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RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo. By Ian Reader. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 2000. xvi, 304 pp. (Graph, table.) US$23.95, paper ISBN 0-8248-2340-0.
In this book, Ian Reader offers a substantial revision of A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence (Copenhagen: NIAS Books, 1996), his work on the Japanese sect responsible for the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subways. The new result represents a rich and significant contribution to the study of religion in modern Japan and the world.
Reader engages four critical themes throughout the work. First is that Aum must be viewed as a valid religious organization, a world-renouncing movement that emphasizes ascetic practice, rather than be dismissed as a cult or false religion. The second theme is that Aum's production of violence was primarily due to internal religious factors, including the personality and absolute authority of its leader, Asahara Shoko, and a polarized worldview that pitted Aum against an evil external world and doctrine and practices that facilitated the use of violence. Third, followers were not hapless victims; they provided and reinforced Asahara's authority through their obedience and devotion. Young, well-educated leaders zealously climbed the ranks through severe spiritual practices and ordinary...