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Chapter 12 New Religious Movements
Learning Objectives
12.2 Discuss the role that may be played by a charismatic leader in the development of a
new religious movement.
12.4 Compare and contrast several movements that combine differing beliefs of
traditional religions.
12.6 Outline some of the aspects furthered by a new religious movements arising from
social trends.
12.8 Analyze the secular factors that predispose a new religious movement to last.
Chapter Overview
Social context of new religious movements
Charismatic leadership
Unification Movement
Sathya Sai Baba
Offshoots of older religions
Mormon Church
Radhasoami
Combinations of older religions
Caodaism
African-inspired religions
Agnon Shu
Universalism
Theosophical Society
Model for Governance of the World
Social trends
Ethnic identity: Rastafari
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Key Points
Introduction
New religions appear and old religions disappear the history of religion is one
of continual change.
Rapid social change will normally spawn new religions; people seek a new
spirituality amid chaos.
The Internet and social media have increased the speed with which new religious
movements evolve and spread.
While there can be movements and teachings that show us how to approach
12.1 Social context of new religious movements
cults sects
o have specific, neutral meanings:
A cult arises outside other traditions.
Much research has been performed by sociologists.
more marginal.
Professors Rodney Stark and William S. Bainbridge proposed the following
typology:
o While a mainstream religion accepts and accommodates itself to the society
o A cult is an independent religious tradition that may be in conflict with the
surrounding society, and such groups may be further classified by the way
which people may dabble for example, that of Deepak Chopra).
process of detachment for church members.
-fledged organization requiring conversion
and allegiance to the group; it may involve total group allegiance and
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communal living.
When members of a new religious movement anticipate that the end times or a
new world order are coming soon, they tend to be regarded as eccentrics by the
rest of society.
The anticipation of major world changes sometimes leads to the formation of
new movements that preach the imminence of a great time of change.
o In Christianity, the last book in the Bible, Revelation, predicts an
apocalypse, or a dramatic end to the world. Revelation foretells a great war
between Satan and God that will be followed first by terrible destruction and
o Apocalyptic expectations were rife on the eve of the year 2000.
UFO Cults have added their own changes.
o For example, Raëlians believe in wise extraterrestrial beings collectively
ame for supreme deity, which is also found in the
12.2 Charismatic leadership
New religions are generally formed when a charismatic figure appears who
develops a dedicated following of people who regard him or her as their guru,
prophet, or Messiah.
Huge movements have developed around these charismatic figures.
Unification Movement
The Unification Movement was founded by Sun Myung Moon, who announced
that he and his second wife, Hak Ja Han, were Messiahs. Moon was born in what
is now North Korea, where, at the time of his announcement, Christians met
underground to hide from Japanese occupation authorities. Messianic
expectations were high.
While Moon prayed in the mountains around Easter of 1935, Jesus appeared to
him and said that his own work on earth was finished and that Moon should
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selfishness prevails and the misuse of love through illicit sex has led to the fall of
humanity. From the time of Adam and Eve, false love has been passed down
generationally, infecting all of humanity. Jesus was the Second Adam and Moon
was the Third Adam, who restored this ideal.
Moon was ultimately arrested and tortured in North Korea for his religious
which thousands of couples matched by the movement are already-wed couples
another 20,000 who participated online.
The Moons traveled globally on speaking tours and announced that they were the
Sathya Sai Baba
Another charismatic leader is Sathya Sai Baba of India, who claimed to be the
reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, a saint beloved by people of many religions.
Spiritual phenomena and personal magnetism, as well as his claims as being
Shirdi Sai Baba, drew people to him.
His center in Puttaparthi became a place of world pilgrimage that also had a
Many miracles were attributed to him, but such apparent spiritual magic is not
unique in India.
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12.3 Offshoots of older religions
Newer offshoots of older religions are often sufficiently different from the parent
religion to be considered new religious movements.
Mormon Church
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.
Mormons believe that in 1822, Joseph Smith found a book in New York engraved
on gold plates. The Book of Mormon is the account of several of the lost tribes of
Convinced of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, followers of Joseph Smith
Early Mormons faced persecution in the United States, and after the assassination
Mormons consider other forms of Christianity to be apostasy (abandonment of
principles). The Mormon lifestyle is austere, with an emphasis on clean living and
strong family values.
The Mormon Church now has fifteen million followers worldwide. Its members
control great material wealth and also exercise considerable political influence in
Following the revelations given to Joseph Smith, Mormons do not use alcohol,
tobacco, coffee, and tea; they eat meat sparingly and focus on healthy diets.
They have a strong social welfare system to support families in need.
Whereas the Mormons put their faith in the Book of Mormon and the Bible,
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Jehovah
from the Bible in the second and third centuries CE by developing untrue
doctrines: God is the Trinity; the soul is resurrected after death; and the
Russell, who predicted
that the end of the world would occur in 1873 or 1874. When those dates and
They go door to door, encouraging people to follow their religion and study the
Bible as the inspired and accurate Word of God.
Jehovah Witnesses were severely persecuted in Nazi Germany as subversives.
During th
Radhasoami
As an outgrowth of Sikhism in India, the leaders of the Radhasoami movement
Today, this movement has branched into thirty groups, each with its own guru.
The Punjabi branches are known as Sant Mat, a collective term meaning Path of
the Masters.
Radhasoami is primarily an esoteric path, without exoteric (external, public)
ceremonies.
o Initiates are taught a secret yoga practice of concentrating on the third eye
This movement now claims an estimated two million initiates.
