The times., 1899-12-31
FANATIcIsm AND CRIME.
The Dreadful Religious Rites Of Ger
tnin Enropean sects.
Fr0m tie American journal q soliology)

From the American Journal Of S0liology.)
The results Of an analysis of a series Of
legal actions involving prosecution OF
crime supposedly committed under the spell
OF fanatical religious beliefs serve to Illus
trate this poiCt. Thus the C0nvulsiOnists.
a sect existing in Paris about 1860. were
wont to cruelty members OF their order, in
emulation Of the cTucifEi0G OF Jesus in the
belief that the souls Of the surviving mem
bers would be saved by the sacrifice Of
their fellows. In 1917 the 'Pascheiians."
an Austrian sect. murdered a man, his wife.
and their daughter under the deiusiOu that
the trio, who refused TO 60 with the IA
natics. were possessed of the devil. On
the following day they crUcided one OF
their own number girl of eighteen years.
who had offered herself for the death in
imitation of the death of Jesus. in order
to save the souls of fellow believers.
In 1923 the leader Of a Pietistic circle in
Switzerland, after having despatched her
sister who gave her life as a means Cf saw
ing the souls Of her relatives was cruel
fed by her followers 10y her own command
in order that she might die rise again
after three days. and restore o. life TIE
sister whom she had slain In 1s55 two
mothers adhereuts OF the Holy Men
slew their sick children. believing them TO
be victims OF demouiacal possession. In
1870 a Hungarian miller. belonging to the
''Nazareues" " killed his son as au cdsring
for his own sins after the fashion Of Ahra-
ham IN 1870. in Irkutsch. Russia one Of
the "Schsmatics" convinced himself by
prayer and fasting aud much scripture
reading that to save his soul he must te
crucihed. Accordingly. he attempted self
crucihxioE and succeeded so far as the
circumstances Of the case would permit
In 1880 in the government of Perm
Russia. q peasant killed his child as az
offering for his sin and buried the body ia
an ant hill. Likewise. in the government
OF Nladimir another peasant killed both
his children in due Abrahamic form. and
while the babies bied under the fathers
knife, the daFoUt mother celebrated the
service by reading aloud selected portions
of the twenty second chapter Cf Gcresis. In
1854. in the government of TRmbon, Russia
peasant. convinced that 10 save his soul
q man must have q sin to repent of. killed
a usighbOr with an Ak ia order TO sL
this highly imperative condition.
1t is a part of the creed of the ''WaG-
uerers a Russian sect that auti-Christ
rules in high places there. and that, ac-
corduEly. good men must have nausht 10
do with governmental affairs of any sort.
Ia conformity with this belief "a man muir
deTed. IN various ingenious ways twenty
flVe men. women, ana ChlluTeu. lhCtGtlLE
his own wife and babies. Ia order to free
them from the danger Of losing their souls
by suffering the contaminating contact of
the government census taker. This occur
red in 1897 The Deniers, another quite in
teresting Russian sect. believe that evil
taints all earthly good, and that the only
escape is death. In 1879 sixty OF these
men. strong in the faith, after having mur-
dered their wives and children, permitted
themselves to be put 10 death one by one.
by their leader.
The "Scourgers." who also form a wide
spread and influential sect in Russia. in
obedience to the beheSts OF their "sayiOrs.
are In The habit OF jnduiging ia human
sacrifice. CaunibalistiH feats eTotio dances.
and other IeWd procedures. as an extreme
ly eficaciOus method q keeping the hand
of evil from their immortal souls. So the
"Muokers" OF koaigsbarg and the cele
brants OF the Black Mass in Paris afford
further examples Of the use OF q ritual cf
erotism. coupled with a practice of the
most abandoned and obscene behavior, 10
promote the eternal welfare of the soul.