April 12, 1993 The Nation. 485 American investment, but very little has been invested so far. The main reason cited is the lack of Russian laws protecting such investment. But the U.S. government could do much more than it has to provide its own guarantees to American investors and to negotiate with the Russian government on their behalf. The Administration could begin immediately with already existing private proposals that are well conceived and mutually beneficial. U.S. investment in Russias energy production, for example, could earn Russia needed hard cur- rency and reduce Americas dependence on Persian Gulf oil.

Technical aid to Russia has become a clichb, but what it means is not fully clear. If it means political meddling, bad advice or teaching Russians what they already know, its a waste of resources and an excuse for not giving more generous help. A great many Russians are better educated, more pro- fessional and more entrepreneurial than is generally assumed in the West. In that and other important respects, Russia is not a Third World country. When technical aid provides es- sential know-how and equipment that is actually lacking, it should be encouraged and expanded. But the U.S. government is itself a serious obstacle to technological assistance to Russia. Various restrictions still exist on so-called high-tech exports needed for modernization and investment in Russia, ranging from advanced desktop computers to high-capacity telephone lines. The Clinton Administration should quickly abolish these regulations and other cold war relics.

Finally, something should be done to help Russias profes- sional and other middle classes, which were the original so- cial basis for reform in the 1980s but now have been victim- ized by the shock therapy policies. One valuable approach would be to give financial support to the universities and other educational centers that were the crucible of Soviet Russlas middle classes and now are nearly destitute. Here, U.S. pri- vate foundations could play a special role. And here, too, priority should be given not to Russias capital cities but to remote and disadvantaged provmces. It is there, after all, that the great majority of cit~zens live, and it is there that the new Russia will eventually emerge.

I f a l l this seems too much to ask of Americans worried about their own economic future, and thus of their new President, who wishes to be re-elected, the full case for helping Russia reform must be clearly understood. Most immediately, of course, it involves the looming risk of chaos, civil war or des- potism in that nuclear-laden land. But there are other reasons.

Having demanded for seventy years that Soviet Russia give up its bad ways, and having spent trillions of dollars over forty years trying to force it to do so, this US. government will be I judged very harshly by future citizens and historians alike if it does not generously help Russla change now that the mo- ment has finally come. Or perhaps we will be remembered mainly for having supported measures that destroyed yet an- other nascent Russian experiment with parliamentary democ- racy and again plunged the country back into its despotic traditions. Nor will Russia, when it re-emerges m Its predestined role as a very great power, forget how other powers treated it during its present time of troubles. What we do now, or fad to do, will shape our childrens and grandchildrens relations with Russia as well. 0

SECTS AND VIOLENCE

cults, Guns and The Kingdom ROBERT S . FOGARTY

T he media continue to cover events like the current Davidic confrontation in Texas in the most sim- plistic fashion. Vernon Howell, now David Koresh, is treated like a stock figure on the contemporary American landscape-a mixture of Charles Manson, Jim Jones and some archetypal fundamentalist minister who has-once again-duped his followers and failed to read them their religious Miranda rights before subjecting them to fifteen-hour Bible sessions without an opportunity for a bath- room break. This misrepresentation of religious sects contin- ues despite a 1985 Columbra Journalism Revlew article, The Cult Beat, written by Leslie Brown in the aftermath of Jones- town and the Rajneesh Colony debacles, urging reporters to stop referring to religious groups (however bizarre) as cults.

The press, including The New York Times and the Los An- geles Times, continues to use this term (particularly in head- lines) even though it has lost much of its currency among scholars of religious sects. Between February 28 and March 10 my local paper (the Dayton Daily News) ran a number of sto- ries from the Associated Press and Cox News Service in which the words cult and sect were used interchangeably. A better article in the Dallas Morning News, N o Sides of Re- ligious Leader Emerge, emphasized David Koreshs religious history.

The New York Tzmes ran an almost schizophrenic pair of articles on March 7 . In At the Whim of Leader: Childhood in a Cult, Melinda Henneberger detailed the horrors of sect experiences visited on children in several groups (the Sullivan- lans, Brother Julius Group, Peoples Temple) without noting certainly more benign Hutterite or Amish practices or men- tloning that, so far, the children released from the Davidian group show no signs of abuse. Meanwhile, on the editorial page Karl Meyer tried to set the historical record straight in Cults, Deconstructed by writing: In a free society, theres nothing inherently novel or un-American about a fanatics ability to gain momentary control over the minds of a f e w pa- thetic believers. Meyer went beyond the religious diversity issue to point up the scary truth that Wacos Messiah could purchase a murderous arsenal under laws viewed as holy writ by the National Rifle Association.

