THE POWER AND THE GLORY1
The Power and the Glory
Coulter Baker
Sheridan College
Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction4
The Corruption Continues5
Scientology5
The Jonestown Massacre7
The Westboro Baptist Church 10
Jim Bakker 13
Conclusions 14
References 15
Abstract
This report explores various organizations in which religious leaders have manipulated their followers in order to acquire personal power and wealth. Scientology, the Westboro Baptist Church, the People’s Temple,and the Praise the Lord Club are examples of how hatred, greed, and deathcan result from a religious leader’s desire for power and glory.
The purpose of this report is to prove that religion is a powerful tool that can be used by its leaders to bring power and glory unto themselves, and manipulate and harm others.
Based on research and examples, this report demonstrates that:
- Religion is a powerful tool for controlling people through playing on their fears and hopes.
- Religion can be used to bring wealth and power to religious leaders.
- People unwittingly allow themselves to be manipulated by religious leaders because they want to be part of something greater.
- Some religious leaders use their power to manipulate those around them, acquiring wealth and power at the expense of their followers.
The information in this report was gathered from such publications as Time, People, the Globe and Mail, and major news stations.
The Power and the Glory
"I’d like to start a religion. That’s where the money is." L. Ron Hubbard, 1949
A Neanderthal shaman chanting burial rites before wide-eyed onlookers gathered in the freezing cold of Palaeolithic Europe; an Aztec high priest slicing open the chest of a captive warrior, pulling his still-beating heart from his chest and raising it to the sky in grim offering; the Roman Catholic Pope riding past hundreds of thousands of adoring Christians, surrounded by a thick shield of bulletproof glass: though worlds and millennia apart, these men enjoy something in common. Each is the respective master of his religion and holds in the palm of his hand the great power and glory his religion promises.
Promises whom? Many of those who seek to become the leaders of religion, or form their own religions, are in all probability in search of nothing more than the wealth and power it will bestow upon them. This religious corruption can be explored through four specific examples: the Church of Scientology, the Jonestown Massacre, the Westboro Baptist Church, and defamed televangelist, Jim Bakker’s Praise the Lord Club.
Religions often claim to be sources of hope and salvation for those within their circles—places of fellowship and peace. Why, then, do such organizations terrorize those who do not fall in line with their beliefs, or spend money extravagantly rather than use it to aid the poor and sick they so care for? Why would leaders claiming to be seeking or leading others to salvation request money and servitude from their followers? It is because, to many, religion is a tool to bring power and wealth to those who can wield it.
As far back as the days of ancient Babylon, the king’s high priest stood just under him in power. In ancient Egypt, the Pharaohs often claimed to be descendants, or the physical incarnations of the gods themselves. It’s a simple premise, really. From a human standpoint, a mortal leader is fallible, corruptible, and can be usurped; whereas, an immortal one, responsible for all of creation, is infallible, incorruptible, and ineffable, and the one who speaks for him enjoys similar privileges.
This report explores the moral leadership of four modern religious groups—Scientology, the Westboro Baptist church, the People’s Temple, and the Praise the Lord Club—to prove that these trends run just as strong today as ever.
The Corruption Continues
Scientology.The Church of Scientology was founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer, who went on to try his hand at religious scripture. Hubbard’s founding philosophy is that all human suffering is caused by the souls of aliens who were dropped into volcanoes aeons ago by an evil alien overlord, and that the way to true happiness is to make lots of money. Since then, hischurch has become a lucrative business, essentially charging people to learn the path to happiness in one of the most blatant money grabs in religious history. Members of the Church of Scientology are encouraged to make more moneyand to become noticed in the public eye, as the church has come to view material gains as a form of spiritual development.
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L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, 1950.Before starting the church, Hubbard pioneered the study of Dianetics, a form of therapy he invented, focusing freeing the mind of subconscious stress. When Dianetics fell, Hubbard would see the Church of Scientology rise from its ashes.(Wikipedia)
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Leah McLaren, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, outlined the possible repercussions the recent break-up of famed scientologist Tom Cruise and his wife could have on the public image of scientology’s Project Celebrity (McLaren, 2012). The plan, devised by Hubbard in the 50s when the church was still in its infancy, discusses the obvious ends of adding those “to whom America listens,” meaning celebrities, to the church’s ranks. The church’s purpose is apparent in this quote from its esteemed founder in a 1972 communications policy letter:"Make money. Make more money. Make other people produce so as to make more money.”(Hubbard, 1972)
The Jonestown Massacre. On November 18, 1978, the world was stunned by the tragic events that transpired in Jonestown, Guyana, when over 900 members of the People’s Temple Agricultural Project, or Jonestown cult as it is now more commonly referred to, committed suicide. Most met their demise via drinking Flavour Aid laced with cyanide. It is a compelling example of how religion can be used to feed one man’s thirst for power. Jim Jonestook everything from those who followed and believed in him—their possessions, their homes, their children, and finally, their very lives.
