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The Branch Davidians, Heaven's Temple

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Cults Natalia Kaiser Burleson High School Cults have been around since the beginning of time. A cult is a social group or a social movement under one leader. It maintains a belief system, which includes a transformation of a group member. Members of the group are very loyal to their leader, members, and beliefs. In most cults they are brainwashed to kill others or even kill themselves. Some of the most popular cults that have ended in tragedy in the United States are The Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, and People’s Temple. One of the most popular cults that has ended in tragedy in the United States are the Branch Davidians. The Branch Davidians were formed by David Koresh, born Vernon Howell in 1959. …show more content…

One of his views was that he was a messiah and all women were his spiritual wives. David Koresh brain washed his members to believe that the end of the world was near and that he spoke the word of God. They were located in Waco, Texas and began to collect an armory of weapons. Because of the fact that Koresh was having inappropriate sexual relationships with teenage girls in the community and because of the large amount of weapons being stocked up, officials were alarmed. On February 28, 1993, agents from the alcohol, tobacco and firearms bureau were met with gunfire when they tried to serve a search and arrest warrant on members of the Branch Davidian cult.. Four ATF agents and six Davidians died of gunshot wounds that day. A 51-day standoff ensued between more than 100 Davidians inside the compound and 76 federal agents …show more content…

The cult was led by Marshall Applewhite, a music professor, who was recruited into the cult by Bonnie Lu Nettles. In 1975, Applewhite and Nettles persuaded a group of 20 people from Oregon to abandon their families and possessions and move to Colorado. They promised them that an extraterrestrial spacecraft would take them to the “kingdom of heaven.” They brainwashed people into believing that their human bodies were actually just containers that could be abandoned for a higher physical existence. The spacecraft never arrived and members were starting to realize that. Heaven’s Gate lost a lot of their members and eventually died out. Bonnie Lu Nettles died in 1985. During the early 1990s, the cult resurfaced as Applewhite began recruiting new members. Soon after the 1995 discovery of the comet Hale-Bopp, the Heaven’s Gate members became sure that an alien spacecraft was on its way to earth. In October 1996, Applewhite rented a large home for the cult in Rancho Santa Fe. He explained to the owner that his group was made up of Christian-based angels. In late March 1997, as Hale-Bopp reached its closest distance to Earth, Applewhite and 38 of his followers drank a deadly mixture of phenobarbital and vodka and then lay down to die, hoping to leave their body containers, enter the alien spacecraft, and pass through Heaven’s Gate into a higher existence. 21 women and 18 men of varying ages

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To fully understand the reasons behind a man’s commitment to a cult, and the choice to lead and continue the unorthodox cult sect, it is important to look at his upbringing. Warren Jeff’s was born on December 4th, 1955 as the 14th child of Rulon Jeffs, the prophet before his son took over. Polygomy within this sect began before Warren’s reign, as Rulon, his father, was said to have about 20 wives and 60 children. With so many wives and children, it is unusual for the 14th to take over such a task as taking over the religious sect. However, Warren Jeffs was born three months premature, and therefore was seen as a miracle child to his father, thus beginning a strong relationship between Warren Jeffs and his father Rulon.

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A cult is a system of religious belief and devotion directed towards a particular object. The Branch davidians are a group of people that is devoted to one particular person and Religion. David Koresh is the main leader of the group and is located in Waco Texas. In the documentary Waco The Inside Story the police went to talk to the group due to safety issues regarding the children. The group had many weapons and ammunition located where they were living.

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It is also very important because this cult that got stopped, could've done a lot of worse damages to the world. Not all of the Branch Davidians died though, there were quite a handful that lived and got sentenced up to 40 years of jail time. There were nine Branch Davidians that got 40 years of prison or more. They all got charged with voluntary manslaughter, which is when a person doesn’t intent to kill the victim. They just act in the moment.

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Old fashioned, hand made clothing, reserved lives, playgrounds that only consist of a cement slab, and a school system that only teaches through the eighth grade are peculiar to the outside world. These oddities are just the surface of the unusual practices that take place in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. The FLDS church is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. Polygamy is illegal, in 1890 the Mormon church ended its practice of polygamy, which created a split in the church. Fundamentalists moved to secluded areas where they could continue their practice of plural marriage.

