Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 22, 1993 TAG: 9304220429
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARSHALL FISHWICK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This nightmare evokes another - the most horrible blood bath in modern cult history, at Jonestown in Guyana, where, in 1978, 913 people committed suicide through persuasion or force. And what of the intervening cult killings in urban areas (Philadelphia, Washington, New York) and the countryside of Arkansas and Idaho? There is no explanation. But we can predict the exploitation that follows.
First, the gory facts and photographs. Then the swarm of investigative reporters and checkbook journalists who close in. (CBS had its first "special report" the night the compound burned.) There is an endless flow of copy, TV interviews and "expert" opinions. Polls will be taken. After the Jonestown blood bath, for example, public-opinion polls ranked that event just behind Pearl Harbor and John Kennedy's assassination in "public recognition." Pop records filled the air with titles like "Guyana, Cult of the Damned" and "They Poisoned Little Children."
Then, as always, the media found new victims, new sensational events, new crusades. Slowly but surely, neglect covered the grisly episode, as dirt covered the victims.
At this particular time - when the world is focused on Waco - we can take a longer and deeper look at the Great Cult Scare. What is the history of such events?
Cults were active while history was still blind. We have no way of telling how many occurred without being recorded, although some (like the worship of the Golden Calf in the Old Testament) are still alive and vivid. If a "cult" is a group of devout believers following a charismatic leader to the death, then we have to admit that Jesus and his disciples might qualify.
Certainly the people who launched the Protestant Reformation were viewed as cultists, being labeled Diggers, Shakers and Quakers. America, long on freedom and stretching from ocean to ocean, welcomed these "cults." The Quakers, Shakers, Mennonites and Moravians all came and helped make this a great nation. So did the long-persecuted Huguenots, who still have a historic house of worship in Charleston, S.C. The famous French visitor Hector de Crev-coeur had this to say in 1782:
"If any new sect springs up in Europe, it may happen that many of its professors will come and settle in America. As they bring their zeal with them, they are at liberty to make converts."
Does the much-heralded American passion for freedom extend to unorthodox religion, as it does to unorthodox speech? Was Mark Twain right when he boasted, "In America, everyone can go to hell in his own particular way?"
Surely not, we quickly reply, if he takes others to hell with him; or if his freedom destroys others' lives (the famous injunction against yelling "fire!" when there is none in a crowded building).
On this basis, can we justify being so aggressive in Waco? Attorney General Janet Reno has admitted that she may have made the wrong decision, causing "a horrible situation." And can the FBI be excused because its hostage rescue team was "growing weary"? Were they not guilty of overkill, as our armed forces were in the early days of Desert Storm? And should we have sent in a hundred agents to issue the warrant at the compound on Feb. 28? What happened to the old Texas boast that "to one riot you send one Ranger?"
Look again at the history of religion in America. What about those famous camp revivals on the 19th century American frontier, full of hell-raising, where thousands were confessing, shrieking, speaking in tongues; and where people fell to the ground "like men slain in battle?" Observers reported "barking, jerking and other primitive traits." It's a free country, ain't it?
In the 1820s, the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith in upstate New York, and Mormonism, now one of the fastest-growing religions in the world, was born. His followers were driven west to Utah, where they thrive mightily.
In the 1830s, a Baptist preacher named William Miller announced that the Day of Judgment would occur in 1844. Scores of camp meetings spread the word, and on Oct. 24, 1844, thousands of Millerites gathered for the end.
It didn't come. But Miller's followers, renaming themselves Seventh-day Adventists, have thrived. It is from this group that the Davidians split 30 years ago.
We can only deplore what happened at Waco, and do all we can to hope that such outbursts can be curbed. But how, and by whom? American history clearly shows that charismatic leaders can and do gain control over a group of followers. Where to put the blame? Perhaps, in the final analysis, on human nature.
Where to draw the line? Where does liberty stop and license begin? There are no easy answers. Perhaps our wisest course is to continue to ask the questions.
Marshall Fishwick is professor of humanities and communication studies at Virginia Tech.
by CNB