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Cult suicide is that phenomenon by which some religious groups, in this context often referred to as "cults", have led to their membership committing suicide. Sometimes all members commit suicide at the same time and place. Groups which have done this include, Heaven's Gate, Order of the Solar Temple, Peoples Temple (Jonestown), and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. In other cases certain denominations apparently supported mass suicide, but did not necessarily encourage all members to do it. Examples here include Filippians, the Taiping, and a few others.

Known Cult Suicides

Peoples Temple (Jim Jones)

In 1978, 914 American followers of Jim Jones died in a mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The dead included 274 children. Alternative theories allege that most of the victims were unwillingly injected with the poison, and some even allege involvement of the CIA. However, an affadavit made by former member Deborah Layton days before the massacre testified to suicide drills called white nights in which members practiced mass suicide by ingesting poison, and in Jones' final speech, recorded on cassette tape, he states "So my opinion is that you be kind to children and be kind to seniors and take the potion like they used to take in ancient Greece..." stating the intention that the group kill themselves while casting it as a political act: "We didn't commit suicide, we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world."

Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

On March 17 2000, between 780 and 1000 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in a probable mass suicide in Uganda. The group had splintered from Roman Catholicism to emphasize apocalypticism and alleged Marian apparitions. They also deemed the wider world to be corrupt, seeing themselves as a Noah's Ark of purity. Along these ends members severely restricted their speech to avoid saying anything dishonest or sinful. Curiously, the group had a feast that involved large quantities of Coca Cola and beef before dying.

Solar Temple

From 1994 to 1997, the Order of the Solar Temple's members became so paranoid they began a series of mass suicides, which led to roughly 74 deaths. Farewell letters were left by members, stating that they believed their deaths would be an escape from the "hypocrisies and oppression of this world." Added to this they felt they were "moving on to Sirius." Interestingly, a mayor, a journalist, a civil servant, and a sales manager were among the dead. Records seized by the Quebec police showed that some members had personally donated over $1 million to the cult's leader, Joseph Di Mambro. There was also another attempted mass suicide of the remaining members, which was thwarted in the late 1990s. All the suicide/murders and attempts occurred around the dates of the equinoxes and solstices, which likely held some relation to the beliefs of the group.

Heaven's Gate

On March 26 1997, 39 followers of the Heaven's Gate cult died in a mass suicide near San Diego, California. In the beliefs of the cult, this was not an act of self-extermination; they believed that they were merely "exiting their human vehicles" so that their souls could go on a journey aboard a spaceship they believed to be following comet Hale-Bopp. Some male members of the cult underwent voluntary castration in preparation for the genderless life they believed awaited them after the suicide.

On March 30 1997, Robert Leon Nichols, a former roadie for the Grateful Dead, was discovered dead in his California trailer, with a note nearby that read in part "I'm going to the spaceship with Hale-Bopp to be with those who have gone before me." Using propane gas rather than vodka and phenobarbital to end his life, Nichols, like the cult members, had his head covered by a plastic bag and his upper torso covered with a purple shroud. Nichols' connection with the cult is unknown.

In May 1997, two cult members who had not been present for the mass suicide attempted suicide, one succeeding in the attempt, the other going into coma for two days and then recovering. In February 1998 the survivor, Chuck Humphrey, attempted suicide, this time succeeding.

Suspected Cult Suicides

Branch Davidians

The April 1993 deaths of the Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas was deemed to be a cult suicide by varied media sources. Many, however, reported that what happened is unknown and could have been some sort of accident or panic rather than an intentional cult-suicide. Others assign blame to the United States government. Still others believe it was actually murder-suicide committed by the group's leaders. In any event, it's widely agreed that most or all members did in fact die violent deaths of some kind.

World Church of the Creator

Ben Klassen formed the white supremacist group currently called the Creativity Movement. He wrote a book called The White Man's Bible which called suicide "an honorable and dignified way to die for any ... of a number of reasons, such as having come to the decision that life is no longer worthwhile." After the death of his wife he practiced what he preached and committed suicide. A former member named Benjamin Nathaniel Smith committed suicide after a spree killing.

Scientology

A considerably weaker suspicion indicates Scientology caused a number of suicides actively, or through negligence. For example, according to Flo Conway, a researcher at the University of Oregon, Scientologists are taught that if they abandon the "church" they will soon kill themselves or have a serious illness or accident. Her research is said to conclude that they create suicidal people because "Former Scientologists had the highest rates of persistent fear, sleeplessness, suicidal and self-destructive tendencies, violent outbursts, hallucinations and delusions, compared to ex-members of other religious groups." Ex-members have also claimed (most notably in the Fishman Affidavit) that the Church of Scientology ordered them or others to commit "end of cycle" (suicide) in order to protect the Church.

In its cover story on Scientology on May 5, 1991, Time magazine noted the case of Noah Lottick, who committed suicide by jumping from a tall building. The magazine stated that he clutched in his fist "practically the only money he had not yet given to the Church of Scientology." Former church member Philip Gale similarly committed suicide by jumping out of a tall building. He chose to kill himself on March 13, Scientology's most important annual holiday, marking the birthday of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

Critics of this theory state that this means that any religious practice which leads to death, or that rejects apostasy, would taint the faith as having cult suicide. For example, deaths attributed to Christian Science' position against medical advice, or to a recent botched exorcism by a Romanian Orthodox priest.

