The nation watched in the spring of 1993 as a standoff between federal government agents and a religious enclave in a desolate area of Texas ended a violent inferno. It became clear that it was a case of mass suicide. The ending, after 51 days of siege and the shooting of several agents, with the death of the Branch Davidians at Waco was a surprise, and yet a pervading sense of deja-vue followed all accounts of the incident. We had watched this before.

The reports came back in the fall of 1978, trickling at first, and then in a flood. Five members of congressional team sent to investigate strange reports regarding a group of Americans living in the jungles of Guyana had been shot at the airport in Port Kaituma. A mother and three children had their throats slit in a related incident. But there was no one left to prosecute; 912 members of the People's Temple at Jonestown had taken their own lives with the help of cyanide-laced Flavour-Aid. This was a surprise to most then, but we would see it's shadow fifteen years later.

Two pervading questions arise upon viewing these two cases side by side. What is their relation, if there is one? Why did they happen; what would compel otherwise sane and intelligent people to follow self-proclaimed spiritual leaders to the grave? One response would be simply to dismiss the events as the actions of strange fringe members of our society, but as Wieseltier observed, strangeness "is not the exception to the rule; it is the other rule" (25). Like it or not, those who died at Waco and Jonestown were a part of us, and understanding how they came to the point of such drastic action will help us understand ourselves better.

At first glance it would appear that beyond the mass suicides the two sects could not have been more different. They differed in size, age, orientation, activities, and numerous other areas. However, group dynamics tend to the be progressive and the People's Temple and the Branch Davidians shared a number of characteristics by the time the suicides occurred.

First, both groups exhibited the signs of a cult. It is not the purpose of this paper to delve into what constitutes a cult and why, but there are some outstanding features which need to be recognized: 1) They held extremist views (although one leaning to the left and other to the right), which were taught by 2) putting members through a process of indoctrination, largely through 3) frequent, lengthy meetings punctuating 4) a busy work schedule that left member too tired to think.

Extreme views are often attractive to people dissatisfied with traditional approaches. They may also be generated by a feeling of election and belief that only the group holds the truth (Wieseltier 27). Potential members may enter without this feeling, but generally come to affirm it as time wears on. This is propagated by the process of indoctrination involved. Jones would tell his followers, "You talk this and you talk that . . . but, by God, I'm going to do it" (White 55), creating the impression that his was the only church that was true to its word. Koresh and his lieutenants were able to create the same impression in their conversations (Colt ). Ultimately, the cult presents the illusion of meeting the perceived needs of its members better than anyone else and loyalty involves a rejection of traditional direction. It has been noted that wakefulness of the soul that will not take such direction is mostly harmless when experienced individually. However, in the group setting, such as exists in cults, it becomes dangerous (Wieseltier 26).

Multi-hour group meetings were a hallmark in both cases. At the People's Temple, typical Sunday services ran from 11 am to 3 pm. Evening meetings (held every night except Tuesday and Thursday) generally ran from 6 pm to 1 or 2 am (White 66-7).

Members of both groups were worked to a point of continual exhaustion. In addition to attending services, Jones required his followers to take survival classes, visit sick, needy or lonely people on a regular basis and turn reports of these visits into him, and help with the running of the Temple, and later the commune (White 67-76).

Even more striking than the similarities between the People's Temple and the Branch Davidians as cults are the similarities between the leaders who led the groups to suicide. Both Jim Jones and David Koresh were megalomaniacs. Koresh was born in Houston, Texas in 1959. His mother named him Vernon Howell (Lacayo 36), the name he continued to use for most of his years with the Branch Davidians (Colt 46). However, in time he took on the names of two kings to symbolize his perception of his role. David, king of Israel, loved of God, and Koresh, an English spelling of Cyrus, the Persian king (Wieseltier 25).

In addition, both men exhibited paranoia. In the early days, Jones was obsessed with envitability of a nuclear holocaust. In response to this fear, he moved the Temple from Indiana to the Ukiah Valley in California because he had heard reports that it would be naturally protected from nuclear fallout (White 69).

Both men demanded personal loyalty to themselves alone, perhaps in reaction to the isolation they perceived in childhood. Koresh was raised by a single mother in the Dallas area (Lacayo 36). Of course, ". . . one man's control is another man's obedience; and there are many kinds of control and many kinds of obedience" (Wieseltier 25). Jones pressured his closest associates to choose between him and Jesus as early as 1965 (Scotchmer and Plowman 38). In addition, he would from time to time forbid married couples from any kind of sexual contact with each other. This served to help weaken their interpersonal bonds and focus more of their loyalty on him (40).

Furthermore, both groups ran into trouble with the government. On March 7, 1993, more than 100 AFT agents attempted to raid Ranch Apocalypse. After an hour, four agents were dead and sixteen were wounded. In addition, it was estimated ten Branch Davidians were dead (Lacayo 36).

Despite their similarities, there are significant differences between the People's Temple and the Branch Davidians, beginning with their origins. The People's Temple was a product of Jim Jones. Their "heritage" was a mix of Pentecostalism that Jones personally found appealing. He had been converted in a Nazarene atmosphere, but maintained no strong ties with them. Jones' well publicized ordination from the Disciples of Christ was a carefully orchestrated grab at respectability for his project.

