Destructive Cult - Cults and Terrorism

Cults and Terrorism

In 1984, a group of followers of Osho (then known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) carried out what has come to be known as the first bioterrorism attack in the United States. Over seven hundred and fifty individuals became ill from salmonella poisoning, after the group had deliberately contaminated the salad bars of ten restaurants. After epidemiological research, law enforcement isolated the source of the contamination as a clinical laboratory operated by members of the Rajneesh movement. They had intended to influence voter turnout in an upcoming election. The March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo movement, as well as their prior experiments with anthrax, were also seen as chemical and bioterrorism events.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks and the prevalence of the War on Terrorism in society, researchers have begun to use the term "destructive cult" to compare and contrast certain characteristics of terrorist organizations with those of other religious groups previously characterized as such. In the book Jihad and Sacred Vengeance: Psychological Undercurrents of History, psychiatrist Peter A. Olsson compares Osama bin Laden to other religious leaders including Jim Jones, David Koresh, Shoko Asahara, Marshall Applewhite, Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro, in a section of the book called: "The Psychology of Destructive Cult Leaders". Olsson asserts that each of these individuals fit at least eight of the nine criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Olsson goes into some of these issues in more depth in his work Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time: A Psychological Study of Destructive Cult Leaders from Rev. Jim Jones to Osama bin Laden. In the book Seeking the Compassionate Life: The Moral Crisis for Psychotherapy and Society authors Goldberg and Crespo also refer to Osama bin Laden as a "destructive cult leader."