. Second, those who are responsible for the production of mass media are generally not well informed about "sectarian" and "cult" movements. "Cult stories" make for good print and broadcast copy. Together, these two powerful interest groups can exaggerate the danger of "cults" and promote an overzealous reaction.
In the United States, it would appear that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has learned some hard lessons from the tragedy of the Branch Davidians in Waco. Having inherited from the BATF a difficult situation, the FBI lacked adequate knowledge of the apocalyptic beliefs of the Davidians to formulate a policy to bring the standoff to a peaceful conclusion. The difficulty of formulating sound policy appears to have been fueled by the sensationalism of news coverage that relied heavily upon anti-cult spokespersons.
The general public knows little or nothing about most religious movements, but they carry a taken-for-granted set of negative presuppositions that a part of popular culture and the repetoire of news reporting. When an incident involving a religious movement erupts, it is almost inevitable that a solid diet of coverage that lacks objectivity will generate negative public sentiment.
News coverage is a commercial enterprise that often plays off the fears of public opinion. In the cased of "cult stories," this will necessarily produce copy that projects an image danger. The result would probably be the same even is commercial appeal were not a factor. Belief systems, especially beliefs about prophecy, tend to be highly complex and highly nuanced. Even if the reporter had the background to understand, packing complex ideas to fit into the news format of broadcast journalism is almost certain to result in superficial and distorted treatment.
From the perspective of public officials responsible for policy decisions in a "cult crisis," and law enforcement officers on the scene, the first consideration should be to understand the beliefs and motivations of the religious groups. One of the real lessons of Waco is that this is not accomplished by law enforcement officers super imposing their own beliefs as a template for understand the beliefs of others. The highest priority for law enforcement agencies should be the development of resources to assist them in understanding groups they may have to encourter. This is the most important thing they can do to increase the probability of reacting correctly and possibly preventing acts of violence.4
The links that are presented below cover a wide array of information that can broadly be classified as public response. Some of the materials here are just for fun. Please note that each of the other sections of The Millennium page has links appropriate to that segment.
Special construction for the year 2000
Heaven's Gate
The Millennium Page was created by Christopher W. Smith (cws2p@virginia.edu), an undergraduate history major at the University as partial fullfillment of an independent research project in the Department of Sociology. Mr. Smith was earlier a student in the New Religious Movements course and created a most interesting project on direct sales organizations as parareligious movements. He would welcome your thoughts and comments on The Millennium Page.
Jeffrey K. Hadden
hadden@virginia.edu
07/01/99