Averting Apocalypse at Rajneeshpuram*

Marion S. Goldman
University of Oregon
From 1981 to 1986, most outsiders foretold bloodshed at Rajneeshpuram, the communal city in
central Oregon that was built around an Indian charismatic leader, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later
known as Osho). However, violence never escalated to the point of mass murder, suicides, or
large, collective attacks. The Rajneesh case provides a fruitful context to explore the question: How
is large-scale collective violence in new religions averted? The case of Rajneeshpuram foregrounds
three factors that were most important to relatively peaceful resolution of a situation fraught with
danger: life-embracing doctrine, devotees continued contact with networks outside Rajneeshpuram,
and law enforcement committed to due process. Each of these inuenced outcomes at different
stages of tension between the group and the surrounding community. Close consideration of this
case provides a framework to examine other alternative religious groups that have exploded in large-
scale collective violence or appear to have the potential to do so.
Key words: Rajneesh, violence, cult
In the late-twentieth century, from 1981 to 1986, American media,
experts, and a handful of scholars foretold bloodshed at Rajneeshpuram, the
communal city in central Oregon (Latkin 1992). Discussions of potential
Rajneesh
1
violence intensied during that time period because of deep hostility
between outsiders and sannyasins (devotees) in Oregon. However, violence
never escalated to the point of bloodshed involving the majority of sannyasins.
The Rajneesh case provides data to explore the question: How is extreme
collective religious violence averted?
*Direct correspondence to Marion S. Goldman, Department of Sociology, 1291 University
of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1291, USA. E-mail: mgoldman@uoregon.edu. The author
gratefully acknowledges Eileen Barker, Christopher Blum, David Frohnmayer, Paul Goldman,
Ben Johnson, and Linda Long.
# The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the
Association for the Sociology of Religion. All rights reserved. For permissions,
please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.
1
Although Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ofcially changed his name to Osho in 1989, this
article refers to him as Rajneesh, because it is historically accurate for the period when he
was in Oregon.
Sociology of Religion 2009, 70:3 311-327
doi:10.1093/socrel/srp036
Advance Access Publication 25 August 2009
311
LARGE-SCALE COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE
Large-scale collective cult violence engages the majority of movement members,
with lasting physical and emotional effects on both perpetrators and victims. The vio-
lence ultimately denes the group to outsiders and frames its historical signicance.
While large-scale, collective cult
2
violence is uncommon, popular discus-
sions of new religions in the United States and stereotypes about them concen-
trate on the few most violent groups, such as the Peoples Temple and the
Branch Davidians (Bromley and Melton 2002; Barker 2002; Melton 1992,
1995). The 1997 group suicides of 39 members of the isolated UFO cult,
Heavens Gate, also drew popular and academic attention, but not to the same
extent as Jonestown or Waco (Balch 1980; Balch and Taylor 2002).
Media attention to large-scale collective violence in new religions creates
sensationalist stereotypes that shape popular attitudes and law enforcement
responses. This sensationalism can create self-fullling prophecies. Stereotypes
also seep into everyday discourse, taking on a life of their own. For example,
university students afrm skepticism with the phrase, I dont drink the
Kool-aid, without knowing the complicated story about the mass suicide/
murders at Jonestown.
Large-scale collective violence represents the end of a continuum of con-
ict within new religious movements and between those groups and their host
societies. The tragic outcomes at Jonestown and Mt. Carmel and the extreme
hostility at Rajneeshpuram allow us to better understand less intense conicts
that plague many alternative religions. Since Rajneeshpurams obvious differ-
ences from the norm of moderate social tension were so pronounced, this case
of accommodation in a volatile situation can illuminate the hidden dynamics
of more common and taken for granted social relationships (Goffman 1963;
Bromley and Melton 2002:3). The case of Rajneeshpuram allows us to better
understand the many avenues for accommodation between new religions and
their host societies.
Case studies can be foundational to the development of social theories
involving alternative religious movements.
3
Loands (1977) research about a
small group of Unication Church members, for example, provided a ground-
breaking framework to examine recruitment, conversion, and commitment.
