Page 5 (Faith-Based Uses of Rhetoric)

Faith-Based Uses of Rhetoric

Religion

(3)

Religion relies deeply on rhetoric, for it would be impossible to "communicate, develop, defend, or spread" religious beliefs without the ability to utilize rhetorical elements. (1) 

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), who was a rhetoric teacher-turned-pastor, said about students studying to become a practicing member of a religion, "should learn to use rhetoric to win souls and to learn some principles of discourse in order to do so" (2)

Some religions or their members also use certain types of fearful rhetoric in order to persuade others to act a certain way, typically in accordance with scripture. Extreme examples, like a Christian telling a person they will go to hell if they do not accept God, are still ultimately nothing more than rhetoric. 

Many elements of modern Christianity point to the use of rhetoric with an emphasis on fear and guilt.

The heaven/hell afterlife is one way to implement fear and encourage acceptable behavior. Additionally, by telling non-believers that Jesus Christ, the prophet of Christianity, died for their sins, the intention is that the non-believer now feels guilty to not believe in that prophet. The rhetorical purpose of persuasion within religion can take many forms because of the desire to recruit new believers.

Cults

What each of these cult leaders had in common is that they all pandered to their followers' faith, using rhetoric to convince everyone that they were a living God.

Charles Manson

(4)

The leader of the 'Manson Family' throughout the 1960's, Charles Manson used his natural charisma, accompanied by rhetoric that he was a god, to persuade many people to join his cult. His physical appearance, according to his followers, was likened to that of Jesus. Since the height of his influence happened alongside the flower-power era, Manson utilized the appeal of drugs and freedom from the government to gain followers as well. (4) His most notorious act was organizing his followers to commit the murder of Sharon Tate in 1969.

Jim Jones

(5)

Jones' Peoples Temple was a radical movement that grew over three decades from the 1950's to the 1970's. With a growing number of followers, Jones' rhetoric evolved from promoting togetherness and healthy living to claiming that he was the 'father' and that his followers needed to worship him. After relocating his cult to Guyana to evade investigation, Jones used the "it's us vs. them" style of rhetoric as the last way to convince them to commit mass suicide after he had murdered a Congressman. The result of his rhetoric led to the Jonestown incident, in which over 900 people committed mass suicide/murder. (6)

David Koresh

(7)

Leader of the Branch Davidians, Koresh also believed he was a living god, using a combination of religious rhetoric of the imminent end-of-days and his own charm to persuade followers to join his commune. Because of his belief in the end of the world coming soon, he and his followers began stockpiling weapons to prepare for an invasion of their compound. He also knowingly invited an undercover federal agent into his compound, once again using his rhetoric that he, as a god, should be accepting of everyone. The siege on Waco happened over fifty-one days. (8)

The Distinction between Faith and Fact

It is everyone's right to choose and to believe in their faith, but it is important not to mix faith with indisputable fact. Faith can be shared and spread by using rhetoric to inform others of the beliefs, but that does not make one faith, no matter what kind, more ethical, moral, or objectively correct than another. 

Works Cited

1. Souders, Michael. “Religious Rhetoric.” Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets, 2013, https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0117.

2. Duchan, Judy. “Augustine of Hippo.” A History of Speech - Language Pathology, 11 Sept. 2021, https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~duchan/new_history/middle_ages/st_augustine.html#:~:text=Augustine%20argued%20that%20students%20who%20are%20studying%20to,a%20learning%20strategy%2C%20over%20memorizing%20principles%20or%20rules.

3. Denlinger, Aaron. “Saint Augustine: Rhetoric Student (and Teacher) by Aaron Denlinger.” Arma Dei Academy, 2 July 2021, https://armadeiacademy.com/saint-augustine-rhetoric-student-and-teacher-by-aaron-denlinger/.

4. Parkinson, Justin. “The Terrible Charisma of Charles Manson.” BBC News, BBC, 20 Nov. 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42051402.

5. “Jonestown Massacre Takes the Lives of Hundreds in a Mass Suicide-Murder in 1978.” New York Daily News, 7 Apr. 2018, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/jonestown-massacre-takes-lives-hundreds-1978-article-1.2877618.

6. Pehanick, Maggie. “Revolutionary Suicide: A Rhetorical Examination of Jim Jones' ‘Death Tape.’” Alternative Considerations of Jonestown Peoples Temple, 25 July 2013, https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=30321.

7. Killelea, Eric. “Flashback: Waco Cult Showdown Ends in Disaster.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/flashback-waco-cult-showdown-ends-in-disaster-124074/.

8. Monroe, Rachel. “What Really Happened at Waco.” The New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2023, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/what-really-happened-at-waco.