From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War EraCertainly, religious strains were evident through postwar popular culture from the 1950s Beat generation into the 1960s drug counterculture, but the explosion of nontraditional religions during the early 1970s was unprecedented. This phenomenon took place in the United States (and at the edges of American-influenced Canadian society) among young people who had been committed to bringing about what they called "the revolution" but were converting to a wide variety of Eastern and Western mystical and spiritual movements. Stephen Kent maintains that the failure of political activism led former radicals to become involved with groups such as the Hare Krishnas, Scientology, Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, the Jesus movement, and the Children of God. Drawing on scholarly literature, alternative press reportage, and personal narratives, Kent shows how numerous activists turned from psychedelia and political activism to guru worship and spiritual quest as a response to the failures of social protest and as a new means of achieving societal change. |
Contents
Introduction Defining a Generation | 1 |
Religion Drugs and the Question of Political Engagement | 6 |
Political Frustration and Religious Conversions | 25 |
Radical Rhetoric and Eastern Religions | 44 |
Conversions to Syncretic and Western Religions | 94 |
Conclusion Mystical Antagonism and the Decline of Political Protest | 151 |
Reexamining the Scholarship on Protesters Religious Conversions | 191 |
| 203 | |
| 229 | |
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activists and radicals Allen Ginsberg alternative Amarendra American antiwar appeared arrested ashram Baba Balavanta became began Berg Berkeley Buddhist Burroughs California called campus chanting Christian claimed consciousness converts counterculture culture CWLF decade devotees Dianetics Divine Light Mission draft drugs E-meter Eastern event example experience felt former activists goals Guru Maharaj Ji guru's Hare Krishna hippies Hubbard interview involved ISKCON Jacobs Jerry Rubin Jesus movement Kent Krassner leaders Leary Lee and Shlain leftist liberation lives Maharishi Meditation Meher Baba ment Moonies mystical Nixon organization participated peace person political activism political activists political protest Prabhupada programs psychedelic realized Reeder religion religious groups Rennie Davis revolution rhetoric Rubin Scientol Scientology Sea Org social movement society spiritual Steiner Swami teachings things tion Tipton Transcendental Meditation transformation Trungpa Unification Church Univ University Vietnam War Wolfe women Yogi York young youth Zaroulis and Sullivan