Editing Millenarianism (section)

== Theology ==
Many if not most millenarian groups claim that the current [[society]] and its rulers are corrupt, unjust, or otherwise wrong, and that they will soon be destroyed by a powerful force. The harmful nature of the status quo is considered intractable without the anticipated dramatic change.<ref>Worsley, Peter. 1957. ''The trumpet shall sound; a study of "cargo" cults in Melanesia''. London: MacGibbon & Kee.</ref> [[Henri Desroche]] observed that millenarian movements often envisioned three periods in which change might occur. First, the elect members of the movement will be increasingly oppressed, leading to the second period in which the movement resists the oppression. The third period brings about a new utopian age, liberating the members of the movement.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dieux d'hommes. Dictionnaire des messianismes et millénarismes de l'ère chrétienne|last=Desroche|first=Henri|publisher=Berg International|year=1969|location=Paris|pages=31–32}}</ref>

In the modern world, economic rules, perceived immorality or vast conspiracies are seen as generating [[oppression]]. Only dramatic events are seen as able to change the world and the change is anticipated to be brought about, or survived, by a group of the devout and dedicated. In most millenarian scenarios, the disaster or battle to come will be followed by a new, purified world in which the believers will be rewarded.<ref name="CODS"/>

While many millenarian groups are [[pacifist]]ic, millenarian beliefs have been claimed as causes for people to ignore conventional rules of behaviour, which can result in violence directed inwards (such as the [[Jonestown]] mass murder) or outwards (such as the [[Aum Shinrikyo]] [[terrorism|terrorist]] acts). It sometimes includes a belief in supernatural powers or predetermined victory. In some cases, millenarians withdraw from society to await the intervention of God.<ref>Wessinger, Catherine. ''Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases''. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2000. Print.</ref> This is also known as [[world-rejection]].

Millenarian ideologies or religious [[sect]]s sometimes [[Millenarianism in colonial societies|appear in oppressed peoples]], with examples such as the 19th-century [[Ghost Dance]] movement among [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], early [[Mormons]],<ref name="Mormon Millenarian">{{cite book|last1=Underwood|first1=Grant|author-link1=Grant Underwood|title=The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism|date=1999|orig-date=1993|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana|isbn=978-0252068263|url=https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48cbq6kr9780252068263.html|access-date=2019-04-09|archive-date=2019-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513045007/https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48cbq6kr9780252068263.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the 19th and 20th-century [[cargo cults]] among isolated [[Pacific Islanders]].<ref name="CODS"/>

The [[Catechism of the Catholic Church|Catechism [doctrine] of the Catholic Church]] rejects all forms of millenarianism and its variations:<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1V.HTM#-UQ |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 676 |access-date=2020-03-15 |archive-date=2007-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105060254/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1V.HTM#-UQ |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{blockquote|The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the 'intrinsically perverse' political form of a secular messianism.}}