Heaven's Gate

On 26th March 1997, 39 people were found to have committed mass suicide in three consecutive days in a house in San Diego, California. They were members of a NRM called Heaven's Gate, which combined aspects of Christianity with UFOlogy.

The "cult" was founded in the early 1970's by two people called Applewhite and Nettles, who claimed to be the two witnesses named in the book of Revelation in the Bible. This was their main basis for obtaining followers, for many people believed that they were, and so wanted to fill the prophesy of "The Two."

Christianity believes in the ascension of Jesus Christ, whereby it is told that a cloud took him back up into heaven; Applewhite interpreted this “cloud” to mean “spaceship,” arguing that the ascension of Jesus was the space crew from the Next Level reclaiming him. He believed that the only way to reach this physical place, the Next Level, was to end one's life on this planet, then one would ascend in a spaceship as the Hale-Bopp planet crossed.

The group believed that the only way to gain access to the spacecraft was by death, followed by resurrection three and a half days later. This is extremely similar to the story told in the Bible of Jesus’ death and resurrection in three and a half days. They committed their mass suicide in 1997, 2000 years on from the year 4 B.C.E., a date commonly given for the birth of Jesus.

To people outside of the group, this all seems a little bizarre and far-fetched. It's no surprise that most of the followers were great believers in extra-terrestrials and devout followers of sci-fi programmes such as Star Wars. Some of their rituals whilst in the group included wearing cones on their heads to get used to what their bodies would be like once they ascended to the Level Above Humans. This suggests that the members wanted to live a supernatural life which resembled that of what they watched on TV, a life where all their problems on earth would be erradicated. Heaven's Gate also offered a means for people to cure addictions, such as alcoholism, as alcohol and other "earthly sins" were forbidden in the closed, secluded community they lived in. They had to cut all ties with friends and family, for fear that they would influence them away from the group and it's teachings, although unlike suicide "cults" such as Jonestown, members were free to leave at any time if they wished; they were not kept against their will.

When the inevitable occurred, it arose that most of the members were middle-aged, and thus not perceived as vulnerable or naieve, like many young members who follow such groups. Therefore, these members would have heard about similar mass suicide groups, and would probably not have been so easily influenced. Heaven's Gate did not appear to obtain members by deception; no information seems to be held from them during their time in the group, although like most of these groups, the teachings were inconsistent and subject to sudden change by the leader.

Looking at the bodies, there appears to be no signs of struggle or unwillingness to participate in the mass suicide, which suggests that people willingly wanted to end their lives and fulfil what they believed was their mission, following Jesus' teachings.

To find out more about the group's beliefs, from an insider's point of view, their original website which they set-up still exists:

http://www.heavensgate.com/

Claire Lloyd.

0622669.

Jonestown

Jim Jones, the founder of The Peoples Temple, was originally a student pasture of a Methodist church. He formed his group after he was perceived to be a prophet, and he staged many alleged healings of which 90% were fake. He formed his sect amongst the black community of San Francisco, many of its members had lived on the streets. Jones believed that there would be a nuclear attack on America and so he began looking for a secure place where he could take his flock and protect them.

Guyana was the chosen spot, and 1974 Jonestown became the home of over 900 members of the Peoples Temple. Jones had convinced his followers that the outside world was a dangerous place and that the ethnic minorities were safer in Jonestown, in the community he called the "Rainbow Family".

Jones became scared of the group known as "The Concerned Relatives" who were trying to contact family members within Jonestown. This is when Jones started to crack, he had been prone to drug dependency and now it was driving him mad. There were guards with guns that guarded the perimeter of Jonestown, but not only to protect the community within from the "dangers" of the outside world, but also to prevent anyone from leaving.

There are many shocking stories that have been told by surviving members about the atrocities that took place in the jungle. A lot of medication was ordered by Jones, and it is believed that these drugs were used to sedate people to prevent them from leaving. It has even been said that as a punishment naughty children were left down wells for a few days, until Jones felt they had learnt their lessons. When I think of Jonestown I get this claustrophobic feeling, this idea of being trapped with your life in the hands of Jim Jones, a perverse and disturbed man. But there are many different stories, and I'm willing to bet that some of them might be slight exaggerations, but I guess we'll never know.

In November 1978 the members of Jonestown committed suicide (though it is clear that some were murdered) at the orders of their leader, Jim Jones. A congress man and his party had been killed whilst investigating claims of violence in Jonestown and now Jones ordered his followers to commit suicide because they would never know peace on earth. Over 900 people died, including 240 children. Some members committed suicide with a deadly drink of cyanide, the children were given their fatal juice by adults with syringes, but many had been injected against their will. A few people had been shot, including Jones himself.

