...Since the 60’s, there has been a large increase in the number of new religions and organisations, such as the ‘Moonies’ and Transcendental Meditation. This has led to multiple attempts to classify new religious movements. Roy Wallis categorises these new religious movements into three groups based on their relationship to the outside world – whether they accommodate, reject or affirm it. World- rejecting NRM’s are very similar to Troeltsch’s sects. They vary greatly in size, from hundreds to thousands of members. They have several characteristics; they are clearly religious organisations with a clear notion of god and are highly critical of outside society and expect or seek radical change. World- accommodating NRM’s are often breakaways from mainstream churches or denominations, such as Subud, an offshoot from Islam. They neither accept nor reject the world, the focus on religious rather than worldly matters, seeking to achieve religions spiritual purity. World- affirming NRM’s are groups that differ from all other religious groups and may lack some of the conventional features of religion, such as collective worship and some are not highly organised. They accept the world as it is and offer members success in terms of mainstream goals. There has been a rapid growth in the number of NRM’s and the number of individuals belonging to them. It has been estimated; 800 NRM’s exist and over half a million individuals belonging to these and other non-mainstream Christian churches in...
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...Assess the sociological explanations for the growth of new religious movements. By: Amy Rashid Over the years, there has been a growth of new religious movements in the society. This growth can be explained in terms of why people chose to join the movements or in terms of wider social changes. Hence, in this essay, I shall discuss several sociological explanations for this occurrence. Firstly, Steve Bruce (1995, 1996) attributes the development of a range of religious institutions, including sects and cults, to a general process of modernization and secularization. He believes the weakness of more conventional institutionalized religions has encouraged some people to consider less traditional alternatives. As modern societies developed and faith in traditional sources of authority (eg: churches) declined, religious pluralism and diversity were increasingly tolerated. More recently, in what Bruce believes is a more secular world in which people are less likely to hold strong commitments, cults have become more popular. These require fewer sacrifices and less commitment than churches and sects and are therefore more tolerable in a modern clientele. These new religious movements engage in worldly activities and allow people to drift in and out of participation as the sample the beliefs on offer. For example Transcendental Meditation (TM) is associated with a political party that fights general elections on policies that advocate the benefits of TM and ‘yogic flying’ for solutions...
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...week, identify one religion that you find the most interesting. Explain your response. * Explain at least three ways that social trends affect the formation of new religions and dictate new religious movements. The one religion that I found to be the most interesting is Jainism. This one was not only the most interesting one, but caused me anxiety. This is a religion of non-violence, and promotes peace of the world and peace within the self; and this is what I don’t have a problem with. I wish all religions were like that! What caused me anxiety is the amount of self-discipline and training. They are, what I think, the purest religion in the world. They don’t eat animals, they don’t even eat underground vegetables OR smelly vegetables (Onions) because a lot of microscopic insects are attracted to them and are killed when cooking them. They pray before and after they go to bed, for the sins that were committed and are about to commit; because the air that we breathe has microscopic organisms, and they sinful for killing them. Also, they don’t eat during the night, because without the heating rays of the Sun, many insects develop in the raw foods and die during cooking. It sounds like an awful way to live, yet humbling at the same time. In the book, three ways that social trends affect the formation of new religion is; Ethnic Identity “Except for the Africans, every race or tribe in the world has its own spirituality and religions. The Jews have kabbalism, Indians...
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...Assess the view that new religious movements are mainly for the middle classes and the young. A new religious movement is a spiritual organisation founded after world war 2. They do not only have their name 'new' because of this but also due to the way they present themselves as alternatives to traditional religions. I will begin to explore the view that these new religions are designed to appeal to the middle classes and the young. Movements set up before this time were either sects or cults. Although the definitions of these terms have developed over the years to result in different meanings and connotations, many sociologists have attempted to distinguish between the characteristics of each organisation. In 1981, Troeltsch said that the characteristics of a sect include attracting those from the lower classes and that young children cannot usually directly enter a sect. These aspects are already deemed to be contrasting with those of a NRM. A cult,,, on the other hand, has no single definition accepted by sociologists but are described by Bruce as being 'a loosely knit group organised around some common themes and interests but lacking any sharply defined and exclusive belief system.' Wallis arranged new religious movements into three categories; world rejecting, world accommodating and world affirming. World rejecting new religious movements are known for being critical of the outside world and therefore actively seek change. An example of a NRM that rejected the world...
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...Churches are large organisations often with millions of members. Sects are usually a break away from a church usually because of disagreement and cults are new religions such as Scientology. The view that sects and cults are more important than the church may be due to the fact there are many of these new religious movements gaining status and becoming well known in certain societies. The reason they may be seen as more important than the church may be due to the fact the church is losing members and attendance is low whereas new religious movements are gaining more members and are becoming more socially accepted. People these days are now more individualistic due to modernity. They do things that benefit themselves rather than society for example young people believe in spirituality as it aims to improve the individual. Stark and Bainbridge say sects offer other worldly benefits such as a place in heaven and cults offer worldly benefits in this life. This could be a reason that they seem to be more important than church as people rather follow the new religious movements as opposed to the church because they are fulfilling the individuals need to feel they may have a better life now and after death . This could also be showing that people feel so oppressed in this life that they need to follow a new religious movement like a sect as it gives them comfort knowing in the afterlife they will be saved and free of the oppression they are faced with in today’s...
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...Churches are large organisations often with millions of members. Sects are usually a break away from a church usually because of disagreement and cults are new religions such as Scientology. The view that sects and cults are more important than the church may be due to the fact there are many of these new religious movements gaining status and becoming well known in certain societies. The reason they may be seen as more important than the church may be due to the fact the church is losing members and attendance is low whereas new religious movements are gaining more members and are becoming more socially accepted. People these days are now more individualistic due to modernity. They do things that benefit themselves rather than society for example young people believe in spirituality as it aims to improve the individual. Stark and Bainbridge say sects offer other worldly benefits such as a place in heaven and cults offer worldly benefits in this life. This could be a reason that they seem to be more important than church as people rather follow the new religious movements as opposed to the church because they are fulfilling the individuals need to feel they may have a better life now and after death . This could also be showing that people feel so oppressed in this life that they need to follow a new religious movement like a sect as it gives them comfort knowing in the afterlife they will be saved and free of the oppression they are faced with in today’s...
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...Assess the usefulness of typologies in our understanding of religious organisations (33 marks) Religions are based upon very heterogenic principles and are structured in different ways, making them different of each other and therefore proving that they are not universal as some sociologists argue. Typologies within religious organisations have helped as to define religions and prove that they are based on religious pluralism and that they can be era-dependent, or in other ways can become outdated. Troeltsch was the first sociologist to divide religions into three different typologies; churches, sects and denominations, with very different characteristics and objectives. Troeltsch proved that some aspects of religions can be very different, like the background of members, the relationship to society or the tolerance towards other faiths and based upon this principles he divided each religion into one of his tree basic typologies. Troeltsch defines churches as large organisations with a universal appeal and defines Christianity and Islam as universalistic and as the main churches with a very close relationship with the state. Churches can have as mentioned a very close relationship with the state and the government, such as the Church of England, which has `monopolised´ the demands of the British society by becoming the predominant religion in the country. The Church of England has a very close relationship with the government, but also with the monarchy and therefore `jealously...
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...class and ethnic minorities who are marginalised, and reject from wider society for example afro-Caribbean’s. Barker has adopted the concept of new religious movements as an overarching idea that embraces both sects and cults, it is a more neutral term to highly negative meanings of sects and cults in popular culture. A new religious movement (NRM) is a religious community or spiritual group of modern origins, which has a peripheral place within its nation dominant religious culture. Wallis’s typology of NRMs looks at the relationship between wider society and sect’s, he identifies 3 – world affirming, world accommodating and world rejecting. World affirming NRMs try to gain the most from society, and seen as a less threatening ‘loose’ organisation for personal achievement. Specifically they lack religion and use internet and technology for contact, levitation or meditation are examples. World accommodating disagree with society but choose to accept it and live normal lives, they seek to restore faith and religion into society, and an example includes Neo-Pentecostalism, where they believe in speaking in tongues. Then there is world rejecting who are seen as the scariest to society as they make a strong commitment to their movement, disowning family and friends. The Branch Davidians and the Moonies are examples of world rejecting movements. Wilson’s typology of NRMs include conversionists that see the world...
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...place of established churches as the most important religious and spiritual movements on today’s society Churches are large organisations often with millions of members. Sects are usually a break away from a church usually because of disagreement and cults are new religions such as Scientology. The view that sects and cults are more important than the church may be due to the fact there are many of these new religious movements gaining status and becoming well known in certain societies. The reason they may be seen as more important than the church may be due to the fact the church is losing members and attendance is low whereas new religious movements are gaining more members and are becoming more socially accepted. People these days are now more individualistic due to modernity. They do things that benefit themselves rather than society for example young people believe in spirituality as it aims to improve the individual. Stark and Bainbridge say sects offer other worldly benefits such as a place in heaven and cults offer worldly benefits in this life. This could be a reason that they seem to be more important than church as people rather follow the new religious movements as opposed to the church because they are fulfilling the individuals need to feel they may have a better life now and after death . This could also be showing that people feel so oppressed in this life that they need to follow a new religious movement like a sect as it gives them comfort knowing in the...
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...“New Religious Movements can best be distinguished by the degree of commitment they ask of their followers”. (Barker) To what extent do sociological arguments and evidence support this view of NRMS. A new religious movement (NRM) is a comprehensive term used to identify religious, ethical, and spiritual groups, communities and practices of relatively modern origins. NMRs have grown since the 1960s, such as the Moonies, Scientology and Krishna Consciousness. They have grown because of the marginality of marginality – Weber (1922) argued that sects appeal to disprivileged groups who are marginal to society; sects offer a solution to their lack of status by offering their members a theodicy of disprivilege – a religious explanation of their disadvantage and many sects and millenarian movements have recruited from the marginalized poor, relative deprivation – it is possible for someone who is quite privileged to feel deprived compared with others; e.g. some middle-class people may feel spiritually deprived and so people may turn to sects for a sense of community; Stark and Bainbridge argue that it is the relatively deprived who break away from churches to form sects and rapid social change – which Wilson argued undermined established norms, producing anomie (normlessness); those most affected may turn to sects, e.g. Methodism during the industrial revolution. Wallis distinguishes between three types of NRM depending on whether their attitudes to wider society are world-rejecting...
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...appeal of New Religious Movements and New age movements Previously, religions such as Christianity and Islam, and beliefs such as the belief of science and evolution dominated world beliefs. Nowadays, more and more people are rejecting traditional religious explanations of spirituality and scientific accounts of the natural world, and moving more towards New religious movements and new age movements. New religious movements take aspects from other religions and form a modern group and claim a monopoly on the truth (usually a sect or cult), whereas in a new age movement, the groups focus on unlocking the individuals true potential and then succeeding their goals. The both highlight the flaws in modern day society, but often NRM focus on the group, whereas NAM focus on the individual. In this essay, several argument why people move from religious and scientific beliefs to NAM’s and NRM’s. New religious movements have seen a rise, and there are an estimated 25,000 new religious groups in Europe alone. New religious groups fit into on out of 3 categories, world affirming, world rejecting and world accommodating. World affirming are individualistic and life positive, releasing human potential. They accept the world, and often appeal to older adults who are disinterested with a materialistic lifestyle, and agree with the laid back attitude of the world affiliating groups. They often have a therapy group as opposed to churches etc. and examples of affiliating movements include Transcendental...