In the Agra area in India, there are spiritual suburbs where they live and work
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12.4 Combinations of older religions
Mixtures of religions have historically arisen in many places. This process of
combining normally differing beliefs produces what seems to be a new religion of
sorts.
Caodaism
Caodaism, established in Vietnam in 1926, asserts that religious leaders such as
Moses, Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus were all inspired by God to start religions,
but these religions became distorted by local customs.
African-inspired religions
Other mixtures have emerged, including a variety of new religious movements in
the Caribbean and Latin America.
Santeria is a mixture of Catholic and African traditions
(some prefer the term Lukumi).
o It stresses contact and cooperation with the spirits.
o Devotion to deities from various African traditions (e.g., the orisa) may be
linked to Catholic saints.
Agon Shu
Agon Shu is a religious movement in Japan. Its founder is Seiyu Kiriyama, who
develops regimes for laymen who climb into the mountains to engage in mental
and physical disciplines.
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In 2006, he held a fire ritual next to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in
12.5 Universalism
Some new religious movements take a broader view and try to encompass all
religions.
Typically, they teach that all the prophets have brought essentially the same
message to humanity, though in different times and places.
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society was founded by Madame Helena Blavatsky in the
nineteenth century.
Theo
recipients of revelations from unseen spiritual powers.
Bah
A new religion intent on uniting all of humanity in the belief in one God is
. It was originally proclaimed in Persia, a Muslim state, where it met with
opposition.
claims five million followers.
They have scriptures but no priesthood.
12.6 Social trends
New religious movements can also be seen as arising from social trends,
with or without connections to previous religions or charismatic leaders.
Because they are rooted in present concerns, these may or may not survive
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Ethnic Identity: Rastafari
Rastafarianism is a Jamaican movement that has entertained millenarian
expectations in the prophecies of Alexander Bedward 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.
Nature spirituality
This is a kind of global religion insofar as it seeks to reconnect or tie people
back to spirituality through a renewed reverence for and relationship with
nature.
Reinvention of old practices
o Neo-Paganism attempts to practice a nature-oriented spirituality by
recovering past models of religion long since suppressed by more powerful
o Scholars and practitioners of goddess spirituality have sought to explain why
goddess worship declined and how this relates to patriarchy; goddess
spirituality practices often involve rituals that seek to empower women and
help them discover the goddess within.
o People seeking to return to old models are members of new religions known
collectively as ethnic religions (as distinguished from indigenous religions).
These have emerged since the fall of communism as revivals of pre-Christian
Deep ecology
o
as oneness or being one with all of the natural world indeed, even the
cosmos.
o Followers typically contrast their views with the anthropocentrism of most
Western religions, which cast humans as the controllers of the natural world.
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o The Gaia hypothesis (named for the Greek earth goddess) asserts that the
soils may be viewed as a single
living entity.
New Age spirituality
Participants typically share a belief in the evolution of planetary consciousness,
contending that the entire planet and all its interrelationships are becoming one
conscious interactive being.
The New Age movement draws from many sources, leading some to characterize
ia-
Invented religions
One of the newest trends in religions is a medley of religion-like movements that
mix features reminiscent of traditional religions with aspects of popular culture.
This trend is an extreme example of the contemporary individualistic mores that
12.7 Opposition to new religious movements
Throughout history, new religions have met with opposition from established
religions.
Some nations seek to regulate or suppress new religious movements and may
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express opposition to the new groups; such opposition led to the development of
–
brainwashing hypothesis for conversion to new religious movements.
The brainwashing hypothesis has been largely discredited; the tactics used by new
Will new religious movements last?
Five factors may help indicate whether a religion will become widespread and
long-lasting:
o One is the balance between similarities to existing beliefs that make it
attractive and nonthreatening and differences compelling enough to make
people convert.
o A second is the organization, commitment, and bonds among followers and
o Fourth is the status of prevailing religions; if they seem largely institutional
with little spiritual life, they are susceptible to losing members to new
religious movements.
Key Terms
apocalypse Goddess spirituality rapture
apostasy millennium Santeria
Review Questions
1. Define and give examples of a new religion, a cult, a sect, an audience cult, a client
cult, and a cult movement.
2. What challenges do religious groups such as the Unification Movement face as they
mature?
3. Describe some of the basic features of new religious movements such as Mormonism,
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4. What are the common themes and differences among Native Spirituality, deep
ecology, and New Age Spirituality? Give examples of each.
Discussion Questions
1. Describe and compare the arguments made by those who advocate tolerance for new
religious movements and those who believe they should not be tolerated.
Class Activities/Assignments
1. Ask students if any of these new religious movements are present in your city or
3. What positive or negative news has been reported on cults recently? Have students
look at newspaper or online news source stories. Are the characterizations neutral or
biased?
world. For example, Church of the Helix was a sociological experiment that has turned
5. Have students look at the Creation story in the Book of Genesis and at Goddess
spirituality, Gaia, and Creation stories from indigenous groups and describe how they
Recommended Films
In Search of an Ideal, HSA Books, 17 minutes. A Unification Church-produced
introduction to the ideals of the movement.
, SnagFilms, 2011. 92 minutes. This movie explores the origins
and beliefs of Rastafarians, focusing on an
journey to become a Rasta Empress.
Santeria, National Geographic Videos, 5 minutes. This movie provides a brief overview
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Additional Class Discussion/Essay Questions
1. What does the emergence of multiple new religions imply about the success of
mainstream religions in meeting human needs?
3. Select any two of the new religious movements that are offshoots of an established
religion. Discuss their relationship to the established religion from which they come.
What similarities are apparent? What are the most striking differences between them?