New Religious Movements They are difficult to categorise because they come in all shapes and sizes; some last a long time and some fizzle and die pretty quickly. The best way to categorise them is according to their relationship to wider society. There are world-rejecting NRMs There are world-accommodating NRMs There are world-affirming NRMs.

World-rejecting (these NRMs see world as essentially evil and something to be distanced fro – hence many cults are associated with world-rejecting NRMs, particularly those associated with mass suicide) Branch Davidians – a protestant group that broke away from the Seventh day Adventists. They expect a final judgement. This group is most commonly associated with the Siege of Waco when a breakaway group came under siege by the FBI and the resulting fight resulted in the death of 82 members including children and their leader, David Koresh. He had been excommunicated from the branch Davidians. He preached about the end of the world, practised sexual abuse of female members and stored up arms.

World accommodating (neither reject nor embrace the ordinary world – lifestyle is conventional and co-operation with other religious groups acceptable – famous Mormons are The Osmond Family) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (Mormons) - Name comes from The Book of Mormon which is believed to be a sacred text revealed to Joseph Young by an angel. He was a Protestant but <ormons are not. He published the text in By the year 2000, there were more than 11 million church members, Some practices – They do not practice polygamy (that’s a breakaway group) They are based in Utah – where the great temple is They believe in Jesus Christ They believe in the baptism of the deceased – in the same way that Jesus ‘stodd’ for us on the Cross, Mormons believe that a living person can stand for a dead one at baptism. They abstain from caffeine and tobacco. They believe in three heavens – one for sinners/one for good people and lapsed Mormons/one for devout mormons – only really evil people go to hell.

World affirming – (the world is seen as a good thing and these NRM often focus on individual development and achieving success) Scientology (most common advocates are Tom Cruise and John Travolta). Founded in 1954 by Ron J Hubbard. Key idea is auditing. Humans are immortal beings who possess within them two entities. There is a thetan which is the true self and also a lower grade entity which passes from body to body on death. They have existed for thousands of years and collected huge numbers of traumatic experiences which manifest themselves as physical or psychological ailments. Thus people need something called ‘auditing’ to help them through it towards happiness and success. Some beliefs – psychiatry is harmful and should be abolished drugs are bad for you – auditing is better Nothing is taken on faith – you believe something because it works for you They believe in reincarnation They are sometimes regarded as a cult because they are regarded by mainstream culture as abusing their members.

Copy the diagram on page 90 – add, to each part, a textbox describing one example of each of the three ‘types’ of new religious movements. World –rejecting: Branch Davidians World-accommodating: The Mormons World-affirming: Scientology