re why did they behave as they did waco reading suggestion in article rc f inn rl emx cc utexas edu bill emx cc utexas edu bill jefferys writes if you would like to understand better the sort of behavior that we saw in connection with the waco tragedy i d strongly recommend reading when prophecy fails by leon festinger henry riecken and stanley schachter available as a harper torchbook it goes a long way towards explaining how a belief system can be so strong as to withstand even overwhelming disconfirmatory evidence at least read the first chapter interestingly just as the branch davidians had roots in the seventh day adventist movement the sdas themselves had their roots in the millerite movement of the first half of the th century a movement that expected the end of the world in was disappointed when it did not take place and wound up as a church that s also how christianity came to be the immediate return of jesus was expected when it didn t happen they formed their own church
