Cult suicide

From Academic Kids

Cult suicide is that phenomenon by which some religious groups, in this context often referred to as "cults", have led to their membership committing suicide. Sometimes all members commit suicide at the same time and place. Groups which have done this include, Heaven's Gate, Order of the Solar Temple, Peoples Temple (Jonestown), Old Believers, and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God.

Contents

1 Known Cult Suicides

1.1 People's Temple (Jim Jones)
1.2 Solar Temple
1.3 Heaven's Gate

2 Suspected Cult Suicides

2.1 Branch Davidians
2.2 Scientology

3 Questionable Cult Suicides

3.1 Unification Church

4 Martyrdom

5 See also

6 References

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Known Cult Suicides

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People's Temple (Jim Jones)

In 1978, 914 American followers of Jim Jones died in a mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The dead included 274 children. Alternative theories allege that most of the victims were unwillingly injected with the poison, and some even allege involvement of the CIA. However, an affadavit made by former member Deborah Layton days before the massacre testified to suicide drills called white nights in which members practiced mass suicide by ingesting poison, and in Jones' final speech, recorded on cassette tape, he states "So my opinion is that you be kind to children and be kind to seniors and take the potion like they used to take in ancient Greece..." stating the intention that the group kill themselves while casting it as a political act: "We didn't commit suicide, we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world."

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Solar Temple

Between 1995 and 1997 74 members of a cult called the Order of the Solar Temple died in mass murder/suicides.

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Heaven's Gate

On March 26 1997, 39 followers of the Heaven's Gate cult died in a mass suicide. In the beliefs of the cult, this was not an act of self-extermination; they believed that they were merely "exiting their human vehicles" so that their souls could go on a journey aboard a spaceship they believed to be following comet Hale-Bopp. Some male members of the cult underwent voluntary castration in preparation for the genderless life they believed awaited them after the suicide.

On March 30 1997, Robert Leon Nichols, a former roadie for the Grateful Dead, was discovered dead in his California trailer, with a note nearby that read in part "I'm going to the spaceship with Hale-Bopp to be with those who have gone before me." Using propane gas rather than vodka and phenobarbital to end his life, Nichols, like the cult members, had his head covered by a plastic bag and his upper torso covered with a purple shroud. Nichols' connection with the cult is unknown.

In May 1997, two cult members who had not been present for the mass suicide attempted suicide, one succeeding in the attempt, the other going into coma for two days and then recovering. In February 1998 the survivor, Chuck Humphrey, attempted suicide, this time succeeding.

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Suspected Cult Suicides

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Branch Davidians

The deaths of the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas is often considered a cult suicide. Others assign blame to the United States government, or to both groups. Some believe it was actually murder-suicide committed by the group's leaders.

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Scientology

Scientology has been accused of causing a number of deaths through suicide or negligence. There is also the suggestion in Scientology that those who leave will commit suicide. Scientologists are taught that if they abandon the "church" they will soon kill themselves, or have a serious illness or accident, according to Flo Conway, a researcher at the University of Oregon. Her research concluded, "Former Scientologists had the highest rates of persistent fear, sleeplessness, suicidal and self-destructive tendencies, violent outbursts, hallucinations and delusions, compared to ex-members of other religious groups." Ex-members have claimed (most notably in the Fishman Affidavit) that the Church of Scientology ordered them or others to commit "end of cycle" (suicide) in order to protect the Church.

In its cover story on Scientology on May 5, 1991, Time magazine noted the case of Noah Lottick, who committed suicide by jumping from a tall building. The magazine stated that he clutched in his fist "practically the only money he had not yet given to the Church of Scientology". Former church member Philip Gale similarly committed suicide by jumping out of a tall building. He chose to kill himself on March 13, Scientology's most important annual holiday marking the birthday of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The organization was also embroiled in a legal battle involving the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson. (See WhyAreTheyDead.net (http://www.whyaretheydead.net) for more information.)

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Questionable Cult Suicides

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Unification Church

Opponents charged that the Unification Church was likely to do the same as the Jim Jones group, although in the 25 years since Jonestown, the suicide rate for Unificationists has not differed markedly from that of the general populace anywhere.

The Unification Church teaches that people who commit suicide go to hell, but after Jonestown, many claims surfaced in the media the members of the Unification Church would commit suicide, despite official church protestations to the contrary.

While in general, the Unification Church considers suicide to be wrong, there is some internal church debate about whether the Japanese tradition of seppuku is sometimes a good thing.

Also, Rev. Moon has sometimes said that a woman faced with the threat of rape was better off killing herself than submitting to rape; this might be considered akin somewhat to the situation at Masada.

Church members sometimes also cite Jesus' saying, "Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his brother." A security guard who takes a bullet for his principal (and then dies), or a soldier who deliberately falls on a live handgrenade to save a comrade is (technically) committing suicide, but since it is directly for the sake of another it is not considered a sin in the Unification Church. Likewise, the firemen who rushed up the steps of the World Trade Center despite the clear risk of being killed in the building collapse, are generally not regarded as "suicidal".

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Martyrdom

Some argue that martyrdom, as found in religions such as Christianity and Islam, is tantamount to suicide.

In more recent times, also due to cultural actions (that non-faithful sometimes call propaganda), it is becoming more common to relate cult suicide to marytrdom. These suicides may thus refer to themselves as "martyrs".

Mainstream Christianity has traditionally forbidden its members to take their own lives. Martyrdom generally involves losing one's life, usually passively, at the hands of non-believers because of one's religious beliefs or practices. The Roman Catholic Church considers life to be a gift whose sole "owner" would be God, who is consequently the only individual who may legitimately decide when to interrupt it. Special cases exist, such as the giving of one's own life to save that of another, but most cultures do not consider such acts to be true suicides.

The Islamist movement has strongly encouraged many Muslims to accept a theology in which becoming a suicide bomber is not considered suicide, but is rather considered a form of "struggle"; in this view, certainly not held by all Muslims, one can kill one's self, among others, without violating Islamic law.

Dozens of Muslims, primarily Palestinians and Saudi Arabians, have died in the act of killing both military personnel and civilians in this fashion over the last decade, mostly in the Middle East. Recently 19 died in such a way in the United States (see September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack).

Mass suicide can also occur as a means of escape when a religious group perceives itself to be hopelessly besieged by its enemies or other adverse external pressure. These external foes may be real or imagined. (See Masada)

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