97: Interstellar Grace

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

This week we are discussing the Heaven's Gate cult, which famously brought about its own end through mass suicide in March of 1997 as the Hale-Bopp Comet sailed past the Earth. We discuss the group's origins in the "cultic milieu" of the early 1970s and compare it to other new religious movements of the time including Peoples Temple, The Manson Family, and EST. The group's beliefs, an interesting fusion of New Age practices and Protestant Christian teachings, emphasizing individual self-transformation in order to ascend to a higher plain of existence, help us to situate them in the context of their era. We also explore connections to events in the 1990s such as the siege at Waco, the siege at Ruby Ridge, and the manifesto of the Unabomber in hopes of coming to a better understanding of the group's seemingly unthinkable decision to end their lives.

Our guide for this episode is Benjamin E. Zeller's Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion, which looks at Heaven's Gate from the perspective of religious studies.

The outro music this week is "Whenever You Find Me" by No Sky God.

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