Millenarianism refers to the conviction of sacred, social or political organizations in a coming revolution of society that will lead to the change of way of life. The organizations believe that the present system of government and society is unjust, corrupt, or has nothing to be treasured. These beliefs have been attributed to the surfacing of violence due to those who believe in them failing to obey some universal rules of conduct. In some countries, they have been blamed for resulting in insurgencies and terrorist acts.
Millenarians view the world from two perspectives: Manichaean and holistic. It is Manichaean in that they see the world as two contradictory and aggressive ideologies. That is oppressed versus the oppressors, the holy versus the wicked. This basic perspective brings out the importance of millenarians. For example, the Hezbollah characteristics concentrate on a holy struggle between the Muslims and Zionists. Millenarians spot this enormous duality and aim at unifying the world by coming up with a divine and undifferentiated society. The philosophical commitment of millenarians who became violent has stuck in people’s minds. Most people link the movement to violence (Barkun 12).
When we consider some of the millenarian movements and especially those that are involved in political violence, they have varied common characteristics. Although characterized by their individual cultural beliefs, there are some common characteristics to all the movements in the world. There is a predicament that triggers changes in traditional beliefs and this consistently makes followers see their circumstances as well as those of their society in millenarian ad messianic conditions. This is further rooted in a charming leader who is capable of manipulating his followers’ beliefs. Most of these organizations emerge as a result of war, famine, or other forms of crisis. Many religions believe that a time will come when all mankind will be united. This will be brought about by the coming of the messiah. For millenarians, this guarantee of savior and a perfect era is mostly perceived in times of problems. For Sunni and Shi’, their belief in the coming of the messiah is shown when they are involved in conflicts. The Shiites value it because it helps them understand the meaning of what is written in the Koran as well as the prophecies of Prophet Mohammad. The Idea of the coming of the messiah makes these movements involve themselves in conflicts as they believe that the time for their salvation is near (Barkun 18).
Roles of millenarianism
As a result, millenarianism plays a role as an empowering belief by allowing people to reorganize themselves into groups that are entrenched upon by distressing and humiliating forces. It is evident, then, how a long period of maltreatment and exploitation resulting from such intercultural relations can lead to the cropping up of millenarian movements. One of the perversive features of this crisis is that it leads to the alteration of the customary beliefs of the affected community. For instance, Abimael Guzman founder of Peru’s Sendero Luminoso managed to lure people to follow him by suppressing the culture of socialism that had been established by Marx Lenin. He introduced traditional Peruvian rituals, legends, and symbols. Likewise, Aum Shinrikyo pleaded with the Japanese who felt not to be incorporated in the Japanese traditional religion, customs, and composition to come up with his movement. These leaders took the opportunity of some members of the community feeling dissatisfied with the mode of governance to come up with organizations that opposed the governance (Barkun 34).
As millennial beliefs continue adapting and integrating various traditional beliefs, it leads to the development of messianic values. A good example is the case of the Lord’s Resistant Army (LRA) of Uganda. The movement claims to be a Christian movement led by a self-proclaimed messianic head. This leader has integrated the Acholi cultural beliefs and radical commitments to the Ten Commandments. The greater belief that the messianic age could be achieved by initiating conflicts has led to the emergence of political and ethnic violence in most countries. Hezbollah adherents strongly believe in Islamic rule as well as that they are genuinely God’s soldiers. This has led to them occasionally waging confrontations in opposition to the western policies in Lebanon and against Israel.
Characteristics of millenarianism
Millenarian movements are characterized by the desire for an overhaul of the present system of life and be replaced with worldly salvation. They look forward to the entire destruction of the current social, political and economic system which they believe will be replaced with a perfect society. They occasionally combine this desire with a tendency to pace the predictable results through radical and brutal methods. They believe that for a new and perfect society to be established, the old society has to be destroyed. As these organizations demand full commitment from those who join them, they lure people by promising them that their security will be guaranteed, they will acquire a new form of identity as well as gaining value if they happen to commit themselves to the movement. They offer those members of the society that suppose to marginalize an opportunity to reorganize themselves and claim what they assert to have been taken from them as they were being segregated. Most of these movements are characterized by fear about the outside pressure, the abdication of social undertakings, and readiness to taking risks and strongly safeguarding the movement’s believes and practices (Rinehart 57).
Having not been satisfied with what has transpired in society, millenarians feel agitated to triggering violence as a way of repaying the injustices inflicted on them by society. They have the perception that it is only through violence that they can manage to overthrow the existing authority and establish a perfect one. Terrorism becomes one of the major options to achieve this. They believe in the capability of changing the system of governance to one that is influenced by their ideologies. In case an attempt to change this system diplomatically fails, millenarians turn to violence. Their belief that there will be peace when they take control of the world makes them sometimes indulge in violence. They occasionally trigger violence in a bid to hasten the actualization of that time. For instance, a movement of Israel militants advocates for the demolition of the Temple Mount in the hope that it would mark the beginning of a messianic era. It was also the belief by the Shinrikyo followers that killing a person would lead to the transformation of his or her life that led to the upsurge of mass killing in Tokyo (Walliss 503).
