Sects, and Cults

SCY3: Beliefs in Society

P.20-21

Learning Objectives
Identify the key characteristics of sects and cults. Examine case studies/examples of sects and cults.

Recap
What is.. A Church? A Denomination? How can they be linked to a sect?

The relationship
Rejection of the church and or organised religion. Extremist groups. Often led by a charismatic leader.

Church

Growth in size and influence

Decrease in Membership or influence

Militant or deviant behaviour, dwindling numbers Formal, large, more socially acceptable

Sect

Denomination

A Sect is
A small religious group, often hostile to the outside world.

A Sect

Is a small organisation with no professional hierarchy.

A charismatic leader is
Someone who leads their group (sect) because of their powerful personality.

A Sect
Is usually headed by a charismatic leader.

Revd Jim Jones was the charismatic leader of the Peoples Temple or Jonestown where all the members followed his command for revolutionary suicide.

A Sect

Has exclusive terms of membership

A Sect

Does not offer automatic recruitment.

A Sect

Requires total commitment from members.

Most of the members of The Peoples Temple were found dead.

A Sect

Is opposed to the state and wider society.

The government intervened with force, to try and dull the supposed threat from the Branch Davidians.

Sects
Troeltsch (1931) sees sects as almost totally opposite to churches. They have the following features: 1. They are smaller and more strongly integrated than other religious organisations. 2. They are connected more closely with lower classes and dont draw members from the whole of society. 3. They are generally in opposition to the world around them. 4. Members may be expected to withdraw from life outside the sect. 5. Deep commitment is required. 6. Young children are not usually allowed to be members. They should join voluntarily as adults. 7. They believe they have a monopoly on the religious truth. 8. They often have one charismatic leader, not a hierarchy of paid officials.

Sects come in vastly different sizes, with a wide variety of ideologies, contrasting attitudes to the outside world, varying degrees of control over their membership, and with or without a professional clergy and a charismatic leader.

Bruce (1996) believes that original sects were a product of the major upheavals of the reformation of the churches in the UK. People became dissatisfied with traditional religion and formed sects. Many sects evolved to become denominations as religious diversity became more tolerated. Bruce also notes that sects can prosper in modern society where people have the opportunity to form their own subcultures. Some sects still come into conflict with wider society even with greater tolerance of different religions. This can cause huge problems, a good example is Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple in the 1970s in the USA. In the 1990s there were a number of religious movements in which there were deaths of followers in violent circumstances e.g. The Branch Davidans, formed by David Koresh in Waco in Texas.

A Cult is
A spiritual association that emphasizes individualism.

A Cult will

Have minimal Organisational structure.

A Cult will

Have limited formal contact between its members.

Online slimming clubs have members which may never meet each other.

A Cult will

Exert no control over members lives.

Cults like Paganism can be practised individually, at will.

A Cult will

Make no claim to monopoly of religious truth

Scientology promotes itself as one version of belief that works for members who choose it.

A Cult will

Affirm life in this world.

Transcendental Meditation encourages people to achieve personal, spiritual well being.

A Cult will

Tend to be short lived.

Cults like Cosmic Ordering, often grow in popularity due to celebrity endrosement.

Cults
Bruce (1995) defined cults as a loosely knit group organized around some common themes and interests but lacking any sharply defined and exclusive belief system. A cult tends to be more individualistic than other organized forms of religion because it lacks a fixed doctrine. Cults tolerate other beliefs and often have very vague beliefs themselves. Cults tend to have customers rather than members. Rather than formally joining cults, people tend to subscribe to particular theories or forms of behaviour. They are similar to World Affirming New Religious Movements. The focus of cults tends to be on individual experience, bringing likeminded individuals together.

Cults: Key Theorists

Stark and Bainbridge The sociologists Rodney Stark and William Bainbridge distinguish three types of cults, classified on the basis of the levels of organizational and client involvement: Audience cults, that have hardly any organization because participants/consumers lack significant involvement Client cults, in which the service-providers exhibit a degree of organization in contrast to their clients. Client cults link into moderate-commitment social networks through which people exchange goods and services. The relationship between clients and the leaders of cults resembles that of patients and therapists. Cult movements, which seek to provide services that meet spiritual needs (although they differ significantly in the degree to which they use mobilize adherents' time and commitment)

Sects and Cults

Sects Cults

Group Presentations
1. The Branch Davidians- Fran & Holly 2. The Order of the Solar Temple Ben & Jess http://archives.cbc.ca/society/crime_justice/ topics/501/ 3. The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (Uganda) Josh & Richard 4. The Unification Church (Moonies) Alex & Szymon 5. Scientology Kar yan & Liam

Key Facts
Who? What? When? Where? Information of Interest Links to the key features of a sect/cult.

The Branch Davidians

On April 19 1993, FBI agents attacked and burnt down the compound belonging to the Branch Davidian sect at Waco, Texas. It was believed they were heavily armed and were a threat to society. Throughout the siege leader David Koresh simply said he was waiting for a message from God. Seventy-six Davidians died, including women and children. The FBI maintained that the Davidians killed themselves by setting fire to the building. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/431311.stm

The Emissaries of the Divine Light

Communal group founded by Lloyd Meeker in 1945 in Colorado. The group has since spread around the world. Meeker grew up in poverty, was unsuccessful in business, became a salesman, and eventually declared himself a "Bishop" and began dispensing his own brand of religion. They mainly recruit on University campuses and invite recruits to their commune to experience their lifestyle. Follow "Ontology - a term which usually means the study of the ultimate nature of being. Followers are often urged to forget their intellect in favour of their instincts. Also tell believers they have the potential to cure the sick with a

natural current that is supposed to flow from their hands.

Roy Wallis Classification of NRMs

Roy Wallis The sociologist Roy Wallis introduced a classification-system of new religious movements based on movements' views on and relationships with the world at large. World-rejecting movements view the prevailing social order as having departed from God's prescriptions and from the divine plan. Such movements see the world as evil, or at least as materialistic. They may show millenarian tendencies. The Unification Church, the Brahma Kumaris, Jonestown and the Children of God exemplify world-rejecting movements. World-accommodating movements draw clear distinctions between the spiritual and the worldly spheres. They have few or no consequences for the lives of adherents. These movements thus adapt to the world, but they do not reject or affirm it. World-affirming movements may have no rituals and no official ideology. They may lack most of the characteristics of religious movements. They affirm the world and merely claim that they have the means to enable people to unlock their "hidden potential". As an example of a world-affirming movement, Wallis mentions Transcendental Meditation.