The current research considers the single case of Rajneeshpuram in order to
identify and elaborate possibilities for accommodation in terms of the three
2
While some sociologists argue that the term cult may be pejorative, they use it in
the titles of books and articles because cult is known to wider audiences. It is used in this
article because cult is a synonym for other, more cumbersome terms, and scholars have
begun to reintegrate it into academic usage (Goldman 2006).
3
Furthermore, although large-scale collective violence involving new religious move-
ments in the USA is rare, the groups in which it occurs merit extensive examination, as do
revolutions and other extraordinary social events that have lasting impact on their societies
(Ragin 1981; Skocpol 1979).
312 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
central factors that earlier research has identied as generating violence:
apocalyptic doctrine, social isolation, and external emphasis on sustaining the
existing social order. The Rajneeshpuram case underscores the importance of
those three variables and also indicates how peaceful accommodation may
develop during each of the four phases of interaction that Bromley (2002)
identies.
METHODS AND SOURCES
This article is based on participant observation at Rajneeshpuram from
1983 through 1985, life history interviews with 25 devotees, additional visits to
Rajneeshpuram/the Big Muddy Ranch in 1986 and 1998, and follow-up
interviews with devotees conducted in 1997. Between 1999 and 2000, I also
interviewed ten individuals active in local Wasco County resistance to
Rajneeshpuram.
Every issue of the Rajneesh Times published bi-weekly between 1983 and
the end of 1985 was used to supplement interviews and observation. In
addition, I had access to legal documents and manuscript collections of letters,
private papers, and ephemera of both sannyasins and their opponents in the
University of Oregon Special Collections at the Knight Library.
Recent primary sources include a set of 1997 and 2004 interviews with
former Oregon Attorney General, David Frohnmayer. In 2008, I interviewed
Rajneeshs personal seamstress, who had lived in his compound at
Rajneeshpuram. Most important, in 2004, I spent two consecutive days record-
ing interviews with Ma Anand Sheela, a central gure in Rajneeshpurams
history, who is now known as Sheela Birnstiel. We met at her residence in
Switzerland, where she owns and runs two convalescent homes.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RAJNEESHPURAM
Rajneeshpuram began in the early 1980s, when Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
and about 2,000 of his sannyasins (devotees) created the communal city of
Rajneeshpuram on the Big Muddy Ranch about 150 miles east of Portland in
sparsely populated Wasco County, Oregon. The devotees who settled in
Oregon were primarily from the United States, although there were small con-
tingents of western Europeans and Australians. They hoped to blend spiritual-
ity and materialism, while building an intentional community that could also
serve as a destination resort and pilgrimage center for sannyasins from all over
the world, supplanting the groups previous ashram in Pune (Poona), India.
Rajneesh kept a vow of public silence for three years, but he appeared for a
daily afternoon drive in one of his 96 Rolls Royces, waving to sannyasins that
lined up along the road. With the exception of the drives, the guru retreated
AVERTING APOCALYPSE 313
from public view, delegating organizational leadership to Ma Anand Sheela,
his personal secretary.
From the moment sannyasins settled in Oregon, they challenged estab-
lished laws and customs, generating a range of opposition throughout the state
(FitzGerald 1986; Milne 1987). The most controversial incidents occurred in
autumn of 1984, when Sheela and her inner circle bused in hundreds of home-
less individuals, mostly men, in a futile effort to control county elections.
Massive negative publicity, state monitoring of voter registration, and legal
opposition doomed the plan. By the end of 1984, almost all of the estimated
1,500 homeless visitors departed.
Less than a year after the Share a Home debacle, Sheela and her inner
circle ed Rajneeshpuram for Europe. As his community disintegrated,
Rajneesh spoke publicly once again, accusing Sheela and her circle of drugging
dissident sannyasins, wire-tapping, arson, attempted murder, and embezzlement
of Rajneesh movement funds. Most important, Rajneesh publicly revealed that
Sheela ordered a few members of her inner circle to sprinkle salmonella bac-
teria in almost a dozen restaurant salad bars located in Wasco County, poison-
ing at least 750 individuals. It was a test run for a more massive effort that
could temporarily incapacitate large numbers of anti-Rajneesh voters on elec-
tion day (Carter 1990:22426).
