...Examine the view that cults and sects have taken the place of established churches as the most important religious and spiritual movements on today’s society Churches are large organisations often with millions of members. Sects are usually a break away from a church usually because of disagreement and cults are new religions such as Scientology. The view that sects and cults are more important than the church may be due to the fact there are many of these new religious movements gaining status and becoming well known in certain societies. The reason they may be seen as more important than the church may be due to the fact the church is losing members and attendance is low whereas new religious movements are gaining more members and are becoming more socially accepted. People these days are now more individualistic due to modernity. They do things that benefit themselves rather than society for example young people believe in spirituality as it aims to improve the individual. Stark and Bainbridge say sects offer other worldly benefits such as a place in heaven and cults offer worldly benefits in this life. This could be a reason that they seem to be more important than church as people rather follow the new religious movements as opposed to the church because they are fulfilling the individuals need to feel they may have a better life now and after death . This could also be showing that people feel so oppressed in this life that they need to follow a new religious movement...
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...sociological explanations for the growth of new religious movements. By: Amy Rashid Over the years, there has been a growth of new religious movements in the society. This growth can be explained in terms of why people chose to join the movements or in terms of wider social changes. Hence, in this essay, I shall discuss several sociological explanations for this occurrence. Firstly, Steve Bruce (1995, 1996) attributes the development of a range of religious institutions, including sects and cults, to a general process of modernization and secularization. He believes the weakness of more conventional institutionalized religions has encouraged some people to consider less traditional alternatives. As modern societies developed and faith in traditional sources of authority (eg: churches) declined, religious pluralism and diversity were increasingly tolerated. More recently, in what Bruce believes is a more secular world in which people are less likely to hold strong commitments, cults have become more popular. These require fewer sacrifices and less commitment than churches and sects and are therefore more tolerable in a modern clientele. These new religious movements engage in worldly activities and allow people to drift in and out of participation as the sample the beliefs on offer. For example Transcendental Meditation (TM) is associated with a political party that fights general elections on policies that advocate the benefits of TM and ‘yogic flying’ for solutions to individual...
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...Yana Garcia Mander 13.0 hw. Assess the view that cults and sects are fringe organisations that are inevitably short lived and of little influence on contemporary society. Cults and sects are often hard to differentiate from one another, as a lot of them have very similar features such as a world-rejecting values and the offer of alternative explanations to traditional beliefs. According to Troeitsch, sects tend to be small, tight-knitted groups of individuals that often disagree with mainstream values and attempt to change society for the better. Cults on the other hand, are loosely knit, require a lot less commitment and do not always hold concrete beliefs. While some sects are low profile and harmless, others carry out horrific actions and rituals which have become apparent to the public through the media, such as 'Heaven’s Gate': a sect that conducted mass suicides as a way of gaining access to heaven, and the 'People’s Temple', a sect lead by the Reverend Jim Jones who famously drove a mass suicide in a jungle campsite in South America. The idea that neither sects nor cults are long lasting is an important one, with theologians such as Richard Neibuhr suggesting that sects cannot survive beyond one generation. He states that as they are often led and “held together” by one charismatic individual who claims to have some kind of “divine power”, following the death of this leader, the sect usually disappears. Furthermore, second generation members that are...
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...2 “Losing My New Religion”: Rachel was just a 17-year-old girl who had fallen in love with Wayne, a 24-year-old member of the Children of God cult, now formally known as the Family International. