Beyond Brainwashing: Perspectives on Cultic Violence

Description

This Element reviews the state of the question regarding theories of cultic violence. It introduces definitions and vocabulary and presents relevant historical examples of religious violence. It then discusses the 1960s and 1970s, the period immediately before the Jonestown tragedy. Considerations of the post-Jonestown (1978), and then post-Waco (1993) literature follow. After 9/11 (2001), some of the themes identified in previous decades reappear. The Element concludes by examining the current problem of repression and harassment directed at religious believers. Legal discrimination by governments, as well as persecution of religious minorities by non-state actors, has challenged earlier fears about cultic violence.

'In Beyond Brainwashing, Rebecca Moore has done a great service to students and scholars of New Religious Movements (NRMs) by providing a detailed and succinct analysis of the field since the 1960s ... work done by Moore in such a scant space, only 71 pages including the appendix, is impressive and will no doubt be a continually edifying resource for scholars and students doing research in this subfield.' Taylor Wilson Dean, Reading Religion