All evidence suggests that only Sheela and her small circle were directly
responsible for these actions, but Rajneeshs support of their criminality
remains in dispute. After leaving Oregon, Rajneesh traveled all over the world
until his representatives successfully bargained with the Indian government.
He resettled in the old Pune ashram, renamed Osho International Meditation
Resort, and he died in 1990. The movement continues, and current members
discuss Rajneeshpuram as a brief, unimportant historical detour. By January of
1986, the Big Muddy Ranch was up for sale, the Rajneesh movement was
deeply in debt, and only a skeleton crew of sannyasins remained.
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
Research on large-scale collective violence, as well as group suicides or
murders by cults, identies three important interdependent variables that
produce violence: sustained external opposition, world-rejecting movement
doctrine, and physical and/or social isolation from their host societies (Hall
et al. 2000). These ndings carry across cultures, although the shape of exter-
nal opposition and the specics of internal doctrine vary in different social
contexts.
Dramatic collective violence associated with new religions in the past fty
years is by no means limited to the United States. However, Dawson (2006)
noted that it is particularly difcult to compare exogenous factors such as stig-
matization and law enforcement responses across cultures. I discuss Waco and
314 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
Jonestown in some detail because they shared the same broad cultural and legal
context as Rajneeshpuram.
Theories about large-scale collective cult violence and new religions
suggest that internal group processes and interactions with the external social
environment must converge in order to generate extreme outcomes (Robbins
and Anthony 1995:237; Bromley and Melton 2002:4256). As internal strains
meet external pressures, potential for disaster accelerates (Galanter 1989:113
21). When violence erupted at Jonestown and Waco, external adversaries
pressured law enforcement, forcing confrontations that led to large-scale collec-
tive violence (Hall et al. 2000).
Because of its American orientation, this article will not deal with other
important, relatively recent incidents of large-scale collective violence in new
religions. The Solar Temple in Quebec and Western Europe experienced a
series murders and suicides from 1995 through 1997 (Wessinger 2000). Aum
Shinrikyo in Japan developed a violent, ascetic organization that initiated sarin
gas attacks on outsiders that resulted in a dozen deaths and thousands of inju-
ries (Hall et al. 2000; Reader 2000). The Movement for the Restoration of the
Ten Commandments of God in Uganda generated large-scale collective
bloodshed (Walliss 2004). Despite their many differences from one another
and from the American groups considered in this article, these new religions
shared experiences of external hostility, world -rejecting doctrines, and social
and physical isolation from the larger culture.
Some research notes charismatic leadership as an important variable in the
development of large-scale collective violence. Wright (2002:106) asserts that
a dominating charismatic leader may polarize a movement internally and also
exacerbate external hostility toward a group. Johnson (1992) and Dawson
(1999, 2002) also consider the importance of charismatic leadership in precipi-
tating group crises. However, charismatic leadership is necessary to the for-
mation of almost all new religious movements and it is inherently unstable
(Dawson 2006:2829). Thus, it is less a central element in the development of
large-scale collective violence than a necessary part of almost every new reli-
gion in its rst generation.
When devotees are not entirely dependent on a charismatic relationship,
and they have strong connections with other members and with outsiders, the
inuence of the leader may be considerably diminished (Jacobs 1989).
Established movement doctrine can also supplement or detract from devotees
willingness to engage in large-scale collective violence. Movement doctrine
and external social connections increase or mediate a charismatic leaders
ability to generate large-scale collective violence.
Large-scale collective violence is not produced by internal cult attributes
alone. It is instead the result of complicated interactions between an alterna-
tive religious movement and its host society. Moreover, what may appear to
be a sudden, dramatic descent into large-scale collective violence usually
reects long series of interactions culminating in dramatic incidents.
AVERTING APOCALYPSE 315
Wallis (1979) developed a cumulative, interactional model to explore the
social psychology of cult violence, describing a cycle of members alienation,
increased external pressure, and nally intense religious conict. Bromley
(2002) constructed a more precise framework, positing four stages of inter-
actions between movements and their host societies that had led to
large-scale collective violence and also group suicides in the United States
and in other cultures as well.
Bromleys model deals with dominant patterns, while recognizing that each
phase may involve varied, sometimes inconsistent interactions (Bromley
2002:12). There are possibilities for peaceful resolution or conict within each
stage, including the nal denouement, and by extending Bromleys model it is
possible to consider these more common instances of cult accommodation or
dispersal. Although there are other high prole cases of volatile cult situations
that ended in peaceful resolutions,
4
this study of Rajneeshpuram is the rst
case to which this model has been systematically applied to understand non-
violent resolutions.
Bromley considers three important stages of interaction between a move-
ment and outsiders, leading to a fourth stage of denouement. The three pre-
liminary stages are latent tension, nascent conict, and intensied conict.
Groups often remain in the rst stage of latent conict or move to nascent
conict, without any more escalation. Table 1 summarizes Bromleys model.
Almost all alternative religions in the United States experience latent
tension (Stark 1996). Cults must differentiate themselves from the larger
society and from other religions in order to appeal to potential members.
However, doctrines and practices that are extremely deviant from social norms
or that are possibly criminal, such as polygamy, may precipitate a second stage
of nascent conict and progressive polarization between the small culture of
the movement and its host society. During this period of nascent conict,
opponents mobilize public opinion and mount legal challenges.
The third stage involves intensied conict, as both the movement and its
opponents recruit supporters, trade accusations, and also consider the use of
force. Finally, there may be a denouement, which can take the form of
large-scale collective violence, attacks on outsiders, group suicides, capitulation
and redenition of the movement, or relatively sudden, mass departures.
Although it is derived from cases of groups that experienced high levels of
conict and violence, Bromleys model posits potential resolution or dimin-
ution of conict at all stages, even the nal stage of denouement. There are
many possibilities to avoid conict, and that is why large-scale collective vio-
lence is so rare.
4
See, e.g., Whitsel (2003) on the Church Universal and Triumphant in Montana,
Rosenfeld (1997) on the Justus Freeman in Montana, and Kleiver (1999) on Chen Tao in
Texas.
316 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
TABLE 1 Bromleys Model of Stages of Conict
Stages of
conict
Response options
Contestation Accommodation Retreat
Latent
tension
Internal
Religious innovation
External
External norms of
Judeo-Christian
traditions
Internal and external
Emphasis on religious
and secular
commonalities
Internal
Group boundaries
create minimal
visibility
External
Outsiders are not
interested
Nascent
conict
Internal
Stereotyping of
outsiders
Pronouncements
against social norms
Internal and external
Positive interaction
between group and
opponents
Mediation
Internal
Group reframes its
contested doctrine
Group dispenses with
large gatherings
External
Mobilization of
opposition groups,
apostates, and
coalitions
Internal
Outreach to outsiders
External Outreach to
group
External
Outsiders intentionally
ignore group
Intensied
conict
Internal
Group radicalizes
prophetic claims and
predictions
Group obtains
destructive weapons
External
Social control agents
and government
agencies such as INS,
IRS, and child welfare
monitor group
Internal
Consultation with
external advisors re-
organization
Invitations to outsiders
to visit and confer
with the group
External
Due process moderates
external intervention
Compromises in local
ordinances and
enforcement
Internal
Schisms within group
diminish its size
Gradual dispersion to
other movement
centers
External
Critics disband and
cease verbal attacks
Denouement Internal
Increased group
isolation
Need for immediate
resolution
Specic apocalyptic
predictions
Internal and external
Increased positive
interaction
Internal
Immediate dispersion
and exodus
Continued
AVERTING APOCALYPSE 317
CONFLICT, ACCOMODATION, AND EXODUS AT
RAJNEESHPURAM
In the Rajneesh case, each of the three stages of interaction involved
elements of conict and also elements of accommodation within the group and
with outside opponents. In the nal stage of denouement, accommodation and
eventual ight trumped conict.
Devotees continued contact with networks outside Rajneeshpuram, their
life-embracing doctrine, and law enforcements commitment to due process
militated against large-scale collective violence at every stage. The following
sections consider each of those three variables, as they inuenced peaceful res-
olution at Rajneeshpuram. Table 2 applies Bromleys model to Rajneeshpuram.
Beyond Social Isolation
The new religions that erupt in large-scale collective violence or collective
suicides, are physically, socially, and symbolically isolated from their host
societies (Dawson 2006:16266). They create strong boundaries, and members
depend on the leader and other devotees to dene their identities (Galanter
1989). Devotees renounce their emotional ties to their former friends and
families outside their group and they have very little contact with them.
Communication with the outside world is limited, even when members work
in nonmovement contexts (Balch and Taylor 2000). Outsiders may overlook
the group or deliberately avoid it. Law enforcement sometimes relies solely
on groups of disaffected members or the anti-cult movement for information
TABLE 1 Continued
Stages of
conict
Response options
Contestation Accommodation Retreat
External
Dramatic state
intervention
LARGE SCALE
COLLECTIVE
VIOLENCE
Internal
Cooperation with
external opposition
Redened predictions
and goals
Re-organization
External
Group erased from
local discourse
GROUP
DISAPPEARS
External
Redenition of group
as not threatening to
social order
LOWERED TENSION
AND
CO-EXISTENCE
318 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
TABLE 2 Accommodation Prevails at Rajneeshpuram
Stages of
conict
Response options
Contestation Accommodation Retreat
Latent
tension
Internal and external
Cultural differences
between urban yuppies
and ranching community
Internal
Presence of Indian
spiritual teacher in
central Oregon
External
Judeo-Christian religious
traditions
Conservative political
and social culture
Internal and external
Rajneeshee outreach to
organizations like ACLU
Purchasing from local
businesses
Internal
Support of capitalism
Individualism encouraged
by Rajneeshs doctrine
Sannyasins retain outside
ties and nancial
arrangements
External
Curious visitors take
guided tours of
Rajneeshpuram
External
Residents of nearby
Antelope sell property
and move
Nascent
conict
Internal and External
Incidents of harassment
on both sides
Internal
Rapid population growth
of Rajneeshpuram
Sannyasins win elections
in Antelope and take
over town
Land use violations
Sheela becomes publicly
abrasive to outsiders
External
INS investigates
sannyasins and Rajneesh
Thousand Friends
organizes
Opponents contact
mainstream press
External
INS investigates
sannyasins and Rajneesh
Thousand Friends
organizes
Opponents contact
mainstream press
Internal
Increased public relations
efforts in media and in
invitational tours of
Rajneeshpuram
Rajneesh attorneys
privately contact Oregon
Attorney General
Rajneeshs doctrine does
not advocate violence or
involve coherent
apocalyptic visions
External
Attorney Generals staff
Meets with sannyasins
AG coordinates private
Rajneesh meetings with
U.S. Department of
Justice Mediation and
Conciliation Service
Internal
About 75 sannyasins who
oppose Sheela leave
Rajneeshpuram
External
Local activists focus on
legal solutions rather
than illegal
confrontations
Continued
AVERTING APOCALYPSE 319
(Hall 1987). Moreover, media may sensationalize negative accounts of the
groups. Mutual isolation can fuel hostility that creates further social distance
and mistrust.
Although Rajneeshpuram was physically remote, its residents were not
socially isolated. A public relations department staffed by journalists and
community hostesses (called Twinkies) lauded their communal city to media
TABLE 2 Continued
Stages of
conict
Response options
Contestation Accommodation Retreat
Intensied
conict
Internal
Homeless bused into
Rajneeshpuram and then
dispersed
Secret salmonella in
outside salad bars tried
out to prevent voter
turnout
Sheela voices threats on
national TV
External
FBI begins investigations
Opponents recruit
Oregon Secretary of State
to manage elections
International media cover
County elections
Individual apostates speak
out against Sheela
Internal
Rajneesh speaks again to
a small group of
dissidents opposing
Sheela
External
Oregon Attorney General
coordinates law
enforcement toward
peaceful solutions
AG submits opinion on
dis-incorporating
Rajneeshpuram because it
violates the
Establishment Clause
Denouement NO LARGE-SCALE
COLLECTIVE
VIOLENCE
Internal
Sheela expelled and
blamed for all crime and
deviance involving
sannyasins
Rajneesh invites state
and federal law
enforcement into the
communal city
Rajneesh leaves the
United States in late fall
1985
NO
ACCOMMODATION
Internal
Rajneeshpuram
dis-incorporated in winter
198586
Sannyasins leave for
Homes in the United
States and western
Europe to regroup later in
India
External
Local Antelope town
government restored
Montana investor buys
Big Muddy Ranch and
donates to Christian
youth group
EXODUS
320 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
and interested visitors from the outside. Cultivating outsiders good will,
Rajneesh purchasing agents hosted local suppliers and placed six gure orders
for everything from farm machinery to new Rolls Royces for Rajneeshs
collection.
Even as tension mounted, Rajneesh representatives continued to meet with
sympathetic attorneys and other members from the ACLU in Eugene and
Portland and with newspaper and television reporters. Individuals with power-
ful positions in the Rajneesh organization initiated covert conversations with
the Oregon State Attorney Generals ofce. In turn, representatives from that
ofce moderated responses from state police and federal authorities. Sannyasins
who disagreed with Sheelas confrontational policies recognized that commu-
nity survival depended on their neighbors good will and on favorable
interpretations of land use and immigration statutes.
Becoming a sannyasin was easy and it did not require devotees to shun
their families or old friends. After taking sannyas, in the 1970s and 1980s, san-
nyasins were supposed to meditate at least once daily, wear sunrise colors
(which included a whole spectrum of red-based shades), wear a mala of 108
beads with a locket housing Bhagwans likeness, and adhere to a vegetarian
diet. In terms of Kanters (1972) paradigm, devotees did not have to renounce
their old lives. They could transform themselves, without giving up their old
identities or sacricing previous relationships.
In 1984, the mean adult age at Rajneeshpuram was 34 years old, and san-
nyasins were predominantly drawn from the upper and middle classes, speaking
the same language as other educated, afuent individuals. Many of them were
experienced writers and speakers who could talk with the press and present
themselves well, in order to engender positive responses.
Devotees retained outside sources of interpersonal and material rewards,
and they also had close personal bonds outside the group. Sannyasins invited
their parents, adult children, old friends and, in a few cases, nancial advisors
to visit Rajneeshpuram and attend carefully orchestrated visitors weekends.
They retained their social and cultural capital, along with much of their nan-
cial capital (Bourdieu 2005).
Life-Afrming Doctrine and Individualism
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh embraced the delights of materialism and sup-
ported capitalism. Occasionally, he veered toward dire predictions, but the
gurus emphatic celebration of individualism and independence allowed san-
nyasins to reject and even laugh at his occasional apocalyptic musing about
everything from AIDS to a nuclear bombing of Rajneeshpuram (Gordon 1987:
18687; Goldman 1995). In 2004, Sheela Birnstiel, formerly Ma Anand
Sheela, explained her role at Rajneeshpuram, disclaiming any malevolent
intent. Addressing the issue of whether something like Jonestown could have
happened in central Oregon, she noted: Bhagwan was life positive. His whole
AVERTING APOCALYPSE 321
movement was life positive. Where [a] life negative situation happens you can
see suicide happening (Interview, August 2004).
In close to 600 books, most of which were transcriptions of his lectures and
initiation talks, Rajneesh discussed almost every major religious and
philosophical tradition. These approaches came together in a spiritual
stew dominated by Zen Buddhism and spiced by exhortations to fully enjoy
every aspect of life. Individual choice was the essence of the philosophy,
although the ultimate freedom of enlightenment involved disappearance of ego
through surrender to Rajneeshs teachings. As with almost everything else in
the movement, there was considerable latitude for individuals to construct
their own meanings of surrender. In the changed movement of the 1990s, med-
itation, not surrender, came to be dened as the bridge to enlightenment.