Unlike the group Heaven's Gate which was a clear cut suicide, and almost peaceful, the Jonestown mass deaths are a chaotic mess of suicide and murder. Many members were held at Jonestown against their will, unlike the members of Heaven's Gate who were free to come and go and make their own choices. This is the worst example of a cult, although Heaven's Gate disturbed me because of its beliefs, the Peoples Temple disturbs me because of its actions.

For more information on the horror that was Jonestown I recommend John R. Hall's book again at ...

https://auth.athensams.net/?ath_dspid=EBRARY&ath_returl=http%3A%2F

Natalie watkins - 0604967

The Mystery of "Cults"...

A “cult” is a religious sect, otherwise known as a New Religious Movement, (NRM), whereby followers generally live in an unconventional community under the guidance and obedience of an authoritarian charismatic leader, and it is a form of group deviance.

Over time, NRMs, or “cults” have brought with them negative connotations, as they are thought to have radical beliefs and extreme rituals such as mass suicide in the case of Jonestown. The word "cult" in itself is quite a pejorative term.

Usually, followers of a cult live in closed communities, disregarding government laws, sometimes forming a new way of speech or communication, and avoiding contact with the outside world, as other people could influence them away from the cult’s teachings.

Usually, NRMs obtain converts by deception, and are often said to “brainwash” their converts, as their personalities may change, along with their relationships with others, their outlook and views on life, and some even lose the ability to generate their own thoughts, as expression of opinion is suppressed and forbidden. The teachings of the NRM may not always be consistent, for they are subject to sudden change by the group's leader(s).

The charismatic leaders in NRMs may increasingly isolate their members, enforcing deeper commitment into the cult, and asking them to make certain sacrifices; David Koresh obtained sexual access to all female members within his "cult".

When cases of mass suicide such as the People's Temple and Heaven's Gate come into the media, their followers are often described as vulnerable and extremist individuals. People on the outside world question why such acts occur, and often humour the beliefs of the group, describing the followers of being "brainwashed;" for it is hard to understand a group of people who separate themselves from the rest of society in the name of their claimed religion.

Some interesting books to read on the subject of suicide cults are:

Bromley, D. (ed.), Melton, J. (ed.) (2002). Cults, Religion and Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Enroth, R. (1977). Youth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults. Michigan: The Zondervan Corporation Grand Rapids.

Claire Lloyd

0622669.

The Strangeness of Heaven's Gate

Heavens Gate, the group which was referred to by the media as a UFO Cult (much to the anger of the group leaders), is a suicide cult which I find very strange. After learning about The Branch Davidians and Jonestown, and various other New Religious Movements, I found that it was Heavens Gate which puzzled me the most. It follows the belief that Ti and Do (Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite) were the two representatives of Heaven; they claimed to hold the secret of how to access The Kingdom of Heaven, and recruited members by insisting that they would be taught this secret in time.

Ti and Do (who became known as The Two) claimed that Heaven was a physical place that could be accessed by a certain procedure, and eventually (though not knowing exactly when) a spaceship would come to Earth and take the followers of The Two to The Evolutionary Level Above Human, otherwise known as The Kingdom Of Heaven.

Would you trust this man?

The group committed suicide in 1997, after believing that there was a spaceship hiding behind the comet Hale - Bopp which would "pick them up" and take them back to TELAH. The group had to "shed" their physical bodies in order to leave the earth and regain their original identities which were believed to exist in the Level Above Human.

Unlike the other NRM's we have studied throughout this course, I think that the Heavens Gate movement is one that deviated considerably from the mainstream religion it had been influenced by. Because of this I find myself interpreting the cult as completely outrageous. If you already were a devout Christian it would not be so strange to consider that you could have joined The Peoples Temple, which preached equality and practiced values from the Bible, of which you already believed. But to join Heaven's Gate, a religion that was practically made up by Applewhite whilst he was in prison and contained notions that were literally out of this world, I find very strange.

Although I struggle to comprehend that such a movement ever existed, there are still some redeeming features. People who joined the group were not brainwashed or forced, since Applewhite always made clear at the end of most of his speeches "It is your decision", and so members were free to leave and return if they wished and were not held against their will (unlike those of Jonestown). Members were part of a close community, in which all were equal (something many people strive for) and addictions which were (and still are) considered the bane of many societies, such as alcohol, drugs and sex, were banned amongst the Heaven's Gate community. The group also believed in a physical Heaven, somewhere that could actually be reached; this installed hope amongst many followers.

