HEAVEN’S GATE
Heaven’s Gate
America’s UFO Religion
Benjamin E. Zeller
Foreword by Robert W. Balch
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2014 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Zeller, Benjamin E.
Heaven’s gate : America’s UFO religion / Benjamin E. Zeller ; foreword by Robert W. Balch.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4798-0381-1 (cl : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4798-8106-2 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Heaven’s Gate (Organization) 2. Cults—United States. 3. United States—Religion. I. Title.
BP605.H36Z45 2014
299’.93—dc23
2014020797
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
For Emily, without whose support this book would not have been written
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations and Tables
Foreword by Robert W. Balch
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Cultural and Religious Origins of Heaven’s Gate
2. The Spiritual Quest and Self-Transformation: Why People Joined Heaven’s Gate
3. The Religious Worldview of Heaven’s Gate
4. Understanding Heaven’s Gate’s Theology
5. Religious Practices in Heaven’s Gate
6. Why Suicide?: Closing Heaven’s Gate
Afterword: Heaven’s Gate as an American Religion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES
Illustrations
1.1: Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles
4.1: Digital illustration of a Next Level alien
4.2: Marshall Herff Applewhite (Do) from the satellite series Beyond Human
5.1: Heaven’s Gate member Jmmody building the “launch pad”
5.2: The uniforms worn by members of Heaven’s Gate
5.3: A prayer from the “Preparing For Service” booklet
6.1: Hale-Bopp comet
6.2: Heaven’s Gate departure patches
Tables
2.1: Members of Heaven’s Gate at the time of the 1997 suicides
3.1: Annotated Verses of the Two’s Bible, by Biblical Book
3.2: Annotated Verses of the Two’s Bible, by Theme
6.1: UseNet posts by date and group
FOREWORD
ROBERT W. BALCH
The subject of this book—the UFO religion Heaven’s Gate—has fascinated me since my first encounter with it in 1975. The group, then named Human Individual Metamorphosis (HIM), had been in the news for weeks because dozens of people had suddenly disappeared after hearing its message. Yet almost nothing was known about life inside the group or the identities of its founders. About the only thing anyone knew for sure was that at least one hundred people had given up everything they had in hopes of boarding a spacecraft that would take them to a better world.
Late in 1975, David Taylor and I infiltrated HIM to find out for ourselves what was really happening “behind the scenes.” Suffice it to say, instead of a dangerous cult, we found a group so lacking in leadership and structure that it appeared to be falling apart. Shortly after we finished our fieldwork, the group stopped recruiting and disappeared from public view, but by then we were hooked. Taylor and I kept track of new developments by interviewing defectors whenever we could find them, and we soon became the acknowledged experts on this obscure cult, if only because we were the only ones who had ever studied it.
Then, in 1997, “our” cult, now calling itself Heaven’s Gate, decided to commit mass suicide, and suddenly scholars of every stripe swarmed the carcass. Of course, Taylor and I were among them, but I confess to viewing most of the others as interlopers who either misunderstood the group or didn’t have much to add to what we had already written. However, I make an exception for Ben Zeller. Not only has he uncovered intriguing new information about the group’s final years, but he approaches Heaven’s Gate from a refreshingly different perspective. Perhaps because he is a religious studies scholar and not a sociologist, Zeller examines Heaven’s Gate through the lens of belief—both the package of beliefs that made Heaven’s Gate a true religion, and belief in the message by individual members.
When I lived with the group in 1975, I was so absorbed by the minutia of everyday life that I didn’t think much about its beliefs. They were simply a given. Although I recognized that the belief system shaped and constrained members’ actions, I, like other sociologists, was more concerned with the actions themselves than with the beliefs on which they were based. But, as Zeller explains, Heaven’s Gate was a true religion with a coherent system of beliefs that explained the order of the universe, gave meaning to human existence, and offered a plan of salvation.
Sociologists haven’t neglected this belief system entirely, but they have focused narrowly on how one particular change contributed to the suicide. In 1975, a core belief was that humans did not have to die to enter heaven; rather, possession of a living, physical body was required to board the spacecraft. But, by 1997, this belief had undergone a dramatic change. Now, the only way members could get to heaven was by leaving their bodies, or, as they put it, “exiting” their human “vehicles.”
Zeller examines this change in detail, but more importantly, he gives close attention to continuities in the belief system, most of which have been ignored or overlooked by others. From my perspective, the most important of these is the theme of separation from all things human. From the beginning, the group was based on the idea of cutting ties with the past, overcoming human attachments, and ultimately leaving Earth altogether. Eventually, suicide came to be seen as nothing more than the final act of separation, the last step on a path members had been following all along.
As Zeller explains, the belief system was the foundation for almost every action in Heaven’s Gate, starting with the decision to join. One might think this would be obvious—Heaven’s Gate was a religion, after all—but some social scientists view belief as a product of membership rather than a reason for membership. They argue that people join new religions for friendship and community, and that belief develops only after immersion in the group. However, Zeller rightly takes members at their word when they claim that they joined because the message rang true.
As Taylor and I discovered in 1975, the group’s method of recruiting maximized the importance of belief as a reason for joining, while minimizing the importance of social bonds. Typically, the first time anyone heard the message was during a short, public presentation. Those who wanted to learn more were called later that night and told the location of a follow-up meeting the next day. After the second meeting, people had to decide. If they chose to join, they had only a few days to settle their affairs, say their goodbyes, and catch up with the group, because the members would already be gone, often hundreds of miles away.
Clearly nobody joined Heave
n’s Gate because they had made friends with members. There simply wasn’t time for that. Rather, they joined because the belief system clicked. For some, it was eminently logical; for others it just felt right. This is not to say that new members became instant converts, but they at least found the message plausible enough to bet everything they had on the hope that it was true.
Upon joining, new members entered a world in which belief infused every aspect of daily life. In most new religions there is a close link between belief and action, but as the reader will discover in these pages, the connection was especially tight in Heaven’s Gate. In 1975, the group already was largely sealed off from the outside world, and within a year the leaders restructured it into a kind of boot camp designed to instill discipline and test members’ determination to continue. The extent to which the belief system permeated everyday life was reflected in a banner that later hung in one of their houses reminding members that they were “in a classroom twenty-four hours a day.” Of course, being in class isn’t the same as learning the lesson, but Heaven’s Gate also displayed a tight fit between the ideal and the reality.
Does this mean that members committed suicide because they were “brainwashed”? Zeller doesn’t think so, and neither do I. Based on his evidence, as well as my own, I propose an alternative explanation: People joined Heaven’s Gate because they found its message believable, and they complied with its demands for the same reason. Those who still had doubts eventually defected, and any who remained out of step with the program were expelled, leaving only the true believers to carry on. The process was not much different from becoming a Marine or a monk.
Yet, we rarely give the same credibility to cult members as we do to Marines or monks. Perhaps what I like most about Ben Zeller’s analysis is the respect it shows for the members of Heaven’s Gate. Living with the group taught me an important lesson: To understand members’ actions, we need to look at the world through their eyes instead of our own. It isn’t easy to do, especially without the opportunity to interact directly with members, but Zeller has accomplished this feat remarkably well. My experience in Heaven’s Gate also made me a bit protective of the group. Once I got to know the people, I realized that they were not just members of some exotic cult, but ordinary people struggling to find meaning in their lives. Overall, they weren’t much different from me or many of my friends. At a personal level, I want to see their story told with the empathy it deserves, and this book does the best job of any that I have read.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the guidance, support, advice, and feedback I received from dozens of colleagues, mentors, and friends over the past 17 years. I have benefited immensely from correspondence and conversation with my colleagues in the study of Heaven’s Gate, most notably Robert W. Balch and George D. Chryssides, both of whom offered extensive comments on earlier versions of this book. Rob and George are the epitome of collegial, offering generously of their knowledge and advice. My colleague Eugene V. Gallagher read and commented on the entire manuscript, and provided valuable feedback. Emily R. Mace did the same. My mentor and friend Yaakov Ariel read and responded to most of my previous work on Heaven’s Gate, and without his advice earlier in my career, this book would not exist.
I have presented many of the ideas found in this book in multiple venues, and I owe thanks to the many individuals who gave me feedback at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, where I presented several papers including the inchoate ideas developed herein. Anonymous reviewers of my previous publications on Heaven’s Gate and the feedback from editors at Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, most notably Catherine Wessinger, Douglas E. Cowan, and Rebecca Moore, all benefited me immensely. So too the comments from students at the University of North Carolina, University of Tromsø (Norway), and Hogskolan Dalarna (Sweden) where I have presented lectures on Heaven’s Gate. Eons ago (it seems), in the immediate aftermath of the Heaven’s Gate suicides, William Scott Green, Anne Merideth, and Douglas R. Brooks all provided feedback and encouragement as I first began to study this movement, and I am very grateful they did so.
Librarians at the University of Rochester, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), Duke University, Temple University, Brevard College, and Lake Forest College all assisted me in researching this book, as have special collections librarians and archivists at the Graduate Theological Union and University of California, Santa Barbara. Although it has been years since I left that institution, Temple University Religion Subject Librarian Fred Rowland continues to be a valuable resource. Technology Specialist David Levinson at Lake Forest College’s Donnelley and Lee Library assisted me with preparing the illustrations.
Several former members of Heaven’s Gate have corresponded with me and have read and commented on my work. Those who permitted me to publicly thank them are Mrcody, Srfody, Neoody, and Sawyer. I thank and respect them for their openness in talking with me about their experiences and knowledge about their time in the Class. I recognize that they may not always agree with what I’ve written, and it is a credit to their openness that they were still willing to share their thoughts.
Finally, much of the actual writing of this book occurred during my sabbatical semester at Åbo Akademi, in Turku (Åbo), Finland. I am grateful to my kind and generous hosts at Åbo Akademi for accommodating me: Peter Nynäs, Måns Broo, Jan Svanberg, and Sofia Sjö. Funding for my sabbatical was provided through the Fulbright program and the bilateral U.S-Finland Fulbright Commission, which I also thank for their support. Additionally, colleagues at Temple University, Brevard College, and Lake Forest College have been conversation partners during my many years of studying Heaven’s Gate. In the final weeks of manuscript preparation, colleague Susan Long made me aware of the UK band Django Django’s musical homage to Heaven’s Gate. I also wish to acknowledge the Hotchkiss Fund at Lake Forest College, which provided financial assistance for the final stages of manuscript preparation. Finally, the most important acknowledgment is the last: to my spouse, colleague, and partner, Dr. Emily R. Mace, without whose support and guidance this book would not exist. This book is dedicated to her.
Introduction
Black uniforms. Matching “Away Team” patches. New Nike shoes, the “Just Do It” swooshes still vibrant white. Purple shrouds. Rolls of quarters and five-dollar bills in their pockets, duffle bags at their sides. Circumscribing themselves with these elements, in March 1997, 39 people in Rancho Santa Fe, California, ritually terminated their lives. They did so in waves, with each wave cleaning and tidying after the previous, until all 39, including their founder and leader, lay dead in a multimillion-dollar mansion in a posh San Diego suburb. Days after the suicides began, a former member, tipped off by his compatriots as to their intentions, stumbled into and then quickly out of the house. The rest is history: Heaven’s Gate.
To outsiders, it was a mass suicide. For insiders, it was a graduation. This act was the culmination of more than two decades of religious and social development of the group, a movement that took several names over its years. It began as a loose collective formed by two self-proclaimed witnesses, Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles, and ended as Heaven’s Gate, the monastic religious movement still led by Applewhite. Along the way the group developed a complicated theology fusing Christian, New Age, and American cultural elements, and a set of religious practices likewise drawing from multiple religions, science fiction, and pop culture. The group ended on its own terms, but not without outside influence. Rumors of an unidentified flying object (UFO) or spacecraft trailing the Hale-Bopp comet precipitated the timings of the suicides, as did years of dwindling success in attracting converts or even serious media interest.
This book answers the question of why the members of Heaven’s Gate committed their ritual suicides. But it also asks and answers another set of questions. How did Heaven’s Gate originate, and why did it ev
olve the way it did? What was its draw, and why did people join this group? What did members believe, and how did they develop practices within their religious worldview? How did all of this reflect the American society in which Heaven’s Gate developed? I arrive at a variety of answers, which are developed in the pages that follow. The group originated from two individuals and their spiritual quests, but it also emerged out of Evangelical Christianity, the New Age movement, interest in science fiction and UFOs, and conspiracy theories. It evolved in keeping with those influences. People joined because they found in Heaven’s Gate something that they felt was lacking in their previous lives. Heaven’s Gate offered a chance to feel special and to identify with being an otherworldly spiritual being, a sort of angelic extraterrestrial. It never appealed to many people, but several hundred did join and leave over its history. Members believed, as many other Americans do, in a heavenly Father, the centrality of the soul rather than the body, a battle between good and evil, and heavenly salvation, but they reframed all these beliefs as referring to the literal heavens and extraterrestrial beings. They developed religious practices involving bodily control, prayer, and means of dwelling in this world while simultaneously trying to escape it. People stayed for different reasons, but once a member it would have been very difficult to choose to leave, since adherents believed outsiders lived worthless vegetative lives and would not achieve any form of eternal salvation. (That being said, the majority of people who joined did leave eventually.) The movement reflects American society by revealing some of the same forces at play in bigger, more recognizable, more publicly accepted religions. Heaven’s Gate was American culture writ small.
The basic argument of this book is that Heaven’s Gate reflected, responded to, and sewed together various strands of American religious thought and practice. I want to admit at the very beginning of the book a methodological bias in my approach. It is somewhat reductionist, by which I mean that I interpret the religious revelations of the leaders and members of Heaven’s Gate as manifestations of something else: culture. Rather than assume the position of the leaders of Heaven’s Gate that their religious doctrines and positions are the result of direct communication with what they called the Next Level—effectively what most other religious people would call Heaven—I root their religious developments in history and culture. This is not to say that I deny their religious claims, merely that I proceed under the assumptions that such claims—like those of all religious groups—are beyond the realm of empirical observation and therefore cannot be assessed by outside observers. Scholars who take this approach are certainly within the mainstream when we look at new religious movements, but we must admit that the approach is somewhat offensive to the religious believer. For example, many Christians would be offended at the contention by some scholars that the early Church leaders stitched together various doctrines and approaches of Jewish, Roman, Greek, Persian, and Egyptian religion and constructed what we call Christianity. Christians prefer to think of their religion as derived from revelation and a divine plan. Some adherents of Heaven’s Gate might react the same way to this book.
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