Questionable Cult Suicides

The Family International

A less widespread suspicion indicates that The Family International, previously called The Children of God, encourages suicide despite its official rejection of actions like euthanasia. However the Beliefs of the Children of God emphasizes an imminent Second Coming and some deem this a negative sign with regards to suicidal behavior. Also the religion recently gained renewed attention due to the murder-suicide of Ricky Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez was a former member, but this event gained notice as he was the biological son of current leader Karen Zerby and the adopted son of the group's founder. It revived allegations that the group is abusive and inciting of suicidal ideation. Thus his death was widely called "the suicide of a cult member" or in a sense a "cult suicide", but this view was far from universal. This case, arguably and in an exaggerated way, made it to popular culture in an oblique reference in one of the last episodes of the NBC show Third Watch.

Defense of their group indicate Mr. Rodriguez was an aberrant former member and that his behavior is not typical of the group. Added to this tFI/CoG discourages suicide. Other defences state that there is no evidence to confirm the suspicion their members are unusually suicidal.

Falun Gong

Xinhua news agency has stated several times that alleged practitioners of Falun Gong engage in "cult suicide." The most noteworthy allegations came in January 2001 when the Chinese government claimed that six Falun Gong practitioners immolated themselves on the Tiananmen square. Falun Gong practitioners have strongly disputed this and pointed out that the practice uncontestably teaches against suicide. They believe the self-immolators were never practitioners or possibly were killed by the authorities. A documentary film entitled "False Fire" has been released to question the official claims of the Chinese Communist Party. Outside observers tend to side with Falun Gong practitioners and reject the idea that the group engages in cult suicide, and have instead cricized the Chinese government for its information blockage, notorious labor camps, and brutal torture.

Martyrdom

Some argue that martyrdom, as found in religions such as Christianity or Buddhism or Islam, is tantamount to suicide. This argument states that by accepting or even inviting their own death the martyr is committing something like assisted suicide. This theory is not in itself new. Richard Marius's unflattering biography of Thomas More indicated More felt hesitant about accepting martyrdom too easily for fear that would be too similar to suicide. Although it has gained more currency in modern times.

In any event most mainstream religions traditionally forbid members to take their own lives. Martyrdom generally involves losing one's life, usually passively, at the hands of non-believers because of one's religious beliefs or practices. The Roman Catholic Church considers life to be a gift whose sole "owner" would be God, who is consequently the only individual who may legitimately decide when to interrupt it. Special cases exist, such as the giving of one's own life to save that of another, but most cultures do not consider such acts to be true suicides.

Islam arguably has the harshest view of suicide of any major religion. Therefore some of the lowest suicide rates are found in Muslim nations like Jordan or Egypt. Still the extreme Islamist movement has strongly encouraged many Muslims to accept a theology in which becoming a suicide bomber is not considered suicide. Instead it is what's the extremists deem a "martyrdom operation" the purpose of which is to kill the enemies and in consequence yourself.

Dozens of Muslims, primarily Palestinians and Saudi Arabians, have died in the act of killing both military personnel and civilians in this fashion over the last decade, mostly in the Middle East. Recently 19 died in such a way in the United States (see September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack). Still a word of caution should be mentioned here as in many dispute the goal is primarily religious, especially in the case of Palestinians.

Outside of Western religion the Tamil Tigers are known to have engaged in suicide bombing. At times Western observers have deemed Velupillai Prabhakaran to be a cult-like Hindu figure who encourages suicide. Therefore they deem the LTTE, rightly or wrongly, as like a cult-suicide group. Even if again the goal is largely political and destructive of others rather than self.

Related to this some would indicate that if "martyrdom" is ever directly self-inflicted it becomes cult-suicide. This line of thought leads to debates about whether the self-immolation of Buddhist monks in Vietnam was cult suicide. One camp believes that in a sense it was cult suicide, but the other dispute this as it was ultimately a political action rather than a religious one. This argument could also apply to suicide bombers as that action is generally political. However added to this the self-immolation was of an individual rather than condoned by the leadership of a group. No recognized Buddhist organization is known to have requested that Thích Quảng Ðức, for example, immolate himself.

Mass suicide can also occur as a means of escape when a religious group perceives itself to be hopelessly besieged by its enemies or other adverse external pressure. These external foes may be real or imagined (see Masada). The legend of Masada, and similar examples, are sometimes explicitly used by cult-suicides as a self-justification. They may feel that like Masada they are in danger from what they perceive as an evil empire, even if that evil empire is seen as imaginary by the vast majority of non-members. That death is therefore preferrable to surrender. Hence criticisms have arisen over the occasional glorification of Masada.

It should also be mentioned that most of the larger "cults", such as the Mormons, the Unification Church, and the Seventh Day Adventists, have rates of suicide far lower than that of the population as a whole: about 5 per 100,000 per year in the USA.

See also

• Destructive cult
• List of convicted or indicted religious leaders
• List of purported cults
• Mass suicide
• Victims of poisoning

References

• FACTNet.org - MIT student raised in Scientology commits suicide
  
• http://www.whyaretheydead.net/ - Scientology suicides and other deaths

• Cults
• Suicide