Cults & New Religious Movements

Slide Agenda Attendance 8:15 Administrativa: Moodle quiz? Moodle photos Magic School Bus 8:20 What is a “cult”: What are we studying, and what do we call them? 8:35 “Children of Jehovah” (46 minutes) 9:21 Debriefing 9:29 Homework

Slide 3. Typical Agenda Attendance New Religions in the News (4 minutes) Announcements / Administrativa (2 minutes) Explaining a concept (35 minutes) – for the exam’s paragraph answer section. What is a cult? Video with focus questions (20 minutes) and discussion Homework for Next Time (1 minute)

Slide 4. Cults in the News Arizona church is house of prostitution, police sayArizona church is house of prostitution, police say goddess-temple-raided-alleged- brothel/story?id= http://abcnews.go.com/US/phoenix- goddess-temple-raided-alleged- brothel/story?id=

Slide 5. Preview: Studying NRMs “Describe what a “cult” is in terms of its necessary and typical characteristics. How are the terms “Sect”, “New Religious Movement,” “High Demand New Religion” “Alternative Religion” “Controversial Religious Movement” different? What is a “cult”? What components does a “cult” have? What do “cults” have in common? Are all “cults” the same?

Slide 6. In this class…

Slide 7. What would you call a “cult”? What qualifies a group to be called a cult? Name some. Necessary characteristics: What must a movement have in order to qualify as a “cult”? Typical characteristics: What do cults typically but not necessarily have?

Slide 8. Necessary characteristics Fringe (not mainstream in numbers or area) Religious beliefs? Recently begun? High-demands placed on members

Slide 9. (Stereo-)Typical characteristics High-demand Self-sacrifice for the cause Encapsulation (us & them attitudes) Charismatic leader Peculiar scriptures or teachings Difficult to leave? Unreasonable? Aggressive recruiting? Apocalyptic? Violent? Sexually deviant?

Slide 10. Differences between “cult” and: “Sect” More established than “cult”, a branch within a larger religion. “New Religious Movement” Carries no negative connotations Not everything considered a “cult” (especially by the ACM) is new. (e.g. gnosticism, Freemasonry) “High Demand New Religion” Not everything considered a “cult” puts high demands on its members (e.g., New Age Movement, Wicca). “Alternative Religion” Who decides what is mainstream and what is not? Does it vary from place to place (Mormonism in Utah; Judaism in Antigonish)?

Slide 11. Biased portrayals of cults Media portrayals Dangerous Devotion video (0:00-5:48)Dangerous Devotion What are proposed as cult characteristics? Counter-Cult Movement: Walter Martin on Christian CultsWalter Martin According to Martin, what makes something a cult?

Jehovah’s Witnesses Jehovah’s Witnesses Jehovah’s Witnesses Jehovah’s Witnesses

Slide 13. For Next Class (Thursday) Read the article on “Jehovah’s Witnesses” (on Moodle) Come prepared to ask questions of our guests

Slide 14. For Next Week (Monday) Read Chapter 1 in Comprehending Cults Write a summary and response, and paste it into Moodle at mod/assignment/vie w.php?id= mod/assignment/vie w.php?id=15481