Violence

1. Violence RELS 225 Cults and New Religious Movements

2. NRMs and Violence • Marginal religious groups have historically been accused of violence • Are cults prone to violence? • What factors make a religious movement prone to violence?

3. Why is violence common in cults? • New religions tend to be “antinomian” • no longer believe they are bound by the moral conventions or laws of humanity because they have achieved, through their faith or other spiritual means, a higher state of being and salvation

4. Conditions for violence • complex conditions lead members violent behaviour • conditions don’t result in violence for all NRMs

5. To keep in mind • NRMs are not the only religions with deviant behaviour • most violent incidents not related specific cult policies • amount of cult violence is not dispropotionate

6. Types of Factors • Violence in new religious movements is perpetuated by the interaction of numerous endogenous and exogenous factors • main endogenous factors • apocalyptic beliefs • charismatic leadership • social encapsulation.

7. Apocalyptic beliefs • prevalent in many cults • usually based on the Bible, • Book of Revelation • Ezekiel • Daniel • also medieval lore or occult

8. Why would apocalyptic views lead to violence? • reject laws because they soon will not matter • anticipate violence to come and go looking for it • attempt to identify enemies: perceive opponents as evil, justifying extreme force • 'exemplary-dualism' leads to making mountains out of molehills. • enthusiasm clouds judgement

9. Charismatic leadership • common feature of new religious movements. • Weber: charismatic authority differs from • traditional authority (by custom) and • rational-legal authority (of a position) • it relies of the display of charismata (divine gifts) • Charisma: • attributed to someone by other people • depends on relationship with followers • Therefore quite precarious • charismatic leaders • lack support outside of their groups • they break social conventions • face pressure to conform AND to resist assimilation • expanding their group AND maintain personal contact with followers • balance exposure AND secrecy • exposure demonstrates their humanity, undermining special authority

10. Routinization of Charisma • To resist the routinization of charisma, leaders may: • keep their followers off balance and attentive by suddenly altering the beliefs and practices of the group. • place escalating demands on their followers to seek reaffirmation • exploit their followers fears by inventing new enemies, causing them to seek unity against threats • question other potential authorities, both internally and externally • test loyalty, increase dependence and get rid of other potential authorities is by separating couples or other close pairs. • (These strategies often damage the stability of the group and may lead to violence.) • Leaders face questions of their legitimacy and to prove it they must: • maintain their image, • moderate members' identification with them, • and attain new successes.

11. Social encapsulation • the tendency of new religious movements to form small, but complete, social systems outside of society in general. • NRMs maintain social and physical isolation and boundaries. • these systems lack essential feedback • when this lack is combined with a violation of boundaries, it may lead to violence • Factors: • normative dissonance • groupthink • shift-to-risk

12. Normative dissonance • people need to negotiate between different opinions, values, etc. in order to make decisions, thus reducing impulsive acting. • members are unable to consider such differences • they do not receive feedback from the outside world • people who raise contrary opinions are generally suppressed or expelled. • Therefore, members tend to act more impulsively • This increases the odds of violent behaviour.

13. Groupthink • A thought pattern of extremely cohesive groups • people make decisions based on a desire for conformity, without critical consideration. • Desire to show a united front

14. Shift-to-risk • more willing to entertain risky behaviour than individuals • they have the support of others • may result in radicalization if someone voices a risky idea.

15. Surviving failed prophecy • theory of cognitive dissonance oversimplifies this phenomenon. • strategies to deal with failed expectations: • Proselytization • in conjunction with other strategies • Rationalization • Spiritualization • a test of faith • human error • blaming others. • Reaffirmation • most frequently used strategy: through group building. • Don’t usually experience dissonance after such failure • they do not typically recognize the failure.

16. Conclusion • NRM violent behaviour can be promoted by: • apocalyptic beliefs • charismatic leadership • social encapsulation • bad idea to make generalizations • NRMs are very diverse.