Cult suicide

In a cult suicide, all members of a cult kill themselves.*"Suicide Terrorists: Are They Suicidal?" Ellen Townsend. Suicide & Life – Threatening Behavior. New York: Feb 2007. Vol. 37, Iss. 1; pg. 35, 15 pgs: "There are some other examples of suicides involving group (e.g., cult suicides) and dyadic (e.g., suicide pacts) processes; but these are very rare."
"Leadership races need a little drama"; Tim Harper. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Apr 19, 2003. pg. F.02: "... a vote for Campbell was akin to the party drinking its Kool-Aid, a stunning reference to the mass cult suicide at Jonestown in Guyana."
"Suicidal credo that came from the West" Sam Kiley. The Times. London (UK): Mar 20, 2000. pg. 3:"Until the weekend, suicidal doomsday cults were seen by Africans as a decadent Western luxury. But the deaths of more than 230 ordinary Ugandans ranks as the second-largest cult suicide in recent times."  Often, these are arranged mass suicides where all (or nearly all) members kill themselves at the same time and place.

Mass suicides among members of Heaven's Gate, Order of the Solar Temple, and the Peoples Temple have been called cult suicides. There have also been other cults (like the Filippians ) which supported mass suicide, but did not encourage all of its members to kill themselves.

References

Related pages

 Destructive cult
 Doomsday cult
 Mass suicide
 Puputan

Other websites
 "Global charts" World Health Organisation
 "The Creativity Movement"  ReligiousTolerance.org
 "From Silver Lake to Suicide: One Family's Secret History of the Jonestown Massacre"  by Barry Isaacson

Category:Cults