New Religious Movements and New Age Movements (NRMs/NAMs)

New Religious Movements and New Age Movements

Stark and Bainbridge: 'Secularisation cycle'. Argue that secularisation occurs and people break away from the church and innovate a NRM or NAM causing religious revival. However, the cycle will continue and secularisation will occur again.

Types of Religious Organisations:
1. Church – Not a building, a worldwide mainstream religion. It has large membership. They follow traditional beliefs and have a long life span. They are extremely wealthy as they are exempt from tax. (Troelsch).
2. Sect – A small protest movement that originates from a church, people break away due to a disagreement over doctrine. They usually revolve around a leader. They are usually very short lived movements and are extreme. There are really dedicated to their cause. When the leader dies the movement usually dies. (Bryan Wilson).
3. Denomination – Established from successful sects. After the death of the leader the sect will establish itself as a large religion. (Niebuhr).
4. Cult – Difficult to define. They are loose in structure. They are usually a group of like-minded individuals who have a leader. People voluntarily come together to create their own community. Cults do not have to be negative. (Stark and Bainbridge) (Haddon and Long).

Bryan Wilson: Argues that not all sects follow the same route, they don't end when the leader dies (ie. Westboro Baptist Church). He argues that a small number of established sects that will continue. An example of this is the moonies, the leader died last year but the movement is still continuing. Another is Jehovah's witnesses, he argues that they are not a denomination but actually an established sect. This group cannot really be defined into a set category.

Stark and Bainbridge: Argue that there are three different forms of cults:
1. Client Cults – A movement of people that doesn't require company. It is individual. (ie. Psychics).
2. Audience Clients – Can be transmitted through the media as there is a huge audience. (ie. Astrology).
3. Cultic Movements – Dedicated people that get negative press, distance themselves from others.

Haddon and Long: Argue that cults are misunderstood, however some have done negative things many cults do positive. Many cults are actually confused with sects.

Wallis: Argues that there are three types of New Religious Movements:
1. World Affirming Movements – They are positive and are trying to help followers achieve their potential. They have an element of religion within them. An example of this is Scientology, they believe that people have a lot of potential but cannot achieve it due to their emotional baggage. They audit peoples lives and record it to keep on file, if people don't do as they want then they release their secrets.
2. World Accomodating Movements – Neither positive of negative. They usually attempt to improve the world through retreating back to traditional teachings. An example of this is the Evangelical Church, these Christians are world accommodating as they don't preach about the end of the world, they preach positive messages.
3. World Rejecting Movements – Negative outlook on the world, they are known as 'millenarian movements' as they believe in the end of the world coming as they don't like the world as it is. An example of this is the Unification Church (the moonies), they believe that the leader is a reincarnation of Jesus, he refers to homosexuals as 'dirty dung eating dogs' who will burn in hell. They perform mass weddings to save as many people as possible.

Max Weber: Argues the marginalised are more likely to join an NRM as they're disadvantaged and these movements can offer answers.

Steve Bruce: Disagrees with Weber and argues that people join NRMs because of progmative motives which gives them help and reach their potential and eventually financial prosperity, not religious motives such as Scientology.

Herberg: Internal secularisation within churches has resulted in the increase of NRMs. Churches therefore dilute beliefs and embrace the cosmopolitanism rather than fundamentalism (the words of sacred texts) so the fundamentalists feel rejected and then turn to sects.

Eileen Barker: Uses the moonies to illustrate an increase in NRMs. The people who join these NRMs are often from professional backgrounds and feel rejected by their own family. Therefore these NRMs offer a surrogate family.

Glock and Stark: Argue that women suffer from three types of deprivation that cause them to join NRMs:
1. Social Deprivation – Status in society, low paid jobs, housewives.
2. Ethical Deprivation – Women are generally more conservative than men therefore think society is in a moral decline and religion offers a moral social standing.
3. Organismic Deprivation – Argue women are more likely to suffer from health issues including mental health problems.

New Age Movement: More spiritual and individualistic.

Heelas: 'The Kendal Project'. People are no longer in the congregational domain and want hollistic milleau. An area of Kendal has the highest church attendance in the UK and Heelas discovered, via surveys, the a significant growth of hollisitic milleau occurred because people think that these NAMs are more individual, less time consuming and suited to their identities.

Drane: Argues these people are joining NAMs because they're suffering from a spiritual void.