Rajneesh built exibility into his doctrine, by calling for highly individua-
lized interpretations of his lectures and writings. He adopted the role of a
therapist, telling sannyasins that they had to discover the true meaning of his
words in terms of their own personal experience and understandings.
The guru emphasized his ideal of a new man, synthesizing the worldly and
the godly. Zen, Tantra tradition, and prosperity spirituality came together in a
vision that enticed many privileged Americans:
A new human being is needed on earth, a new human being who accepts both, who is scienti-
c and mystic. Who is all for matter and all for spirit. Only then will we be able to create
humanity, which is rich on both sides. I teach you the richness of body, richness of soul, rich-
ness of this world and that world. To me that is true religiousness. (Rajneesh 1983:14)
In contrast to the Rajneesh Movement, the Branch Davidians and the Peoples
Temple had explicit apocalyptic belief systems that contributed to dramatic
collective violence, by both exhorting members sacrice and also alarming
outside opponents. While Koresh and Jones rejected the contemporary world
and critiqued Americans greed (Hall 1987, 2002; Wright 1995), Rajneesh and
his sannyasins embraced it (Mehta 1985).
Journalist Win McCormick, a persistent public opponent of Rajneeshpuram,
was often alarmed at the growing potential for large-scale collective violence in
central Oregon in 1984. However, he reected on sannyasins love of luxury and
came to a prescient conclusion: Someday, in my opinion, the Rajneesh cult
will break asunder. Since all cults have the inherent potential to end in vio-
lence, it may end that way; or, as is perhaps more likely in this case, it may end
peacefully, with Bhagwan and his top assistants departing for a South Sea island
or the Riviera (McCormack 1985:262).
Due Process and the Rule of Law
In the United States, there is a tension between the emphasis on
maintaining established social order through interventions and the emphasis
on facilitating the rule of law that protects due process and the rights of
322 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
minority groups (Skolnick 1967). Interactions between formal social control
agents and cults develop at many levels, and a full discussion is beyond the
scope of this article. This section describes how the rule of law moderated
outside intervention at Rajneeshpuram. Attention to due process diminished
possibilities of large-scale collective violence.
When law enforcement agents heed only the pleas of cult opponents, and
also stereotype a group because of its unfamiliar doctrine, the rule of order
prevails (Barker 2002; Wright 2002). If the states goals center on supporting
the dominant moral order, there is a focus on immediate resolution rather than
on peaceful compromise. This leads to possibilities for large-scale collective
violence. Richardsons (2004) analysis of legal responses to Rajneeshpuram
indicates that lawsuits put pressure on the communal city. However, that
pressure could be mediated and resolved over time, unlike more precipitous
responses by opponents or law enforcement agents.
Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer and his staff worked to mini-
mize possibilities of violence. Frohnmayer grounded his strategy in the Free
Exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution that calls for separation of church and
state. That strategy limited formal intervention based on stereotyping and
general fear of the Rajneeshees, and it curtailed informal anticult attacks pro-
posed by some opposing groups and by local media. Throughout the escalating
conict, the State of Oregon actively pressed for legal solutions to all accusa-
tions of criminal activities and violation of civil laws at Rajneeshpuram.
In addition to his public positions, the Attorney General and his repre-
sentatives privately negotiated with Rajneeshpurams opponents and with
state and local law enforcement ofcials to ensure that they respected
sannyasins civil liberties. They also worked with sannyasins attempting to
create accommodation.
Until 1983, Rajneesh attorneys and their hired outside legal advisors and
public relations representatives enjoyed cordial informal interactions with the
Oregon Attorney General and his staff. His ofce facilitated discussions about
anti-Rajneesh harassment between Rajneesh attorneys and attorneys from the
U.S. Ofce for Civil Rights. Sannyasin attorneys also talked privately with the
Oregon Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice Mediation and
Conciliation Service, attempting to resolve conicts, such as water rights dis-
putes, that involved Rajneeshpuram and neighboring communities.
Throughout the sannyasins sojourn in Oregon, the Attorney Generals
representatives monitored activities at Rajneeshpuram and tried to calm insur-
gent local opponents. A handful of antagonists posted signs about Rajneesh
Hunting Season, but this was a symbolic, rather than an actual call to arms.
