FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Vice Blog

How The Millennium Came and Went Non-Violently

Once upon a time, I had a urinary tract Infection. I'm not sure if you've ever had one, but if you have I think you'd agree that they're pretty fucking miserable. During this particular strain of painful urine I was revisiting my old college. While everyone was out partying, I was stuck moving back and forth from bed to toilet in my friend Pepe's room. Everything was packed, he was leaving the next day. The only book he had was one he had borrowed from his professor, and it was called "How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate" and it saved my life.

Advertisement

What the author Catherine Wessinger suggests in this book's
introduction is that first off, it's wrong to call small or New
Religious Movements "cults," the reasoning is that it separates us
(non cult) from them and makes them appear "worse than us" when in
fact, every religion is equally fucked, or not fucked. It's relative
not to what one believes, but the actions that they take.

The reason why this book is special is because it's pro-cult and
anti-religion, which if you really think about it, it's the way we
should all be. That is not to say she is pro suicide Kool Aid or pro
child bride to David Koresh, she just doesn't see the difference
between Christianity and The Moonies. If anything, The Moonies are
more peaceful and don't molest alter boys!

"When we label a group with the pejorative term cult, it makes us feel
safe because the violence associated with religion is split off from
conventional religions, projected onto others, and imagined to involve
only aberrant groups. As we well know, however, child abuse, sexual
abuse, financial extortion, torture, terrorism, murder, and warfare
also have been committed by mainstream religious believers."

Hmmm, let's see some of the weird things that many cults believe in:

1. That when you die you become reborn as something else, and before
you were born maybe you were a horse. If you are Hitler in this life,
then in your next life you will probably be a flea (but the worse
life-form imaginable is up for debate. I think coming back as Joy from
The View is pretty much as bad as it gets.)
2. That Jesus gets resurrected in April only to hide pastel colored
eggs and then die again. In a cave.
3. That a woman ate an apple and now we are all doomed because of it.
It her fault. Women suck, are weaker than men, etc. (We don't give
life or anything like that, you know, no biggie.)
4. How about when there was a war against the Jews and they only had
enough oil to last 1 day but it lasted 8???
5. Er, Kwanzaa?

Advertisement

On a personal note, I think spiritually is good and finding your own
spiritual place in the world is fine, in whatever institution one sees
fit. Some pray to Jesus, others to the porcelain God. The Rainbow
people seek truth in acid and sunshine while others often visit the
church of black metal. When it's nonviolent or corrupting I say go for
it. I have a Gramma who likes going to Temple on Fridays to play Mah
Jong with her friends, and other people, like Unitarians, build houses
and stuff for poor people. These things are good.

But alas, we then have the argument of brainwashing, which many will
say that Cults do but Religion does not. Wrong again. Ex cult member
Patty Hearst wanted to make sure the rest of the world didn't hate her
by claiming she was"brainwashed."

"Brainwashing is a handy excuse for the person who has defected from
an unconventional religion…Theoretically, if a person is
successfully brainwashed, she or he would be incapable of choosing to
leave."

One should also be aware that David Koresh and Charles Manson and the
rest of them believed that we were all brainwashed by TV, movies,
school, churches, and coke commercials. Maybe they were right and
we're wrong. I know that just now when I wrote down the word "coke" I
felt like I really wanted some!

Anyway, this is sort of a precursor to the next issue of Vice. I
wanted to write about my hero, Catherine Wessinger, but I missed the
deadline boat. I love you Dr. Wessinger, and whenever you decide to
start your own religion, you can count me in!

LESLEY ARFIN