Lecture: New Religious Movements
Social Context of New Religious Movements
Both cult and sect have specific, neutral meanings: a cult represents a distinct
eak from
established traditions, and a sect is a splinter or subgroup associated with a larger tradition.
However, both terms are often used pejoratively; cult in particular may be used to label a group with
a charismatic leader whose power is thought to be potentially dangerous to followers. To avoid such
negative connotations, many scholars use the term “new religious movements” for groups which
may have been labeled as cults. New religious
movements may be further classified according
to their relation to the society around them
and their relation to previous traditions.
Stark and Bain
idge proposed the following typology. While a mainstream religion accepts and
accommodates itself to the society in which it operates, a sect characterizes the society around it as
worldly and unbelieving. A cult is an independent religious tradition which may be in conflict with
the su
ounding society, and such groups may be further classified by the way they influence their
members’ relation to society. Audience cults do not require conversion (e.g. New Age groups in
which people may da
le). Client cults offer some sort of service, such as a particular form of
therapy or healing (e.g. Scientology). A cult movement is a full-fledged organization requiring
conversion and allegiance to the group; it may involve total group allegiance and communal living.
Apocalyptic and Millennial Expectations
The adjective apocalyptic comes from the Greek word apokalypsis (uncovering, revelation). In
eligious parlance, apocalyptic frequently refers to religious interpretations of the ultimate end of
history and the re-creation of the universe, or the apocalypse. A concept related to apocalypticism
in Christianity is that of the millennium, a thousand-year period in which Christ rules the earth.
This expectation is expressed in the Biblical book called Revelation. At end of time, a decisive battle
etween the force of good and evil is depicted. A ho
endous war ensues between God and Satan.
God wins, and the millennium begins. Some Christians speak of the rapture (an idea developed in
the nineteenth century), when Christians will be caught up in clouds to meet Jesus as he returns to
earth. As the twenty-first century began, some speculated that the new century would
ing changes,
and interpreted events such as weather patterns and economic conditions as indicative of a spiritual
crisis.
Expectations of major world changes can be found in Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, and some indigenous religions. Millennial movements anticipate the coming of
an age when the faithful will be rewarded. However, whereas
established religions may ha
or such expectations and be viewed as
mainstream, traditional, and normal, other religious movements
advocating apocalyptic expectations are frequently labeled as
eccentric. This can lead to two manifestations of such movements.
Catastrophic millennialism asserts that the world must be destroyed
efore it can begin again; progressive millennialism takes the view
that humans working in concert with the divine can change the
world.
Catastrophic
millennialism
Examples of
catastrophic
millennial groups
include the
Jehovah’s
Witnesses, whose
founder Charles
Taze Russell
predicted that the end of the world would occur
in 1873 or 1874. When those dates and further predicted dates passed without the world ending,
Russell concluded that Christ had indeed a
ived, but
was invisible.
In recent times, there
have been
several
examples of
tragic occu
ences associated with catastrophic millennial groups, such as
the death of about eighty Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas in 1993, the
suicides of seventy-four members of the Order of the Solar Temple in
1994 and 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo attack on the Tokyo subway system in
1995, and the deaths of over one thousand members of the Movement for
the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Uganda.
In the wake of such events, law enforcement officials and other authorities
have sought better understanding of new religious movements. Some
elieve that members are
ainwashed, while others see a
psychopathological component to conversion to new religions (an argument which could
e made about any religious commitment). The theory of “deviance amplification”
suggests that tragedies may be avoided if the su
ounding society is not provocative
towards new religions in its midst.
Religion-related violence is by no means the sole province of new religious movements. Nor are the
members of new religious movements necessarily much different from the ordinary citizen.
Research shows that the typical convert is a young adult without family commitments, well-
educated, middle to upper-middle class, no more psychologically imbalanced than his or her peers,
and seeking answers to spiritual questions. How then do such people become violent? One
possibility is that the isolationist lifestyle of some
groups creates a situation in which seemingly
i
ational beliefs make sense. The theory of deviance
amplification further suggests that when members
perceive a threat from the outside world, their belief
that they are not of this world may be intensified,
and death or suicide may seem like a
good option (as e.g. was the case with
the members of Heaven’s Gate who
committed suicide in 1997).
