1. Cults & New Religious Movements

2. 2011-09-13 Agenda Attendance Introductions
Professor
Students
Studying Cults and New Religious Movements

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

4. 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?

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

6. (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?

7. 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).

8. Biased portrayals of cults
We saw Media portrayals:
Dangerous Devotion video
Counter-Cult Movement:
Walter Martin on Christian Cults
According to Martin, what makes something a cult?

9. Hadden’s cult opponent types
Religiously grounded opposition
Purpose:
protect members (especially youth) from heresy
increase solidarity among the faithful
Method: expose teachings contrary to scripture
Secular opposition
individual autonomy
getting people out of groups using mind control and deceptive proselytization.
organized around families
Apostates
Former members
Entrepreneurial opposition
broadcasters and journalists
Publishing and depgrogramming

10. The solution to the media / ACM problem
Academic research that:
Doesn’t lump all NRMs together
Recognizes NRMs are not something new
Does not let truth claims about beliefs interfere with research
Seeks to learn about ourselves from NRMs

11. For Next Class (Thursday)
Read the introduction to America’s Alternative Religions (pages 1-9)
Write the online quiz