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A picture of the late Jim Jones, leader of the People’s Temple Agricultural Project.Source: httpimg.timeinc.nettimephotoessays2008jonestownjonestown_01.jpg
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Time magazine conducted an interview with journalistTim Reiterman, a reporter who was present on the day of the massacre, and who has since written a book on the tragic event. The interview reveals a good deal as to the pathology of the cult’s embittered leader. Reiterman explains that Jones had always had a fascination with religion, or perhaps more accurately, with the power it gave him over others. Jones sought out community through the church, and while our parents might have been playing cowboys and Indians, Jones was playing preacher, conducting little church services in the loft of his family’s barn.
Even at that young age, Jones had a way of ‘capturing’ his audience, often locking them inside the barn. By the time Jones had begun his preaching in earnest, and started the Jonestown cult, he had adopted more malicious and effective ways of keeping a faithful audience than merely locking them in barn:
He found ways to take control of and isolate his members from their families and from the outside. One of the things that he did was press them to give up their belongings, sign over their houses in some cases, and sign over custody of their children. One of the cruellest things, I thought, was that he had them sign false confessions that they had sexually molested their children—which, of course, left those members vulnerable and bound them in a perverse way to the church.(Sachs, 2008)
Eventually, Jones would take his parish and followers to Jonestown, Guyana, hoping to avoid the scrutiny of the American government. That is where Congressman Leo Ryancame in, along with a team of reporters, Reiterman among them, hoping to investigate the People’s Temple. Initially, all went well enough, but the trouble started when over a dozen members of the Jonestown cult, some of them long-time followers, defected, choosing to return to the U.S. with Ryan and the reporters.
In response, Jones ordered a group of armed gunmen to go after the defectors and reporters, and kill them. As they reached the plane, Jones’s gunmen arrived in a temple tractor and opened fire, killing the congressman and four others. Reiterman also sustained injuries. Meanwhile, Reiterman explains, Jones announced to his people, “Now some among us have done something that's going to cause the army to come in here and nobody will be safe. Let's bring forward the potion, and let's bring the children first”(Sachs, 2008). This was a highly effective show of manipulative power by Jones; he exploited an event he had orchestrated to force his followers into suicide:
I believe that this was a mass murder. First of all, there were over 200 children who could not have formed the intent to commit suicide. Second, Jim Jones had isolated his people and conditioned them through suicide rehearsals and mock sieges to accept death. Third, he orchestrated the events on that final day, so that the outcome was never in doubt (Sachs, 2008).
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An aerial view of the carnage at Jonestown, where over 900 people committed mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Flavor Aid, often incorrectly referred to as Kool-Aid,so strong was Jones’s grip on his followers, that the phrase “Drink the Kool-Aid” has become a pop metaphor used to refer to “a person or group holding an unquestioned belief, without critical examination.”(Wikipedia)Source: httpimg.timeinc.nettimephotoessays2008jonestownjonestown_06.jpg
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Jones’s loveof power is apparent even in the manipulative order of the suicides, “Let's bring the children first” (Sachs, 2008). Reiterman explains that in having the children die first, Jones was assuring that the parents would have nothing left to live for, thereby ensuring their compliance.
The Westboro Baptist Church. Indoctrinating children with religious dogma is a common ‘power play’ by religious leaders, and for good reason.Manipulating the mind of a child, while it is still uncertain and malleable, can be used to ensure his/her compliance and faithfulness later in life. Nate Phelps, the estranged son of Reverend Fred Phelps, founder of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, saw through the dogma and eventually broke free of its power. In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Nate Phelps revealedthat his father exercised power over his wife and children both physically and verbally. “Phelps-Roper admits that they were all beaten as children as part of the Biblical edict, ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child,’ and recalled,‘tapes rolling in my head of my old man so critical of and hateful of any projection of positive feeling or emotion.’” (Hampson,2010).
Phelps’ virulently anti-gay church consists mostly of family members. It is generally despised for frequenting the funerals of soldiers, gays, and even children, with picket signs bearing such cheery phrases as,“Thank God for 9/11,” “Thank God for dead soldiers,” and “God hates fags.”
Westboro Baptist Church members claim that God hates the United States because of its support for gay rights; they picket the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq with signs saying the deaths are God's punishment (Hampson, 2010).
Their blatant hate mongering serves to draw pressto events, and though it is negative attention, it is powerful.Even though Nate Phelps managed to break away from his family’s hateful dogma, the power of his father’s words is still apparent:
Once Mr. Phelps had left his father's control, he would interpret every event as evidence of God's wrath—something as simple as a speeding ticket would be a sign of his impending damnation, he explains. Even though he understands that homosexuals don't choose their sexuality, doubt creeps into his mind when he defends them. “It isn't an intellectual thing. It's an emotional thing. It's what was hard-wired into my brain. And it whispers, 'What if I'm wrong?'” (Hampson, 2010).
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Westboro supporter picketing Pope Benedict XVI outside the United Nations in 2008. (Wikipedia, 2012)They have been entirely banned from the UK, and even fellow hate groups such as the KKK have distanced themselves from the Westboro Baptist church.
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The Phelps family’s ultimate goal to obtainpower and public glory was clearly observedin January 2011, when the churchcalled off a planned protest at the funeral of a 9-year-old Arizona girl killed in a shooting rampage—in exchange for airtime on a Toronto radio show. The show’s host, Dean Blundell, explained his reasoning:
That little girl didn't have a chance. If we can offer up some radio time and let Phelps talk silliness, we're more than happy to do it if he promises not to hurt anybody (Canadian Press, 2011).
A family of lawyers, the Phelps appear to invite the attention of court cases by those they have wronged, and call upon the U.S. Constitution’sFirst Amendment, the right to freedom of speech, to defend themselves and sue for damages(Stone, 2011).
Jim Bakker and the Praise the Lord Club.While the Westboro Baptist Church seems to lack the congregational success to reap any substantial monetary gain, some groupshave a strong propensity towards‘tangible’ glory.In 1989, disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker stood trial and was convicted of 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy surrounding the gluttonous overselling of shares in a hotel at his Christian theme park, as well as embezzling over 4 million dollars from his TV show, the Praise the Lord Club (People, 1989).
According to People magazine, in September of 1989, rather than shouting damnation into the faces of the public, or blackmailing his followers, Bakkerused hismanipulative talents to open the waterworks, and the cash would came flowing in. Sometimes, Bakker would even go so far as to curl up into a fetal position. The 1989 article uses testimony from individuals close to Bakker to collaborate their case, including his mistress, Jessica Faye, who stated that Bakker would opt forthe fetal position whenever “…there’s been a very desperate situation where he needs people’s sympathy. He’s a master of manipulation” (Brower, 1989).Itwas Bakker’s ticket to wealth and power.
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Jim and Tammy Bakker, during their peak as televangelists.In conversation with Marni Walsh, an Ontario teen during the Bakker era, she recalled the ridiculous onscreen antics of the evangelist couple and remembered her mother referring to them as “crooks” long before Jim Bakker’s eventual fallout and scandal in 1987. (M. Walsh, personal communication, October, 2012).
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Even after his conviction, Bakker had the power to control the media. People magazine noted that even those usually distrustful of Bakker bought into his breakdowns during the trial. This is evidenced by the article’s testimony from Charles Shepard, a reporter deeply involved in the investigation of Bakker’s scandals:“His pain appeared genuine, so genuine I couldn’t even ask him questions. Neither did the TV reporters”(Brower, 1989).However, even as Jim’s ship sank, his wife was onscreen, still raking in the sympathy money from whatever supporters they had left.
Conclusions
There has never been a more powerful tool than religion. It plays on the deepest fears and hopes of mortal beings: our own mortality, what lies beyond death, and our instinctual need for community and a desire to be part of something greater. So profoundis our desire for these largely abstract ideals thatweare often willing to listen and follow without question, providing religious leaders with power and glory they seek.
In his controversial film, Religulous, Bill Maher (2008)observes, “Most people would think it's wonderful when someone says, "I'm willing, Lord! I'll do whatever you want me to do!" Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions and limitations and agendas.” The leaders of Scientology, the People’s Temple, Westboro Baptist, and the PTL Club have wielded their words as the words of God, and through corrupt manipulation, grasped in their hands the power and glory of the one they claimed to speak for.
References
Brower, M. (1989, September). Unholy roller coaster. People, Vol. 32 No. 12.Retrieved from
Canadian Press (2011, January). Radio host persuades church to drop funeral protest. CTV News. Retrieved from
Charles, L. (Director). (2008). Religulous [Motion picture] United States: Sony Pictures.
Hampson, S. (2010, June). After years of silence, Nate Phelps faces off with his anti-gay father. Globe and Mail. Retrieved from
Lloyd,E. (1983) Over my shoulder: Reflections on a science fiction era, Retrieved from
McLaren, L. (2012,July). The TomKat split: Is Hollywood getting a divorce from Scientology?Globe and Mail, Retrieved from
Sachs, A. (2008, November). Q&A: A Jonestown survivor remembers. Time,Retrieved from