Waco Siege Essay

The Waco Siege In 1993, Waco, Texas was the site of a siege held by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the F.B.I. against the Branch Davidian religious group. This group was seen as a cult that posed a danger to society. The group, led by David Koresh, was an apocalyptic based religion (Lacayo and Bonfante). They lived together on a compound in Waco and met their fate on April 19, 1993 when the fifty-one day siege ended with the compound in flames. 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. Koresh, then Howell, was raised in an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventist church and spent much of his time

Here, they studied the Seven Seals in the Book of Revelation. The Seven Seals are signs of the apocalypse in the Bible. Koresh and the other Davidians studied and awaited that prophesied apocalypse. During this time, Koresh took on several wives and had quite a few children with women from the compound. They raised these children on the compound, away from the outside world, which they believed was wicked and destined for Hell. Though different from the “normal” idea of marriage and family, this is not uncommon amongst religions worldwide. It was during this time that the Davidians also began to stockpile weapons. This is also where the issues with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms