Mirror and Defense : The Impact of Aum Shinrikyo\u27s Terrorism Upon the Study of Religion in Japan

The terrorism of Aum Shinrikyo has shaken the idea of academic "objectivity" in the study of religion. A few scholars were severely criticized by the public for their sympathetic comments on the cult. Analyzing discussions on the cult, this paper addresses : (1) how scholars investigated the cult prior to the act of terrorism ; (2) how their approaches have changed since the event ; (3) how these changes will affect the future study of religion. Scholars of religion have frequently employed a method of "cultural critique," that is, to question the self-evident worldview (value-system, etc.) of the public by representing the unique worldview of a religious group. Those labeled as pro-Aum scholars never actually defended the cult, but only attempted this sort of criticism, which is a popular approach in the current study of new religious movements. Since last spring, however, many scholars have changed their approaches (a few even denied the overall validity of cultural critique). Some attacked Aum in light of the naive dichotomy of true/false religion; and others resurrected the logic used in the previouslydismissed deprivation theory in order to explain the social causes of Aum\u27s terrorism. Such scholars criticized the religious worldview of the cult as the force motivating terrorism, while interpreting the worldview in an apparently agenda-oriented manner