2005/04/01 by Susan Raine · 3 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology #Religion and Society Interactions #Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
paper · doi:10.1016/j.religion.2005.06.003
openalex publication_date 2005/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The mass suicide of the members of Heaven's Gate in 1997 stimulated much debate about the causes of so extreme an end to a new religious movement. Using primary source materials in conjunction with existing research, I present in this article an in-depth analysis of both the belief system and the behaviours of the members of the group. By using the sociology of the body and a psychobiography of the group leader, Marshall Applewhite, I show how ideas about the human body derived from individual psychopathology were translated into group belief and action. I argue that the relationship among these variables created the circumstances that led thirty-nine persons to believe that they were leaving this planet for a better existence in a parallel dimension.