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The tragedy of Branch Davidian’s Mount Carmel struck the city and lives of innocent people. FBI and ATF officials raided in hopes of finding David Koresh red handed. Officials believed Koresh possessed illegal weapons. Their objective was to capture Koresh, dead or alive. Janet Reno granted entry and approved the FBI’s assault plan.

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In 1968, he was about to join the BPP with a southside gang so that he can double the size of the BPP. On Dec 3, Hampton taught a political education course at a local church and afterwards him, his girlfriend, and a few other BPP members went back to his house. The police decided they were going to raid Hampton’s apartment on December 4. The raid was led by Cook County State 's Attorney Edward Hanrahan (Wikipedia.org). Around 4:00 a.m the the police met up and around 4:45 a.m they marched through Hampton’s apartment (Wikipedia.org).

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As David was the leader, his word was law. It was believed that God spoke to him, so each spoken word coming from him was a message from God. A situation that led to the Davidians downfall was David's apocalyptic beliefs. He spoke of the world turning against the Cult and not accepting them. In response he obtained firearms, explosives and such.

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How the Waco Siege Affected Public Views of Law Enforcement In the 1990s The Waco massacre helped increase anti-law-enforcement sentiment in the US due to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)’s actions. During the siege, when the Branch Davidians refused to leave their compound, the ATF and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began playing loud music, the sounds of animals being murdered, and flashing bright lights at the compound in an inhumane attempt to force out those inside. Additionally, the ATF lied about their use of tear gas being a possibility for starting the fatal fire. Worst of all, however, is the validity of their warrant, they were investigating illegally obtained firearms, however, the guns were purchased for

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I am not sure if this was intentional or not but I think the repercussions slightly skew the evaluation of the federal government. I think the definition of religion in relation to this group was grossly morphed with the fixation of charismatic David Koresh. Basically, I think they believed that the needed definition of religion was whatever David Koresh said. David Koresh is a key piece in understanding the belief system since he was viewed as a prophet. As a prophet, he had a divine connection for the decoding of the Bible.

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The Waco disaster was a product of David Koresh’s unorthodox upbringing and a new mysterious religious group, an anxious government agency that could not wait to take down David Koresh, and could have been prevented if the government agencies had steered clear of the Branch Davidian followers. To get to the root of the entire situation, one must go back to David Koresh’s childhood. He was born Vernon Howell in 1959. He grew up around the Dallas, Texas area, went to school, and was interested in musical instruments. This may make him sound like a normal child, but he was far from that.

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The Holy Ghost People by Peter Adair, was created in 1967. It exposes people of the Pentecostal religion, and their unusual rituals and ceremonies that they partake in. While watching the movie I kept on wondering why someone would want to sit through one of their services and participate in such odd rituals and behaviors. After reviewing the sociological theories we have learned in class, I concluded that Durkheim’s Social Consensus theory and Collins Interaction Ritual Chains theory both best explain the motivations for joining and staying in a religion that has such unusual rituals and extreme commitments.

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On November 18, 1978, more than 900 people were led by Jim Jones to a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones was as a notorious cult leader. He was the founder of the People’s Temple religious cult. To gain more followers Jones promised those people that if they followed him he would build a utopia. Jones first started to get recognition in 1952 when he joined the ministry.

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The cause of the Waco Siege that the AFT was told that The group was suspected of a range of illegal activities, including stockpiling illegal weapons and explosives, and also was abusing children, and controlling his followers through his religious teaching. The leader David Koresh believed he was the final prophet of Christ. On the morning of February 28th, the ATF came to the Branch Davidians compound at the

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You must have reason to think about the five ways and you must have faith to know true motives of credibility.” HUME: “No, this is why you must not believe anything that is not a definition. You must be skeptic of everything or you may end up just like the People’s Temple.” About a year after the death of Jim Jones, all of the surviving members of People’s Temple stopped believing in their self-proclaimed prophet.

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Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple Cult “Jim Jones of the Peoples’s Temple began as a sound, fairly mainstream Christian minister” (Sects, ‘Cults’ & Alternative Religions). Before all the madness Jones seemed like a caring person, that wanted to bring peace to a town he made, Jonestown. Instead it turned into something more horrific. Jim Jones was the manipulative mastermind behind the traumatic events that happened in Jonestown, Guyana, this essay will discuss interviews by people who are survivors of the mass suicide, and dive into the crazy conspiracies that have emerged, and finally conclude with the death of the Peoples Temple.

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