Progressive millennial movements
Two examples of progressive
millennial movements seeking to
usher in a new world age are the
Rastafari movement and the
Unification Movement.
Rastafarianism is a Jamaican
movement that has entertained
millenarian expectations in the
prophecies of Alexander Bedward
(1895) and Marcus Garvey. In its
vision, blacks have a special role in
the coming new era. Some
interpreted a prophecy attributed to
Garvey as applying to the Emperor
of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, and hoped
that black Jamaicans would be given free
passage to Africa. Rastafarians wear
dreadlocks as a protest against
industrialized society, and some view
marijuana or ganja as sacramental.
Interestingly, women are not considered
capable of Rastafarian awareness except
through their husbands. The movement
has spread to the Cari
ean, North
America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Unification Movement was founded by Sun
Myung Moon, who has announced that he and his
second wife Hak Ja Han
are jointly the messiah.
Moon offers an
unconventional
interpretation of the
story of Adam and Eve,
and teaches that Jesus'
mission on earth was
left unfinished. Moon
and his wife are the
True Parents of
humankind who seek to
establish families in
which God’s love may be manifest, hence the
focus on mass wedding ceremonies.
Supernatural Powers and Revelations
Many new religious movements ground
themselves in the supernatural realm, and may
e led by women with shamanistic powers.
Miki Nakayama, a nineteenth-century founder
of the Tenrikyo movement, reported that she
was possessed by ten spirits who proclaimed
through her. It is said that she
composed some 1711 poems under
divine inspiration, which became this
movement’s sacred scriptures.
The Mahikari movement was
founded in 1959 by Sukui Nushi Sama
in Japan. He believes he is the
successor to the Buddha and Christ as
God’s viceroy on earth. Mahikarians are taught that science and medicine are ignorant superstitions.
Rather than use such measures, they are further taught to transmit light for healing,
inging peace
to ancestral spirits, and for spreading divine civilization throughout the world.
Spiritualism refers to a United States Christian context in which communication with the spirits of
the dead is emphasized. The National Spiritualist Association of Churches defines Spiritualism as
“the science, philosophy, and religion of continuous life.” Its liturgy
has similarities with Christian worship; however, it does not focus on
sinfulness or Jesus. The Unification Movement also has a spiritualist
component.
Offshoots of Older Religions
The Mormon Church, formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, differs
from more mainstream forms of
Christianity in that it accepts both the
Christian Bible and The Book of Mormon.
Early Mormons faced persecution in the
United States and after the death of
founder Joseph Smith, several separate
groups developed. The largest, led by
Brigham Young, settled in Salt Lake City,
Utah where they sought to build “Zion in
the Wilderness” and restore what they
considered true Christianity. The Mormons
consider other forms of Christianity to
e apostasy (abandonment of principles).
The Mormon lifestyle is austere.
As an outgrowth of Sikhism in India, the
leaders of the Radhasoami movement often have Sikh
ackgrounds. Whereas orthodox Sikhs believe in a succession of ten gurus, Radhasoamis believe in
an ongoing succession of living masters. Today, this
movement has
anched into thirty groups, each with its
own guru. The Punjabi
anches are known as Sant Mat, a
collective term meaning Path of the Masters. The lineage of
Perfect Masters includes prior teachers such as the Buddha,
Jesus, and Muhammad. The most popular
anch of the
movement is the Rashasoami Satsang Beas.
Combinations of Older Religions
Syncretism refers to the process of a
seemingly new religion developing
through the intermingling of normally
differing beliefs. Caodaism, established in
Vietnam in 1926, asserts that religious
leaders such as Moses, the Buddha,
Confucius, and Jesus were all inspired by God to start religions, but these
eligions became distorted by local customs. Varying religions kept people from
living harmoniously.
Caodaism thus developed
as a syncretism of
multiple faiths, who
anticipate a Third Era of
Religious Amnesty.
Santeria is a mixture of Catholic
and African traditions practiced in
the Cari
ean and Latin America
(some prefer the term Lukumi). It
stresses contact and cooperation
with the spirits. The name literally
means the way of the saints;
devotion to deities from various
African traditions (e.g. the orisa)
may be linked to Catholic saints.
Santeria practice seeks to keep the
energy ashe flowing properly.
When a town in Florida outlawed
ituals of animal sacrifice
practiced in Santeria, the United
States Supreme Court ove
uled