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...Heaven’s Gate Religion There are many types of religions that have been formed known as new religious movements and Heaven’s Gate Religion is one that fascinates me. Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religious Millenarian group based in San Diego, California, founded in the early 1970s and led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group who had committed suicide in order to reach what they believed was an alien space craft following Comet Hale–Bopp. The new religious movement sounds crazy when first reading about it and after writing this essay I hope to learn subjects such as, what are the forms of salvation within the religion and how does the religion address the problem of evil. When looki ng at different websites the first thing that popped up when searching for Heaven’s Gate was the word cult and that’s exactly what I thought about for the group because it reminded me of exactly that. I find it really hard to think of the group as a serious religion since many of them took their own life when I am a Christian and believe strongly against suicide. The first Subject that I would like to talk to you about is what the forms of salvation are when it comes to the new religious movement known as the Heaven’s Gate religion. The group led by Marshall Applewhite had a very interesting way of thinking and it showed when they became convinced that the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet masked a spacecraft...
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...Evaluate the view that new cults and sects are replacing traditional religion as the means for experiencing and expressing religious belief in the world today In this essay, I will be evaluating the view that cults and sects are replacing traditional religion as for expressing religious belief in the world today. To do this I will be referring to a number of sociologists view on the idea of sects and cults. New religious movements such as sects and cults have become more common over the years. Many people are becoming influenced by these religious groups which tell citizens in society if they join them they will lead a better life. Many sociologists have argued that NRMs are increasing in size and popularity due to unjust events people are seeing in modern society. To begin with, many sociologists have argued that NRMs are no big influence on society and are just really to some extent a way of showing societies change, which is sure to happen over the years anyway. Wallis identified three main kinds of new religious movements. These are world affirming, world accommodating and world rejecting groups. Sociologists have argued the one that is short lived than the rest is the world rejecting. This group is usually classed as a sect or cult in which they are always highly critical of the outside world and demand significant commitment from their members. An Example of one of these is the Unification church (the Moonies) founded in Korea. They reject the mundane the secular...
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...Discuss the differences between churches, sects and cults. A church: is a religious group that accepts the social environment in which it exists. In more plain language, a church is widely accepted by the host culture in which it resides. In America, Protestantism would be a church. It is generally accepted by the whole and is consistent with the culture's values (maybe not traditional Protestantism, but what forms we have of it today). Church may have denominations which are small changes made in the church that are still accepted by the host culture. A sect: is a religious group the rejects the social environment in which it exists. Now, it's not as extreme as that definition makes it seem. A sect doesn't necessarily share the same values as the host culture. This causes some friction between the religious group and the host culture, but we accept the group as a society because we're more tolerant to differing religions in this day and age. Many churches started as sects. One well-known example was the Nazarenes. This was an reform movement within Judaism formed by Jesus' apostles after the execution of Jesus circa 30 CE They were largely dispersed or killed some four decades later when the Romans attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Again the most obvious North American example of a sect that evolved into a denomination is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), the Mormons. Their founder, Joseph Smith, had a revelation from God that the...
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...SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR THE INCREASING NUMBER OF RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS IN SOCIETY TODAY. (33 marks.) Since the 1960s there has been massive growth in the number of sects and cults and the number of people belonging to them. For example there is an estimated to be over 800 new religious movements and half a million individuals belonging to these and other non-mainstream Christian churches in the UK. Sociologists have offered three key explanations for this trend; marginality, relative deprivation and social change. Troeltsch had noted sects tended to draw members from the poor and the oppressed. Similarly, Max Weber argues sects arise in groups who are marginal in society. Such groups feel they’re disprivileged. They don’t believing they’re receiving their economic rewards or social status. Weber argues that sects offer a solution to this problem by offering members a theodicy of disprivilege – a religious explanation and justification for their suffering and disadvantage. This can explain their misfortune as a test of faith, for example while holding out the promise of rewards in the future for keeping the faith. Historically many sects as well as millenarian movements have recruited from the marginalised poor. For example in the 20th century the Nation of Islam recruited among disadvantaged oppressed blacks in the USA. However since the 1960s the sect world rejecting new religious movement the Moonies have recruited from more affluent groups...
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