Re-Examining Collective Religious Violence at Rajneeshpuram: A Cultural Opposition Model Analysis

The research literature on collective religious violence with regard to new or nontraditional religious movements (NRMs) has revealed an engaging set of arguments about the relative importance of internal versus external factors. While internal or group-bounded factors are certainly significant, external factors and conditions are sometimes overlooked or at least not fully appreciated. This article synthesizes several models of collective religious violence highlighting external factors into a single “cultural opposition” model to reexamine the Rajneesh movement case in Oregon in the 1980s. I contend that key external incidents, particularly the bombing of the Rajneesh hotel by outsiders, serve as pivotal turning point for the dramatic advent of an armed encampment. The study then offers evidence to support the proposition that exogenous conditions of intense cultural opposition can transform the nonviolent beliefs and practices of a peaceful religious community into the endogenous conditions that Robbins identifies as “necessary” to heighten the likelihood of collective religious violence.