Religion and Politics – serie

In the summer of 1980, Dave Foreman, along with four conservationist colleagues, founded the millenarian movement Earth First!. A provocative counterculture that ultimately hoped for the fall of industrial civilization, the movement emerged in response to rapid commercial development of the American wilderness. "The earth should come first" was a doctrine that championed both biocentrism (an emphasis on maintaining the earth’s full complement of species) and biocentric equality (the belief that all species are equal).Martha Lee was successful in gaining extraordinary access to information about the movement, as well as interviews with its members. While following Earth First’s development and methods, she illustrates the inherent instability and the dangers associated with all millenarian movements. This book will be of interest to environmentalists and those interested in political science and sociology.

When over 900 followers of the People's Temple religious movement committed suicide in 1978, they left a legacy of suspicion and fear. Most accounts of this mass suicide describe the members as brainwashed dupes and overlook the Christian and socialist ideals that originally inspired People's Temple members. ""Hearing the Voices of Jonestown"" restores the individual voices that have been erased, so that we can better understand what was created - and destroyed - at Jonestown, and why. Piecing together information from interviews with former group members, archival research, and diaries and letters of those who died there, Mary McCormick Maaga describes the women leaders as educated political activists who were passionately committed to achieving social justice through communal life. She provides evidence that shows many of these women voiced their discontent with the actions of the People's Temple in the months right before the mass suicide. The book puts human faces on the events at Jonestown, confronting theoretical religious questions as Maaga attempts to reconcile how worthy utopian ideals come to meet such tragic and misguided ends.

The first full-length biography of William Dudley Pelley, an important figure in the development of right-wing extremism in the United States called by detractors the ""Star-Spangled Fascist."" William Dudley Pelley was one of the most important figures of the anti-Semitic radical right in the twentieth century. Best remembered as the leader of the paramilitary ""Silver Shirts,"" Pelley was also an award-winning short story writer, Hollywood screenwriter, and religious leader. During the Depression Pelley was a notorious presence in American politics; he ran for president on a platform calling for the ghettoization of American Jews and was a defendant in a headline-grabbing sedition trial thanks to his unwavering support for Nazi Germany. Scott Beekman offers not only a political but also an intellectual and literary biography of Pelley, greatly advancing our understanding of a figure often dismissed as a madman or charlatan. His belief system, composed of anti-Semitism, economic nostrums, racialism, neo-Theosophical channeling, and millenarian Christianity, anticipates the eclecticism of later cult personalities such as Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shinrikyo, and the British conspiracy theorist David Icke. By charting the course of Pelley's career, Beekman does an admirable job of placing Pelley within the history of both the anti-Semitic right and American occult movements. This exhaustively researched book is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarship on American extremism and esoteric religions.

This intriguing collection of essays presents reflections upon the birth, proliferation, enduring appeal, and future of extraterrestrial mythology. Highly respected authors and researchers representing the varied and sometimes competing perspectives of ufology and the sociology of religion provide a fascinating and instructive voyage into the social worlds of UFOs, abductees, and contactees. Reports of aliens and the changing nature of abduction experience, even its sexual dimension, are explored in relation to literature, cultural practices, and ideology. The influence of abduction therapy and support groups is considered, as are New Religious Movements with extraterrestrial themes. Alien Worlds will enlighten anyone wanting to understand what and how the academic world thinks about UFOs, contactee groups, and alien phenomena.

When over 900 followers of the Peoples Temple religious group committed suicide in 1978, they left a legacy of suspicion and fear. Most accounts of this mass suicide describe the members as brainwashed dupes and overlook the Christian and socialist ideals that originally inspired Peoples Temple members. Hearing the Voices of Jonestown restores the individual voices that have been erased so that we can better understand what was created - and destroyed - at Jonestown, and why.Piecing together information from interviews with former group members, archival research, and diaries and letters of those who died there, Maaga describes the women leaders as educated political activists who were passionately committed to achieving social justice through communal life. The book analyzes the historical and sociological factors that, Maaga finds, contributed to the mass suicide, such as growing criticism from the larger community and the influx of an upper-class, educated leadership that eventually became more concerned with the symbolic effects of the organization than with the daily lives of its members. Hearing the Voices of Jonestown puts human faces on the events at Jonestown, confronting theoretical religious questions, such as how worthy utopian ideals come to meet such tragic and misguided ends.

Although apocalyptic visions and predictions have long been part of classical and contemporary Islam, David Cook's book is the first scholarly work to cover this disparate but influential body of writing. Cook puts the literature in context by examining not only the ideological concerns prompting apocalyptic material but its interconnection with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Arab relations with the United States and other Western nations, and the persistance of violence in the Middle East.Cook suggests that Islam began as an apocalyptic movement and has retained a strong apocalyptic and messianic tone. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary Muslim apocalyptic writings, Cook convincingly demonstrates the influence of non-Islamic sources on such literature, tracing anti-Semitic strains in Islamist thought in part to Western texts and traditions. Through a meticulous reading of current documents, incorporating exegesis of everything from holy texts to assertions of supernatural phenomena, Cook shows how radical Muslims, including members of al-Qa'ida, may have applied these ideas to their own agendas. By exposing the undergrowth of popular beliefs contributing to religion-driven terrorism, this book casts new light on today's political conflicts.

