America’s Alternative Religions
ØHeaven’s
Gate
ØScientology
ØBranch
Davidians
HEAVEN’S GATE
PROPHET:
• Bonnie
Lu Truesdale Nettles
• Born
1924 in Houston, TX; raised as a Baptist
• Interests
in astrology, Spiritualism, and Theosophy
• Worked
as a registered nurse
• Member
of the Houston Lodge of the Theosophical Society of America
HEAVEN’S GATE
PROPHET:
• Marshall
Herff Applewhite
• Son
of a Texas Presbyterian minister
• Became
a music professor; fired for inappropriate sexual encounters with students
• Meets
Nettles in March 1972
• They
start the Christian Art Center in Houston
HEAVEN’S GATE
PROMISE:
• The
Two: Nettles and Applewhite are the “two Lampstands” (Revelation 11) come
to spread the word before God’s impending judgment & salvation
• Combined
literalist interpretations of the Bible with Theosophical doctrines, belief in
UFOs, and extraterrestrials
Heaven’s Gate
PLAN:
•
Like Jesus, believers
would transform their bodies into genderless and eternal
extraterrestrial bodies
• Believers should abandon their families and previous
lives and discipline themselves to overcome all human desires and attachments
• Soon flying saucers would pick them up and take them
to the Next Level.
HEAVEN’S GATE
POSSIBILITY (People):
• Applegate (“Do”) had come from the Next Level to
“harvest” worthy humans
• Nettles (“Ti”) who died in 1985 was piloting a flying
saucer behind the Hale-Bopp comet approaching earth
• On March 22, 1997, Heaven’s Gate followers begin to
“shed their bodily pods”
• The group decides to “exit earth”
HEAVEN’S GATE
PLACE:
• 39 members “exit” the planet in a mansion in Rancho
Santa Fe, CA
• Consumed applesauce mixed with phenobarbital, drank
vodka; plastic bags were pulled over their heads
• Surviving members removed the bags and draped each
body with a purple shroud
• Bodies were found lying peacefully on cots or beds in
the mansion
HEAVEN’S GATE
n
20 were women 19 men;
many of the men, including Applewhite, were castrated
n
They dressed in black
pants and shirts and wore new Nike running shoes
n
Shoulder patch =
“Heaven’s Gate Away Team”
n
Overnight bags
included clothes, notebook, lip balm; each person had a $5 bill and quarters in
the front shirt pocket
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PROPHET:
• L.
Ron Hubbard (1911-1986)
• WWII
vet, science fiction writer, thinker
• Dianetics:
The Modern Science of Mental Health becomes a national bestseller in 1951
•
1953; Hubbard incorporates the Church of
Scientology
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PROMISE:
• Combines religion, science, and psychology in a unique
self-actualization program
• To be CLEAR = a being who is unrepressed and
self-determined
• “to clear” = to release all the physical pain and
painful emotion from the life of the individual
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PLAN:
• ENGRAMS = unconscious memories of physical or
psychological pain stored in the reactive mind
• REACTIVE MIND = causes people to act in irrational,
self-defeating ways
• Auditing = the process by which engrams are brought to
consciousness in the “analytical mind” and diffused, leading to success and
happiness
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
POSSIBILITY (PEOPLE):
•
AUDITING requires a
human auditor and the Hubbard Electrometer or E-Meter
•
E-METER registers
emotional reaction to the auditor’s words; provides clues to the underlying
sources of engrams lodged in the reactive mind
• The “therapy” leads to the state of CLEAR
• Controversy = each step in the process costs BIG
BUCKS$$$$
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PLACE: (the universe)
• OT = OPERATING THETAN – a being who has escaped from
MEST (matter, energy, space, time)
•
The EIGHT DYNAMICS =
the “place” where the OT seeks his/her true identity as Spirit, leading to the
8th “urge” toward existence as Infinity; the highest level; the
God dynamic
• The TABLE OF CONDITIONS = strict ethical standards
controlling behavior on all levels
BRANCH DAVIDIANS
Prophet:
• Vernon Howell (born 8/17/59)
• Raised in the Adventist biblical tradition
• August 1990 = changes name to:
• DAVID KORESH = the messiah who would die in Armageddon,
be resurrected, conquer evil and establish God’s kingdom
• He was the final end-time prophet
BRANCH DAVIDIANS
PROMISE (classic Adventist beliefs):
• The
imminent end of the world
• Prophecies
in the King James Version of the Bible were applicable to events in our day and
time
• Reliance
on living prophets to interpret God’s word
• Koresh
is the final, living prophet
BRANCH DAVIDIANS
PLAN:
• David
Koresh developed detailed teachings about the end-time based on:
• Daniel
11
• Matthew
24
• Revelation
7-16 (the Seven Seals)
• Koresh,
the lamb of God, unlocks the Seven Seals
BRANCH DAVIDIANS
POSSIBILITY (people)
• The ATF and FBI assault and siege on the Mt. Carmel
compound (Feb. 28-April 19, 1993) were events prophesied by David Koresh
• Followers believed that they were to suffer and be
martyred as part of God’s plan for the millennial kingdom
•
A classic religious
apocalyptic theodicy
BRANCH DAVIDIANS
PLACE:
• Mt. Carmel Center, near Waco, Texas
• “Operation Trojan Horse” – 2/28/93
• 76 heavily armed ATF agents raid the compound
• 4 ATF agents killed, 20 wounded
• 5 Davidians killed, 4 wounded
• Event begins the siege by FBI agents
BRANCH DAVIDIANS
PLACE (Armageddon):
• Monday,
April 19, 1993, 6:00am
• FBI
agents in tanks punch holes in the walls of the compound; shoot rounds of CS
gas into the compound
• Fire
erupts around noon
• 74
Davidians die including 23 children
• 9
Davidians escape