Naked Witness: A rhetorical analysis of two contradictory presentations of the women of Strong City Julia Campbell-Such A Thesis in The Department of Religion Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (History and Philosophy of Religion) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2010 ©Julia Campbell-Such, 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-71046-3 Our We Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-71046-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Nnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada Ill ABSTRACT Naked Witness: A rhetorical analysis of two contradictory presentations of the women of Strong City Julia Campbell-Such This thesis is a rhetorical analysis of two conflicting descriptions of the women who reside in a small New Mexico religious community called Strong City. The first half of the thesis treats a documentary film that was made about this group, called 'The End of the World Cult,' which presents the Strong City community as an abusive 'Cult,' and the women of that community as the brainwashed victims of a manipulative 'Cult' leader. The second half of this thesis presents a very different picture of these women by analyzing the group's own rhetoric that appeared on their website, Strongcity.info. According to their self-presentation, the women of Strong City do not see themselves as manipulated victims but as responsible agents. The purpose of this analysis is to complicate our understanding of these women and their religious context. My larger aim is to use the example of Strong City to talk about the reality of religious difference. This thesis investigates the possibility of talking about difference in a way that respects disagreements about values without abandoning our own critical, ethical perspective. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Messiah and Pedophile?: the trial and conviction of Wayne Bent 3 Summary: two conflicting presentations of the women of Strong City 5 Theoretical Approach: a rhetorical analysis 8 PART ONE: "THE END OF THE WORLD CULT 12 Chapter One: Authority 16 "Only the Names are Different": a history of 'Cult' discourse 16 "Any Attempt to Reason with Him Seemed Futile": Michael Travesser as 'Cult' leader in "The End of the World Cult" 35 Chapter Two: Submission 51 "In Vain I Struggled to Break the Spell": the development of the 'brainwashing' model in 'Cult' discourse 51 "Yeah! I am Brainwashed!": the 'Cult' personalities of the women of Strong City in "The End of the World Cult" 63 Conclusion to Part One 76 PART TWO: STRONG CITY 80 Chapter Three: Telling the Truth 85 "God is Not Running for Election in the Earth": the sacred character of Truth and the valorization of persecution in Christian apocalypticism 85 "The World Contains the Catalyst of its Own Destruction": truth-telling in the eschatology of Seventh-day Adventism 93 "You Will Always Tell the Truth": the history of Strong City on the internet 109 Chapter Four: God in the World 120 "REAL, ACTUAL, FACTUAL, PHYSICAL...": attitudes towards the material world in the rhetoric of Strong City 120 A "Living Parable": Strong City as enacted symbolic drama 129 "The Woman is in Charge": the power of human beings to move the hand of God in the Strong City rhetoric 139 Conclusion to Part Two 151 CONCLUSION 155 Epilogue: A tale of two sisters 159 References 162 1 INTRODUCTION 2 This thesis is a rhetorical analysis of two conflicting descriptions of the women who reside in a small New Mexico religious community called Strong City. The first half of the thesis treats a documentary film that was made about this group, called "The End of the World Cult," which presents the Strong City community as an abusive 'Cult,' and the women of that community as the brainwashed victims of a manipulative 'Cult' leader. The second half of this thesis, however, presents a very different picture of these women by analyzing the group's own rhetoric that appeared on their various websites. According to their self-presentation, the women of Strong City do not see themselves as manipulated victims but as responsible agents; the Strong City websites include hundreds of pages of material written by these women in which they describe themselves as powerful religious actors. The purpose of this analysis, however, is not merely to prove that "The End of the World Cult" was wrong about these religious women, but to complicate our understanding of them and their religious context. My analysis relies on contemporary rhetorical theory, in particular the work of Chaim Perlman and Kenneth Burke, who describe all discourse as value-laden and to some degree rhetorical. I intend to use this analysis, therefore, to demonstrate the contingency of these two stories about Strong City. My larger aim is to use the example of Strong City to talk about the reality of religious difference. This thesis investigates the possibility of talking about difference in a way that respects disagreements about values without abandoning our own critical, ethical perspective. 3 Messiah and Pedophile?: the trial and conviction of Wayne Bent. In a New Mexico courtroom on December 30, 2008, a 67-year-old minister of the Lord Our Righteousness Church named Wayne Bent was legally designated a sex offender, and sentenced to 18 years in prison.1 Wayne Bent has held a special leadership position in the Lord Our Righteousness Church (LOR) ever since this small group separated from the official Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the late 1980s. Since the late 1990's, his followers have referred to Bent as Michael Travesser, since they believe he has been anointed by God for a special messianic role. In the year 2000, many of them moved with Travesser to a ranch property in Clayton County, New Mexico. This New Mexico property is owned by the LOR Church and has been run communally by its residents since 2004 or 2005. Though not every congregant resides there, this land and the community it supports, which includes about 50-100 men, women and children, has a special significance to this Church, who call this place Strong City. In 2006, Travesser allowed two underage women who resided at Strong City at the time to remove their clothes and lie down with him alone on his bed in his house. Travesser placed his hand over these girls' hearts, on their bare sternums. In one of the cases, Travesser was also naked in his bed, though covered by blankets.2 In June of 2008, Wayne Bent was charged with two counts of 'Sexual Misconduct with a Minor', and two counts of 'Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor' on the basis of these events. The two victims in Travesser's trial were sisters, one fourteen and the other sixteen at the time these events occurred. The older of the two girls testified for the prosecution that although she had interpreted her experiences with Travesser as voluntary Judge Baca suspended 8 years of his sentence, so Bent will only serve 10. Transcripts of the trial are available at strongcity2.info 4 and non-sexual at the time they occurred, she now felt as though she had been manipulated by Bent into performing sex acts. Though the girls both testified to having initiated the acts in question, the prosecution argued that they were coerced into initiating them because of Michael's authoritative position at Strong City, a position that he had abused by allowing these girls to take off their clothes in his presence. The prosecution further argued that the act of lying naked with these girls was inherently sexual in nature, and proved that Travesser's claim that he was a religious authority was both fraudulent and irrelevant; by definition, his actions were not religious but sexual. Since the girls were too young to consent, any sexual act with them was criminal. Travesser, however, pled not guilty on all counts. His lawyer mounted a religious freedom defense, arguing that the events in question were religious ceremonies and had no sexual content; Travesser was recognized in his community as the son of God, and many of his female followers of all ages had performed this ritual with him as a sign of the vulnerability of the Church in front of God.