The prophetic leader of the millenarians assumes the role of the awaited messiah. Most of them try all it takes to resemble the messiah. For instance, Shinrikyo could depict himself as being hanged on the cross to make his people believe in his teachings. The perception that Americans are immoral among the Muslim communities has led to the creation of insurgent and terrorist groups who aims at realigning what they term as evils caused by the Americans. They believe that poverty, unemployment, and immorality have resulted due to American influence in their nations. They perceive the American culture as threatening to erode their cultural norms. To some extent, this can be accepted as there is the presence of various materials from America which includes pornographic magazines. Various leaders from these groups use arguments from bibles and Koran to lure people to believe that whatever they practice is right (Walliss 504). Some of them believe that when it comes to matters of religion there is nothing like being innocent. They believe that if one happens to contradict their norms he or she is not entitled to their sympathy. Victims of catastrophes have the perception that their identity has been soiled leaving them worthless in society. They feel segregated and have no place in the community. This allows the millenarian believers to prove to these people how the existing rule and institutions are not capable of meeting their needs. They also feel threatened by the system of authority. All these factors lead to the victims yearning to be associated with a movement that would guarantee their identity.
Millenarianism is believed to have let loose some of the worst impulses and most appalling conduct on its adherents. Nazi movement is portrayed as a millenarian movement where Hitler acted as the Germans’ savior. While the Nazi movement could stir problems in the whole of Europe due to its advancement in technology, other millenarian movements have been attributed to causing hostility in less magnitude. In millenarianism, everyone sets aside earthly materials and yearns for the promised salvation and ecstasy. The sect stresses the fallen nature of the ordinary world and asserts that it merits violence due to its irresolute nature. Some even wish that the current system of life may collapse. Others go to an extent of treating with contempt everyone they perceive to be opposed to their line of thought. Their entrenched beliefs make them act without considering their safety (Wessinger 45).
As these movements comprised of people from rural areas, people thought that they were to exist for a short time due to the rate at which urban centers were growing. However, this has not been the case. The end of the past millenarianism marked the beginning of other movements such as the Nazi and communist movements. Millenarianism is deemed to continue thriving in urban centers since the present forms of communication are capable of conveying information to a large number of audiences. This has gone beyond the expectation of many leading to some tending to assimilate to the sect. To convert, one goes through several steps which touch on social life, time, and behavior. Despite a person having an attitude that his normal life has been adversely affected by the perceived problems, one still hopes that there is a chance for rejuvenating his or her life after salvation. Millenarians do not aim at reviving a disaster-stricken society. On the contrary, they rebuke it and focus on coming up with a new society on its behalf. Members look for the kind of behaviors that are viable for their converts. Millenarianism is facilitated by the need for people to revenge for the injustices they have suffered from a system of governance or the community. Having no other avenues to air their grievances, millenarians believes that through violence they are capable of repossessing what they believe to have been theirs but taken away from them. They believe in the coming of an era whereby all injustices will result in a pure and perfect life. To them, this can only be achieved through the overhaul of the current system of life. This makes them condemn the current way of life to an extent that they readily sacrifice themselves to ensure that they have reformed the world. Common to all millenarian movements are prophetic leaders who are sometimes taken as the messiahs or are perceived as saviors by their subjects. Millenarian movements are mostly found within Muslim countries. These countries view their enemies as sinners and can do anything to ensure that they have swept away their evil deeds (Wessinger 62).
This calls for the establishment of a favorable environment where it is possible to reach the Muslims and understand their side of beliefs rather than waging wars with the Muslim countries. There is a need for all the affected parties to realize that these movements do not develop from the middle of where but they emerge due to the perception that their grievances are undermined, being misled by people who aim at proclaiming themselves rulers and conspiracy. One way that these movements can be curtailed is by ensuring that the Muslim countries are not estranged. It is not wise to attribute all Muslim countries to terrorism
Works cited
Barkun, Michael. “Introduction: Understanding Millennialism.” Terrorism and Political Violence 7.3 (1995): 10-37.
Rinehart, James. Apocalyptic Faith and Political Violence: Prophets of Terror. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. 2006.
Walliss, John. “Understanding Contemporary Millenarian Violence.” Religion Compass (2007): 500-505.
Wessinger, Catherine. “Bin Laden and Revolutionary Millennialism.” New Orleans Times-Picayune 2001.PP. 40-75.