Volume 10 Number 3 1997
Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America The disastrous siege at Waco in 1993 now stands as a metaphor for two things. Firstly, in the public mind it represents the inevitable result of the aspirations of a paranoid, religious cult, embracing its treasured 'End-times' theology. Secondly, for those who are more reflective, it has become a by-word for how not to deal with such cults. This book, by James Tabor and Eugene Gallagher, constructively looks at how, both the worldview of the religious group, headed by David Koresh, and the hostile public response, converged to cause the cataclysm. This particular account, moreover, might have a claim to be considered more seriously than the numerous other books on the seige, since Tabor purports to have been a first-hand witness and outlines how he struggled behind the scenes to prevent the tragedy of Waco from happening. In early 1993 the eyes of the USA people were fixed on the confrontation between the so-called Branch Davidians, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the FBI. The violent assault on the Mount Carmel compound, that eventually followed, resulted in the deaths of 74 cult members (21 of them children) and four federal agents. On the second anniversary of the ending of the siege, occurred the terrorist bombing of government buildings in Oklahoma, allegedly by the right-wing libertarian extremist Timothy McVeish. His motive is believed to have been revenge for the Waco incident, and an act of protest against the federal government's infringement of civil, particularly religious, liberties. The siege of Waco then, has far wider implications, many of which are taken on board in this version of events by Tabor and Gallagher. | |
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