The experts who appear on television to explam this strange outbreak of religious enthusiasm are usually cult deprogram- men and psychologists serving up paradigmatic models. Nothing is ever explamed in histoncal, religious or, most im-

Robert S. Fogarty I S edrtor of the Antioch Review, professor of hlstory at Antloch College and the author of The Right- eous Remnant: The House of David (Kent Slate Unrversity). Jamr Hoffman provrded research assistance for thrs article.

486 The Nation. April 12, 1993 portant, legal terms. Few reporters or commentators care or know much about religious phenomena. In the C.J.R. article Brown quotes Michael DAntonio of Newsday, who had cov- ered the fundamentalist Northeast Kingdom Community Church in Vermont: I think reporters fail to understand how important religion is in peoples daily lives. So the showdown at Wac0 was reported in a mindless vacuum of historical and religious ignorance.

Compare, for example, the stories surrounding the alleged bomber of the World Trade Center, Mohammed Salameh, who has consistently been referred to as a member of an Is- lamic sect and a fundamentalist. His mentor, Omar Abdel Rahman, is referred to as a sheik, not a cult leader, and there is RO talk of brainwashing or the horrors of spending long hours reading the Koran. (Ofcourse, there are different stereo- types of Muslim fundamentalists.) Only a few commentaries, such as the March 8 New York Times article by Peter Steinfels, tried to place fundamentalism in a historical and social context.

It is inconceivable to many secular-minded Americans that people could swallow the line dished out by David Koresh or Sheik Rahman and follow some set of religious principles that might lead to their death, or at least toward a commitment beyond rational expectations. It is as inconceivable as some- one becoming a Scientologist (despite this groups use of a method akin to Freudian analysis) or a member of the Raj- neesh Colony (a large number of whose acolytes had ad- vanced degrees in psychology). Actually, believing in prophecy is as American as apple pie, as Paul Boyer has shown in his recent book When Time Shall Be No More. Offbeat sects are composed of people who are fearful about the future, who hope that by placing their faith in some charismatic leader they will eradicate the past and protect their lives against un- known and unseen dangers. Such prophetic efforts have a solid foundation-almost a denominational character-in our history.

The historical record is replete with examples of millennial expectations, prophetic utterances and outlandish activities that have resulted in confrontations with authority and de- structive behavior. Consider James Naylor, that seventeenth-

century Quaker enthusiast who thought he was Jesus Christ and rode through Bristol to the hosannas of crowds of adoring women. Parliament took a dim view of all this and as punish- ment had him branded with the letter B (for blasphemer). Or look at our own Ann Lee, the Shaker mystic, who had de- lusions and was thought at one point to be a British spy. Her followers later produced that beautifully austere furniture. Or how about the Mormons, who defended their turf with a for- midable army in Illinois and then massacred opponents in the Far West.

For a closer historical parallel to David Koresh, consider the case of Benjamin Purnell, an illiterate itinerant preacher who founded the House of David at Benton Harbor, Mich- igan, in 1903. His purpose was to establish an ingathering of the elect 144,000 and prepare for the end of the world. Purnell was a lecher extraordlnaire, seducing and attacking young women, amassing a fortune for himself and bringing in converts from England and Australia. For those Americans who recall the House of David, the name conjures up odd memories of a bearded traveling baseball and basketball team with a vaguely Jewish background (actually its origins were Protestant, English and Southcottian).

Like Koresh, Purnell was a corrupter. He established a sep- arate kingdom and viewed the outside world with consider- able hostility. When the State of Michigan moved against him-after more than twenty years of surveillance-his com- munity (about 700 people) not only hid him In an attic for more than a year but flocked to his courtroom defense, claim- ing he was the Shiloh, or Jesus Christ, in spiritual form. In addition, he was quite charming.

