In class we are studying NRMs or New Religious Movements which is the more academic wording of what most people would call a “cult”. The reason we no longer refer to these groups as cults is because the medias usage of the word has led it to mean, any religious movement we don’t like, making it more of a judgment then a definition. It is also used to describe the fan base or community of something in a more a lighthearted way. This can make telling the difference between a NRM, a religion, or a club quite difficult. It is often said that “cult + time = religion” which is true in many cases. It is especially hard because there is no clear single definition of a NRM. There are a few key characteristics, which I will show you using the example of the Branch Davidians.
The Branch Davidians were a an offshoot of the Church of the Seventh Day Adventists, differing with their doomsday prophecy. David Koresh was born in 1959 under the name Vernon Howell he rose to power in the group through a relationship with its lead, Lois Roden, who named him as her successor. He was a self proclaimed Messiah who believed that God would speak to him. Korech’s charismatic personality and knowledge of the bible allowed him to master manipulating people.
One of Koresh’s more controversial teachings as the group’s leader was his New Light doctrine. It declared that all the women in the church would be his wives if he chose them, this included underage girls and all the women who were already married. He also declared himself the Sinful Messiah and preached that when end of the world would happen there would be a great battle between the faithful and the Beast of Babylon who he specifically identified as the government of the United States. This lead him to militarize his followers, assembling a huge arsenal of weapons which attracted the attention of the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The group would meet its tragic and controversial end in February of 1993 after the ATF’s initial failed raid on the Mt. Carmel compound; this turned into a firefight and stand-off with the FBI that lasted 51 days. David Koresh and his army of more than a hundred followers/hostages were surrounded by the FBI as the world watched. After negotiations came to a halt the Attorney General, Janet Reno, finally gave the go ahead to raid the compound. Filling the place with tear gas a fire broke out completely levelling the building killing more that 80 members, which included around 20 children and Koresh himself. In this post I will be focusing more on the group itself.
For a group of to be considered a NRM it needs to meet a couple of agreed upon characteristics that all feed into each other:
1. A Charismatic Leader
A NRM needs a charismatic leader someone who is very good at manipulating people and is often a sociopathic narcissist.
In the case of the Branch Davidians this was David Koresh. He fits the bill perfectly, he was a very charismatic person that people wanted to be around but he was also a very capable manipulator. He had memorized the entire New and Old Testament of the Bible by the time he was 18 and was a master at twisting the text to get want he wanted.
2. Transcendent Belief System
A group also needs to have a transcendent belief system that had an answer for everything.
The Branch Davidians had a doomsday prophecy that stated that there would be a war between the faithful and the U.S. government, that is why Koresh started to militarize his followers. When the government did come for them it proved him right. David Koresh was also a self proclaimed Messiah who claimed God would speak to him, so anything he told his followers to do was, in their eyes, really God telling them to. This was also something that attracted people to him.
3. Exploitation of its Members
There also need to be some form of exploitation of the members usually form the leader it is often sexual or monetary but can be any number of things.
The most obvious example of this for David Koresh was his New Light doctrine that declared that any of the women would be his wives if he wanted them, this included married women and underaged girls who were groomed by him and often their parents to be his wife. For them being his wife just meant that you were to have sex which him. He also made them his personal army by arming them and training them so much so that they were willing to die for him. In the end most of them did die in the stand-off against the FBI at Mt. Carmel, some of them even killing government agents.
4. “Mind Control”
There also is some kind of “mind control” sometimes called thought reform, this is the process of manipulating people until the NRM becomes their entire reality. This usually leads to them using circular logic to justify wha they are doing and everything they to is now for the leader or the cause.
David Koresh was a master at making everything they were doing seem like it was for or because of God and that is what their circular logic became. For example: Koresh wanted them do something ➡️ Koresh was sent by God ➡️ God chose them to do it. One of the most apparent signs that he was dong this was that he isolated them; he took them all to Mt. Carmel where there was no heat, no running water, no electricity, and most importantly no contact with the “sin” of the outside world that might distract and pull them away. They were often not allowed to talk to each other so that they would become completely dependent on him and not spread any ideas. Things like that as well as harshly disciplining the children from a very young age lead them to no longer really be thinking for themselves.
You mights ask yourself why someone would join something like this. Well you have to look at it through their eyes: a lot of these people were in very vulnerable places in their lives. When your looking for answers or a purpose, and a group offers a solution to an enemy they have created, that can be very attractive. David Koresh was also an extremely charismatic person and could easily convince you that he was a prophet. Many of these people were also already branch Davidians and were use to people claiming to be prophets and just when along until they were to far in to get out.