Aum Shinrikyo Terrorist Group
Introduction
The Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese ‘New Religious Movement Organisation’ but they are also labelled as a terrorist organisation in many countries across the world. The group originated in 1984, in Japan. It started as a cult where the founder and leader, Shoko Asahara, promised followers that they would have the power to hover or levitate if they joined. Since its establishment in 1984, it has committed at least two terrorist attacks. The group was popular in the 1990’s and had many members (10,000 in Japan and approximately 30,000 in Russia) but following the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, the numbers diminished due to the group being targeted by the police. They changed the name of the organisation from Aum Shinrikyo to Aleph.
History
The infamous Cult began in 1987 and was founded by Shoko Asahara. Aum Shinrikyo has elements of Buddhism and Christianity although Christians and Buddhists have no association to the group. The founder, Shoko Asahara, was born in 1957 and is partially blind. He spent his life studying acupuncture which is a common career in Japan for the blind. He was arrested by the Japanese authorities and held in prison for a short period for selling useless medicines to cure diseases, with the claim that they give the user special powers. He later travelled in the Himalayas where he supposedly learnt his divine powers and was teleported to the year 2006 where he spoke to soldiers who had survived World War III. Asahara formed the Cult in 1987 in a small yoga studio and convinced people that if they joined they would have special powers such as the ability to levitate and they would fight in World War III, which was to occur at the end of the millennium. Asahara grew a beard when he started the Cult as a way of appearing as a mystic. The reason the Cult was able to recruit so many members was that the vulnerable sought the belief that they could posse supernatural powers and could achieve a different life to the busy,
The Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese ‘New Religious Movement Organisation’ but they are also labelled as a terrorist organisation in many countries across the world. The group originated in 1984, in Japan. It started as a cult where the founder and leader, Shoko Asahara, promised followers that they would have the power to hover or levitate if they joined. Since its establishment in 1984, it has committed at least two terrorist attacks. The group was popular in the 1990’s and had many members (10,000 in Japan and approximately 30,000 in Russia) but following the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, the numbers diminished due to the group being targeted by the police. They changed the name of the organisation from Aum Shinrikyo to Aleph.
History
The infamous Cult began in 1987 and was founded by Shoko Asahara. Aum Shinrikyo has elements of Buddhism and Christianity although Christians and Buddhists have no association to the group. The founder, Shoko Asahara, was born in 1957 and is partially blind. He spent his life studying acupuncture which is a common career in Japan for the blind. He was arrested by the Japanese authorities and held in prison for a short period for selling useless medicines to cure diseases, with the claim that they give the user special powers. He later travelled in the Himalayas where he supposedly learnt his divine powers and was teleported to the year 2006 where he spoke to soldiers who had survived World War III. Asahara formed the Cult in 1987 in a small yoga studio and convinced people that if they joined they would have special powers such as the ability to levitate and they would fight in World War III, which was to occur at the end of the millennium. Asahara grew a beard when he started the Cult as a way of appearing as a mystic. The reason the Cult was able to recruit so many members was that the vulnerable sought the belief that they could posse supernatural powers and could achieve a different life to the busy,
Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo#1995_Tokyo_sarin_gas_attacks_and_related_incidents http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_aumsh.htm www.angelingo.usc.edu