But despite these redeeming features, I am still disturbed by the fact that people went to their deaths purely because of the beliefs (or imagination) of Applewhite; I find it almost perverse. But I suppose that there is no way of proving Applewhite's theory right or wrong, since we will never know whether "The Heaven's Gate Away Team" actually made it to TELAH, or whether the beliefs of Applewhite were just the result of an extremely over active imagination.

To read more about Heaven's Gate I would recommend Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in North America, Europe, and Japan, by John R. Hall, which can be found on Ebrary by clicking on the link below.

https://auth.athensams.net/?ath_dspid=EBRARY&ath_returl=http%3A%2F%2Fsite.ebrary.com%2FAthens%3Fid%3D10099248%26rp%3DDoc

And also the official website set up by the group is full of information.

http://www.heavensgate.com/

Natalie Watkins - 0604967

Heaven's Gate

As weird as it sounds, Heaven's Gate can be describe as perfectly normal to most of society, it is just the explanation of it that makes most of us 'freak out'.

Heaven's Gate is an unusual cult (if you would like to call it that).

From the start, all the members of our group were slightly confused of the meaning of this 'cult' and the reasons of why they decided to take upon such a dramatic exit.

As we began to research we found that although, yes, we still did find it utterly and completely bizarre, there were a few reasonable explanations of why they decided to proceed with their mission to TELAH.

The group had a leader in which they could give their trust to became their friend as well as many other people within the group. It was like they had someone their they could talk to about anything!!

Marshall Applewhite, one of the remaining leaders of the group mentioned an number of times that members were free to leave whenever they wanted, but what we want to find out is if Applewhite tried to convince its members NO to leave because he truly believed within himself that there was another level about human and it could be reached. By doing this they had to leave their souls behind them and let their spirits guide themselves towards Hale-Bopp and 'ride along with Jesus on his "spaceship"'. In reality, TELAH does not exist or so it may seem to the rest of the outside world and in honesty, it was a mass suicide.

It will never be possible to climb inside their minds and explore the real reasons for doing this, but although many people have spoken to people who join either Religious Movements or cults, the members appear to be rather intelligent and "normal". It is that because it is actually them themselves or have they been "brain-washed" into being like they are?!

We shall never know, but hopefully our presentation will aim to provide adequate information about Heaven's Gate to others to make up their own minds!

Verity Samal

0473765

WACO

I was shocked to hear in lecture that 93 people commited suicide under the influence of Vernon Howell or his adopted name David Koresh. I think that Koresh must have been a very charasmatic leader to be able to persuade the whole group of 92 members and himself to commit suicide. Reading reports from the WACO incident I learnt that it might not have been a suicide. The reports say that the doors were barricaded from the inside when the explosion went off and the bodies of the group were layed down in a ritualised position . This to me suggests a suicide however; it is not conclusive evidence. So this means that nobody really knows what happened at the WACO building.

There is evidence from surviving group members who left the group before the disaster happened which says that Koresh claimed all the women members as his own. In my opinion this act by Koresh is absurd as he has no right to claim the women members. I find it hard to understand why all the members didn't leave instead of just Marc Breunt (male member) and Robyn Bunds (a wife of a group member).

When looking at this cult I have concluded that although David Koresh had a individually deviant character there is not enough information to conclude whether the group acted upon individual or group deviance.

For more information visit the links below

http://www.serendipity.li/waco.html

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=37

Daniel Lloyd 0600618

Heavens Gate

I was surprised to learn that 39 members of Heavens Gate commited suicide just for the beliefs of Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. The beliefs of Applewhite and Nettles to me were a bit bizarre as they both believed that there was an Evolutionary Level Above Humans (TELAH) and that there was a spaceship behind the Hale-Bopp comet. If i was a member and was told this i would find it hard to believe as there is no real scientific evidence except amateur sightings to prove that UFOs or spaceships exist.

I was also informed in the lecture that the group members had to accept that Nettles and Applewhite were the "Two Witnesses" as mentioned in Revalations 11. This is hard for me to believe as you can't just say you are the "Two Witnesses" without being told by God. Nettles, however; did claim that she had visions of the Virgin Mary but just to be told this as member for me is still not enough to justifie me commiting suicide.

When looking at Heavens Gate it is clear to me that it was individual deviance rather than group deviance. I think it is individual deviance as Applewhite was claimed to have been admitted to a hospital with mental problems (which incidentally was where he met Nettles) which shows that he was not of sound mind when he convinced 38 members and himself to commit suicide.

See link below for more details

http://www.heavensgate.com/

Daniel Lloyd 0600618