Radical rhetoric and mystical religion in America's late Vietnam war era

Using primary documents from various religious groups, interviews with former activists, and an array of alternative press literature, this paper analyzes the appropriation of radical rhetoric within the anti‐activist ideologies of mystical religions that flourished during the late Vietnam War period in the United States. Examples from several Eastern‐based religions (Divine Light Mission, Hare Krishna, and 3HO) and Western‐based groups (including the Christian World Liberation Front and the Children of God) demonstrate the manner in which former activists converted to groups that utilized radical imagery to advocate patriarchalism along with individual rather than structural transformation. These ideological positions further subdivided an already fragmented New Left movement.