The Elements of Religious Fanatacism

Heaven's Gate was a New Age cult. The leader of the cult Marshall Applewhite convinced 39 followers to commit suicide in 1997 so that their souls could take a ride on a UFO that they said was carrying Jesus and hiding in the comet Hale-Bopp.

I've discussed the psychology of fanaticism elsewhere on my website. Let's take a look at the nut and bolts-- the ingredients-- of a cult, as exemplified by the website's splash page of the Heaven's Gate UFO religion. It provides fascinating insight into their twisted inner world.

In the pre-Google days, when search engines were relatively unsophisticated, web coders would try to get higher rankings for their site by stuffing the META NAME KEYWORD tag in the HEAD section of a HTML page with words that related to the content on that page. Most search engines today no longer consider this tag, preferring to parse real content instead of words that may not relate to that content. Another problem was that spammers thought that they could trick the search engines by repeating certain words or by using words that thery thought would attract traffic irregardless of its relevancy. The Heaven's Gate web site tries to do just this, with repetition of the words Jesus and millenium, for example.

Religions, to attract followers, need to proclaim a narrative, which is often a soup of mysticism, hope, and elements from popular culture. Thus, amid the keywords of the Heaven's Gate website, you see mystical elements, such as channelings and discarnates. You have intimations of hope, such as second coming and God's chosen. And, finally, you have elements stripped from popular culture, such as the Stars Wars (Yoda) and Star Trek (away teams) science fiction shows. One of the 39 who died was Thomas Nicholas, whose sister Nichele played Communications Officer Lt. Uhura on TV's Star Trek.

So here you have it, the mishmash of reality and fantasy that somehow congealed into a lethal narrative that caused thirty nine people to consume applesauce and poison. But no one can say that there was no warning, as a prominant keyword is misinformation.

Heaven's Gate, Heaven's Gate, Heaven's Gate, Heaven's Gate, Heaven's Gate, Heaven's Gate, ufo, ufo, ufo, ufo, ufo, ufo, space alien, space alien, space alien, space alien, space alien, space alien, extraterrestrial, extraterrestrial, extraterrestrial, extraterrestrial, extraterrestrial, extraterrestrial, millennium, millennium, millennium,millennium, millennium, millennium, millennium,misinformation, misinformation, misinformation, misinformation, misinformation, misinformation, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, second coming, second coming, second coming, second coming, second coming, second coming, angels, angels, angels, angels, angels, angels, end times, end times, end times, end times, end times, end times, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, God, God, God, God, God, God, Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial extraterrestrial misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation misinformation freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom second coming second coming second coming second coming second coming second coming second coming second coming second coming second coming angels angels angels angels angels angels angels angels angels angels end end times times end times end times end times end times end times end times end times end times end times 144,000, Abductees, Agnostic, Alien, Allah, Alternative, Angels, Antichrist, Apocalypse, Armageddon, Ascension, Atheist, Awakening, Away Team, Beyond Human, Blasphemy, Boddhisattva, Book of Revelation, Buddha, Channeling, Children of God, Christ, Christ's Teachings, Consciousness, Contactees, Corruption, Creation, Death, Discarnate, Discarnates, Disciple, Disciples, Disinformation, Dying, Ecumenical, End of the Age, End of the World, Eternal Life, Eunuch, Evolution, Evolutionary, Extraterrestrial, Freedom, Fulfilling Prophecy, Genderless, Glorified Body, God, God's Children, God's Chosen, God's Heaven, God's Laws, God's Son, Guru, Harvest Time, He's Back, Heaven, Heaven's Gate, Heavenly Kingdom, Higher Consciousness, His Church, Human Metamorphosis, Human Spirit, Implant, Incarnation, Interfaith, Jesus, Jesus' Return, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, Krishna Consciousness, Lamb of God, Last Days, Level Above Human, Life After Death, Luciferian, Luciferians, Meditation, Members of the Next Level, Messiah, Metamorphosis, Metaphysical, Millennium, Misinformation, Mothership, Mystic, Next Level, Non Perishable, Non Temporal, Older Member, Our Lords Return, Out of Body Experience, Overcomers, Overcoming, Past Lives, Prophecy, Prophecy Fulfillment, Rapture, Reactive Mind, Recycling the Planet, Reincarnation, Religion, Resurrection, Revelations, Saved, Second Coming, Soul, Space Alien, Spacecraft, Spirit, Spirit Filled, Spirit Guide, Spiritual, Spiritual Awakening, Star People, Super Natural, Telepathy, The Remnant, The Two, Theosophy, Ti and Do, Truth, Two Witnesses, UFO, Virginity, Walk-ins, Yahweh, Yeshua, Yoda, Yoga