In the summer of 1984, Noble came within seconds of committing what would have been the largest domestic terrorist act in U.S. history at that time. As one of the founders of the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord (CSA), a cult paramilitary group, he carried a bomb into a gay-affirming church, intending to murder over seventy congregants. In Tabernacle of Hate, Noble provides an unprecedented first-person account of how a small spiritual community moved from mainstream religious beliefs to increasingly extreme positions, eventually transforming into a domestic terrorist organization.Written after his release from prison, the author’s cogent narrative reveals the deceptive allure of extremist movements and the unmatched power of charismatic leadership. Noble also chronicles the intense standoff with federal agents at the group’s compound in northern Arkansas in April 1985. Originally published in 1998, this second edition includes an authoritative introduction placing Noble’s narrative and the CSA into the broader picture of American religio-political extremism.

Since the 1980 US presidential races, the term ""religious right"" has come to signify a politically and socially conservative form of Christianity. This term implies a joining of socially conservative evangelical Christianity with conservative politics that continues to shape the Republican Party to this day. But this relationship is hardly new in American history; certain forms of Christianity have long shared space with the political and nationalist right in the United States. Less well known, however, are the various other religions that have influenced white racist activities in America. The recent popularity of these ideologies has caused a shift away from, and resulting hostility toward, Christianity among white nationalists. In Blood and Faith, Berry explores the causes of this shift, as well as the challenges it has created for contemporary white nationalists who seek access to the conservative American political mainstream. Building on Michael Barkun’s landmark study of racist Christianity, Religion and the Racist Right, Berry takes a fresh look at the complex and evolving relationship between American white nationalists and religion.

Since the 1980 US presidential races, the term ""religious right"" has come to signify a politically and socially conservative form of Christianity. This term implies a joining of socially conservative evangelical Christianity with conservative politics that continues to shape the Republican Party to this day. But this relationship is hardly new in American history; certain forms of Christianity have longshared space with the political and nationalist right in the United States. Less well known, however, are the various other religions that have influenced white racist activities in America. The recent popularity of these ideologies has caused a shift away from, and resulting hostility toward, Christianity among white nationalists. In Blood and Faith, Berry explores the causes of this shift, as well as the challenges it has created for contemporary white nationalists who seek access to the conservative American political mainstream. Building on Michael Barkun’s landmark study of racist Christianity, Religion and the Racist Right, Berry takes a fresh look at the complex and evolvingrelationship between American white nationalists and religion.

In this unique study, Machen explores a moment of intense religious upheaval and transformation in France between 1880 and 1920. In these pre-World War I years, a powerful Catholic community was pitted against equally powerful anticlerical members of the French Third Republic. During this time, women became increasingly involved in faith-based organizations, engaging in social and political action both to expand women's rights and to ensure that religion remained part of the public debate about France's identity. By representing their faith communities as modern, progressive, and in some cases democratic, women positioned themselves to help guide a modernizing France. Women of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths also reshaped the narrative of female power within the French nation and within their own religious groups. Their activism provided them with social, religious, and political influence unattainable through any other French institutions, enabling them in turn to push France toward becoming a more democratic, equitable society. Machen's timely examination of the critical role women played in shaping the nation's religious identity helps to illuminate contemporary issues in France as Muslim communities respond to civic pressure to secularize and as the country debates the role of women in Islam.

In this unique study, Machen explores a moment of intense religious upheaval and transformation in France between 1880 and 1920. In these pre-World War I years, a powerful Catholic community was pitted against equally powerful anticlerical members of the French Third Republic. During this time, women became increasingly involved in faith-based organizations, engaging in social and political action both to expand women's rights and to ensure that religion remained part of the public debate about France's identity. By representing their faith communities as modern, progressive, and in some cases democratic, women positioned themselves to help guide a modernizing France. Women of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths also reshaped the narrative of female power within the French nation and within their own religious groups. Their activism provided them with social, religious, and political influence unattainable through any other French institutions, enabling them in turn to push France toward becoming a more democratic, equitable society. Machen's timely examination of the critical role women played in shaping the nation's religious identity helps to illuminate contemporary issues in France as Muslim communities respond to civic pressure to secularize and as the country debates the role of women in Islam.

In Faith and Politics in the Public Sphere, Ugur explores the politics of religious engagement in the public sphere by comparing two modernist conservative movements: the Mormon Church in the United States and the Gülen movement in Turkey. The book traces the public activities and activism of these two influential and controversial actors at the state, political society, and civil society domains, discerning their divergent strategies and positioning on public matters, including moral issues, religious freedoms, democracy, patriotism, education, social justice, and immigration. Despite being strikingly similar in their strong fellowship ties, emphasis on conservative social values, and their doctrines concerning political neutrality, these two religious entities have employed different political strategies to promote their goals of survival, growth, and the collective interests of their communities. In contrast to the Mormon Church's more assertive approach and emphasis on its autonomy and distinctiveness, the Gülen movement has been rather cautious with its engagement in the public sphere, with preference for coalition building and ambiguity. To explain such different strategies, Ugur examines how the liberal and republican models of the public sphere have shaped the norms and practices of public activism for religious groups in Turkey and the United States. Ugur's deft and nuanced exploration of these movements' adaptation and engagement is essential to help us better understand the dynamic role of religious involvement in the public sphere.