@article{ref1,
title="Revisiting the Branch Davidian mass suicide debate",
journal="Nova Religio: the journal of alternative and emergent religions",
year="2009",
author="Wright, S.A.",
volume="13",
number="2",
pages="4-24",
abstract="This paper revisits the controversy, recently revived by British religious studies scholar, Kenneth C. G. Newport, that the Branch Davidians had a theological rationale for mass suicide and likely set fire to their own home. Newport couples the theological argument with assertions of &quot;unassailable evidence&quot; regarding the government's reports as if no alternative explanation is plausible. The paper challenges Newport's claim to the &quot;unassailable evidence&quot; found in government reports. Despite his largely uncritical acceptance of the official version of events, the reliability of the government's case is hampered in a number of ways. These include, among other things: false or misleading statements by federal officials; lost, mishandled, and/or concealed evidence; an independent arson report that challenges the government's conclusions; the suppression of evidence through extensive redaction and the use of procedural rulings; and exclusion of evidence in the federal civil trial. I also contend that the tragic dénouement at Waco has to be viewed in the cultural context in which it emerged. Waco came to symbolize a deep political divide during a period of growing fears about &quot;big government&quot; and broad swaths of antigovernment sentiment, and, as such, served as a proxy for culture war battles in the early-to-mid 1990s. When examined against the backdrop of these disturbing machinations and conditions, the evidence supporting mass suicide at Mount Carmel is hardly unassailable. © 2009 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1092-6690",
doi="10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.4",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.4"
}