The local gun culture centered on hunting, and from an early age, gun owners
were taught to raise guns only when they planned to use them. Representatives
from the Oregon Attorney Generals ofce persuaded one inuential rancher
to urge other locals to follow him in locking his rearms in a bank vault, as
AVERTING APOCALYPSE 323
conicts between the communal city and the surrounding communities
escalated.
In 1984, as sannyasins reeled from their groups over-extended nances and
Sheelas growing irrationality, the Oregon Attorney General issued his legal
challenge to the city of Rajneeshpuram itself, arguing that the incorporated
city represented the unconstitutional merger of church and state. This opinion
would not apply to other religious communities, unless they had also incorpor-
ated city governments and received state and federal funding. The Federal
District Court enjoined the City of Rajneeshpuram to cease exerting govern-
mental power in December 1985, after the Big Muddy Ranch was already up
for sale. The state pushed for accommodation and peaceful resolution, by
emphasizing the rule of law instead of the maintenance of traditional social
order.
Emphasis on the separation of religion and government also limited law
enforcement agents activities against sannyasins and constrained their prep-
arations to intervene at Rajneeshpuram. The Attorney Generals activities and
legal opinion on separation constrained state, local, and federal agencies com-
mitment to mainstream religions. They were informed that sannyasins were
entitled to the same religious freedom as any other Americans. Despite wide-
spread law enforcement hostility to sannyasins doctrine and practices, agents
at every level adhered to the rule of law and did not act precipitously.
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The Rajneeshpuram case is more than a curious incident in the histories of
Oregon and the friends of Osho/Rajneesh. Rajneeshpuram is a useful case to
examine because the group exhibited many characteristics associated with
large-scale collective violence. Sannyasins appeared to be mired in a cycle of
hostility with their neighbors, the press, and state and federal law enforcement.
An erratic charismatic leader and his volatile surrogate, Ma Anand Sheela,
governed the communal city (Dawson 2006: 15462). The community was
geographically isolated, at least a 40-minute drive down a narrow road to the
neighboring town of Antelope. And Sheela and her circle had access to many
weapons, prescription drugs, and toxic biological cultures that could have been
used in large-scale collective violence. Nevertheless, accommodation prevailed.
The Sannyasins gradual accommodation and nal exodus from central
Oregon was not a matter of chance. This case study of Rajneeshpuram builds
on earlier research about large-scale collective violence at Waco (Mt. Carmel)
and at Jonestown (Peoples Temple). I use those cases to develop a framework
to examine a case of resolution that did not rise to large-scale collective vio-
lence. It is important to consider three variables to understand how
accommodation or retreat may overshadow conict: the nature of a groups
doctrine, the groups and its members formal and informal connections to
324 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
outsiders, and whether or not a rule of law with attention to due process
overshadows concern with social order.
Previous case studies of volatile new religious movements have not expli-
citly considered the cumulative development of large-scale collective violence.
Bromleys model of conict, accommodation, and retreat at four different stages
allows systematic examination of sequential levels that occasionally build up to
large-scale collective violence. This case study of Rajneeshpuram integrates
Bromleys sequential model with the three important, interrelated variables:
doctrine, connection to outsiders, and external response. Each category and
each stage may contain elements conducive to accommodation or retreat, as
well as elements leading to conict.
We also do well to remember that, like Rajneeshpuram, the vast majority
of American intentional communities or more informal group living arrange-
ments developed by novel religions rise and disappear without large-scale col-
lective violence (Bromley and Melton 2002: Kanter 1972). Most, moreover,
never approach the potential for violence that characterized Rajneeshpuram.
Groups that survive for more than a generation, even when they are controver-
sial, tend to move toward the mainstream as the sannyasins did when they
re-opened their Pune ashram as a destination resort and began to market Osho
Rajneeshs works in American bookstores like Borders (Goldman 1999:
24968). Over a generation, almost all cults gradually minimize tension with
the surrounding environment and sustain ties with outsiders (Stark 1996;
Dawson 2006:14446).
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