Or you could go back to 1886, when an obscure eclectic physician, Cyrus Teed, mounted a stage in Chicago to address the National Association of Mental Health. His address was a mixture of mind-cure philosophy and self-help, and led to the establishment of communes In Chicago and later Florida. He assumed another narne-Koresh, deriving from the Per- sian Cyrus, or king-and promulgated a theory holding that the universe is a closed system and that we live on the in- side of the earth. His theory of cellular cosmogony took

Aprii 12, 1993 The Nation. 487 him to Ft. Myers, Florida, where he established a communi- ty that was to be the vitellus of the Great Cosmogonic Egg. At one point the colonists backed the Socialist organization in Lee County, Florida, and organized the Progressive Lib- erty Party, which ran on a platform that emphasized public ownership of utilities, free schools, equalization of wealth, protection of the environment and conservation of natural re- sources. After Koresh died (in a boating accident) his fol- lowers thought he would rise from the dead. The site of their colony is now a beautiful state park.

Most of these sects had millennia1 expectations and a self- proclaimed mission to bring in the elect. They retreated from the world when the pressures got too great. Present-day sects simply reflect the growth of evangelical, fundamentalist and New Age religions. Gordon Melton, an authority on such groups, writes, They represent more radical and religious innovations within the culture. These are not necessarily your innovations or mine but they should be understood, not just labeled.

A more immediate ancestor of David Koreshs group is Victor Houteffs Davidian Seventh Day Adventist sect, found- ed in 1930. Houteff proclaimed himself the True Messen- ger and began the ingathering of the elect 144,000. At its height his sect never had more than 125 members, and on his death in 1955 he was succeeded by his wife. She proclaimed that on April 22, 1959, God would establish the kingdom in Palestine. Her followers prepared to move there. When that event failed to occur, there was a further splintering of the sect.

David Koresh thus has a lot of history to work with, and there is no telling which part of the traditlon he will turn toward in the end. What does distinguish his standoff at Wac0 from other retreat communes is his reliance on weaponry to pro- tect his vital interests (like the Mormons) rather than on the courts, as the Shakers and the Oneida Community did. If the Branch Davidians (who seem to prefer to be called Koreshans) were rightfully called a sect we could then focus on the legal issues: They are defending their holy turf with guns, protect- ing their Messiah with an arsenal. They seem to have stock- piled their weapons as easily as they stockpiled feed for their animals. Lax Texas gun laws made all this possible, but the Koreshans are not just the product of some Texas tendency to shoot things out. Rather, they reflect our national prefer- ence for force over persuasion, our belief that bullets should be as free as words.

If guns were more tightly controlled the confrontation at Wac0 might have been waged by a prophet forced to throw verses from Revelation against his detractors rather than the 8,000 rounds of ammunition and hundreds of automatic and semiautomatic weapons he has in readiness. Just think of all the pamphlets Koresh could have issued and the great debates the citizens of Wac0 could have had with him over texts and interpretations. Instead, we all sit and wait to see which side has the greatest firepower and who will get killed. It doesnt take a prophet, a psychologlst or a cult deprogrammer to see that a little gun control might have gone a long way toward preventing an apocalyptic confrontation. 0

News,Oplnlon,Hlstory,Analysis,ArticlesfromtheInshand Britlshleft. Also,InterviewswithPoliticalParties:SinnFein, SDLP, DVP, and withParamilltanes: the IRA. U F F , UVF, INLA , as well as Communlty Activists.

"Essential reading A Vila1 conrnbution to the debate on Ireland. .I highly recommend I t I - Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (Civil Rlghts Activist) Thought provoktng and serious A must read for anyone concerned about Norfhern Ireland I -KevinKelley (authorof TheLongesr War NorthernIreland

andrhe IRA) With progressive change occurring in Eastern Europe, El Salvador, South Africa

Y TIIE ART OF WRITING NON-FICTION PROSE TWO CONTEMPORARY MASTERS OF T I E GENRI

THE FRONT LINES OF BOSNIA David Rieffs recent reports on the war In Bosnia have appeared m The New Yorker and elsewhere. His latest book i d o s Angcles, Capttal of the Third

THE FRONT LINES OF PHILOSOPHY James Millers controversial new blography, The Passion of Michel Foucault, is generaung more than a few skirmishes In the pages of publications likf The New Republtc and Lrngua Franca.

David Rielf and James Miller wdl lcad workshops In non-flctlon prose wrltmg at thc seventh annual New York State Summer Writers Institute.

For more lnlorlnatlon about the non-Elchon workshol or othcrs in fichon and poclry,pleasc contact. Robert Ihyers, Director NY State Summer Writers Institute Skldrnore College / Saratoga Spnngs, NY 12866 (518) 584-5000 x2302 or ~ 2 1 9 3 .