Tues2 March 10th: Types of religious organisations

HOMEWORK: Types of religious organisations notes and revision cards

Thurs2 March 12th: Types of religious organisations

Thurs1 March 19th: Types of religious organisations

HOMEWORK: Types of religious organizations essay

Mon2 March 23rd: Types of religious organisations & Religiosity and social groups

Tues2 March 24th: Religiosity and social groups

Thurs2 March 26th: Postmodernity and religion

Religious organizations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age

movements, and their relationship to religious or spiritual organizations and movements, beliefs

and practices

What is the difference between:1.A church2.A denomination3.A sect4.A cult

Roy Wallis (1976) - divided organizations into respectable (uniquely legitimate or pluralistically legitimate) or deviant

Respectable Deviant

Uniquely legitimate Church Sect

Pluralistically legitimate Denomination Cult

Church

1.The church - Ernst Troeltsch (1931) –

• refers to a large religious organization.

• Individuals are born into it.

• A church might try to be universal but in reality substantial minorities don’t belong.

• It usually ‘stabilizes and determines the political order’.

• Churches are often closely related to the state.

• Likely to be religiously conservative and support the status quo.

Denominations

2. Denominations

Stark and Bainbridge (1985) – an organization that shares several but not all the supposed features of a church – a watered down church.

H.R Niebuhr (1929) – a denomination does not have universal appeal – 2005 – 289,000 attending Methodists, 287,600 attending Pentecostal and 254,800 Baptist. - Denominations are not so closely linked with the upper classes.- Denominations don’t identify with the state- they do not claim a monopoly on religious truth (Steve Bruce – most important distinction)- usually conservative

Sects

# Sects are groups that are formed as an offshoot of an existing religion.

Troeltsch (1981)

Diametrically opposed to the church- Smaller and more integrated- Connected with the lower classes or at least from those opposed to the state- They reject the values of the world- Members might be expected to withdraw from the world outside the group- They are expected to be deeply committed to their beliefs- Members join as adults voluntarily and adopt the lifestyle of the sect – they

exercise a stronger control over individuals- Monopoly of the truth- No hierarchy of paid officials – usually there is one single charismatic leader

Roy Wallis (1976) – views sects as deviant groups which see themselves as uniquely legitimate.

Sects tend to break away from the dominant group in society because of a disagreement. Some of these groups which broke away would be accepted as denominations but deviant groups were seen as sects.

The People’s Temple – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NQ5KBzD8w0

Branch Davidians - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0jTEzyf1yc

Amish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtNXvE_rLoE

Mormons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-IaoBHJ3m0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6udew9axmdM

Bryan Wilson (1985)

Seven different types of sectsConversionist; Revolutionary; Introversionist; Manipulative; Thaumaturgical (miracles/personal messages from God); Reformist; Utopian

Cults

Bruce (1995) ‘mysticism’ - a highly individualistic expression, varying with personal experiences and interpretations. A cult is a ‘loosely knit group organized around some common themes and interests but lacking in any sharply defined and exclusive belief system’.

- Tends to be individualistic- Tolerate other beliefs- Often no concept of heresy because their beliefs are so

vague

- Stark and Bainbridge (1985) sees them as novel within a society and that there is an overlap between New Age movements and cults – cults are new religions within a society and are unconnected to existing religions:

1. Audience cults – least organized and involve little face to face contact – usually through mass media – EG: astrology

2. Client cults – more organized and offer services to its clients – scientology claims to clear repressed memories of painful experiences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4PDZt74adg

3. Cult movements – more involvement – single religion only – The Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church is one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL0uxDscjdo

Why have they grown?

Weber (1922) – likely to arise amonst marginalized groups who don’t feel they are receiving what they deserve. A theodicy of disprivilege – an explanation of why they are in this situation and how to escape it.

Bryan Wilson (1970) war, natural disaster or economic collapse can create fertile ground for sects and cults to emerge.

1960s – targeting of marginalized groups – Nation of Islam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rurGNvDnBV8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh7L8uRiW-Q

However, on the whole, most NRMS are made up of white middle class Americans and Europeans - but Wallis argues that these people are still marginalized in some way. Relative deprivation might explain why these white middle class members join these groups because whilst they are not objectively poor, they might feel poor in comparison to other members in society (Stark and Bainbridge and Wallis)

Bryan Wilson (1970) argues that sects develop during periods of rapid social change (see Russian cult video below). He gives the example of the Methodist movement which he says was in response to urbanization and industrialization.

Bruce (1995) attributes it to modernization and secularization – as traditional institutions have weakened, some people have sought alternatives. In a more secular world, cults have become more popular because they require fewer sacrifices and less commitment than churches and sects. However, a small number are only willing to join the stricter sects.