The Branch Davidians, on the other hand, have a long history. They came out of the Seventh-Day Adventists' emphasis on prophecy. Vernon Howell was raised in a mainline Seventh-day Adventist Church, but preferred the teachings of an obscure off-shoot, the Branch Davidians. This group had been established by Victor Houteff in Waco, Texas in 1935 as a splinter congregation of the Adventist based on Houteff's readings of the separation of the righteous and the unrighteous just before the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon found in Ezekiel. Houteff died in 1955 and his wife, Florence, assumed leadership of the congregation. She predicted the last days would begin on April 22, 1959. When they didn't she disbanded the group. Some of the Davidians did not agree with this decision. They stayed at Waco with Benjamin Roden, who believed himself to be the literal successor of King David, as leader (Lacayo 36). By the mid-1960's Ben and his wife Lois were recruiting from as far away as Australia (Lambert and others 44). By 1984, the sect was headed by Lois and her son George (Lacayo 37).

The orientation of the People's Temple and the Branch Davidians was different. Jones preached Utopia, emphasizing pacifism and brotherhood in his sermons (Scotchmer and Plowman 38) from the very beginning. "Egalitarian" was one of his favorite words (Kerns 41). In fact, his wife, Marceline, affirmed that Jones was already a committed socialist (although not a card carrying Communist) when they were married in 1949 (Chidester 4). By contrast, Koresh preached Armageddon.

Their view of Scripture was also considerably different.

Jones had no theological training and openly mocked the Bible. He had earned his degree in education from Butler University after ten years of night school (Scotchmer and Plowman 38), but he had never attended seminary. John Harms, the regional executive minister of the Disciples of Christ in Indianapolis in 1964 when Jones applied for ordination was disturbed by this and opposed the ordination, citing Jones lack of theological training and his emotionalism (39). In his sermons, Jones maintained that people had been brainwashed into believing the "myths" of the Bible and had to learn to laugh at them in order to be free to pursue "true" religion (Chidester 107)

Koresh, on the other hand, had a great deal of Scripture memorized and would use it liberally to support his position. Growing up, he was fascinated by the Bible. He would memorize long portions of it and pray for hours (Lacayo 36). Many former followers admit to being impressed by this. In fact, Wieseltier asserts that the "Bibliolatry of Protestant fundamentalism" contributed to Koresh's appeal. He calls Koresh's use of his ability to cite Scripture for hours an archtypical American gimmick (25).

Finally, a vastly different scale was involved; 912 died in Guyana, whereas only 86 died at Waco. Morrow says, "Waco represented micro-fanaticism" (24).

Despite their differences, both cults attracted similar people. They attracted those searching for meaning beyond the crass materialism of the West. This became part of the breakdown in communications with those in the Davidian compound. The liberals in government and the media love "losers," but they could not understand the Branch Davidians because what they had lost and were searching for was spiritual, not physical (Wieseltier 25). Bowden wisely maintains that "Those of us in traditional church settings were be foolish indeed to . . . turn a deaf ear to the spiritual yearnings expressed by those who support [sects] . . . We must remain open to the human needs seeking some degree of recognition in sects . . ." (70).

A certain amount of family pressure was also evident in each case.

Adherents were invariably dissatisfied with established churches. The multiplicity of churches, splits, sects, etc. in America are "expressions of a hunger that does not deserve to be mocked" (Wieseltier 27).

The fascination with end-times and the search for spiritual meaning outside of recognized religion is not unique to America, but it is far more common here. Americans and those who dreamed of America have had a fascination with the book of Revelation at least since Cotton Mather in 1702 (Wieseltier 27). Even further, "eschatological activism" has a long history dating at least to the author of that book, John of Patmos. Koresh, contributed, but was a disgrace to that history (25). Since the beginning of colonization, America, due to its newness and lack of ties with the ancient civilizations (especially Europe) which were seen to be declining, has been seen as "a perfect place to contemplate the end of time" (27). As Wieseltier notes, "In this country that refused an established church, churches are ceaselessly created. . . . this country may be called, as a great philosopher was once called, God-intoxicated" (26). This is an almost easy conclusion to find. After all, the foundations of the United States, even before the First Amendment to the Constitution was written, were based on the freedom of religious seekers.

Both the physical scale of this country and the hectic pace of its civilization make it easy for people to feel lost and alienated in their own community. Of course, it is not only Americans who can feel displaced by their world. Morrow notes that, "The world moves along a double track, tending toward one extreme or the other -- . . . The trouble is that the dark side tends to gain when fear and uncertainty are rising" (25). However, it would seem that the size and speed of the United States accelerate this process when it occurs, leaving individuals feeling "lost and lonely" and "sapped of significance," as though they were no longer masters of their own destinies. The response is a desire to withdraw (Wieseltier 27). The life offered by the groups such as the People's Temple and the Branch Davidian under Koresh was just such a withdrawal, along with a new philosophy and a dynamic leader. Why this should be of such importance in a society such as ours that caters to our individualistic tendencies more than our herd instincts, is a bit of a mystery. "It is one of the unappetizing paradoxes of American society that it is composes of individuals in search of charisma" (Wieseltier 25). It could be said that we worship charisma and when we cannot find it in ourselves we seek to attach ourselves to it in others (25) be they politicians, movie stars, clergy, or even gang leaders.

Why did Jonestown and Waco happen twice within a generation? Perhaps because American life has lost a vital element that the members of these groups sought to regain and in the process allowed themselves to be deceived. Spirituality requires vision, but on must remember that visions can easily be debased and abused. "There is nothing high that cannot be brought low" (Wieseltier 26). We must also remember that in "isolated, high-pressure sectarian communities" psychological suicide occurs long before physical suicide (Bowden 71).