Sociologists and religious studies scholars, many with expertise in legal cases involving cults and religious group violence, offer 12 contributions addressing religious violence as a relational process rather than simply a social action. Topics include misconceptions about the New Religions-violence connection; sources of volatility in religious movements; a comparative analysis of the roles of five types of cult-watching groups; mass suicide and the Branch Davidians; and making sense of the Heaven's Gate suicides. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Contrary to conventional wisdom, violent episodes involving cults are rare historically. But their potential to affect and disrupt civic life looms large and efforts to manage these incidents involve controversial issues of religious freedom, politics, state intervention, and public security. The interpretive challenge of this book is to provide a social scientific explanation for these rare events. The authors conclude that they usually involve some combination of internal and external dynamics through which a new religious movement and society become polarized.
Explores recent high profile cases of new religious movements involved in violence.
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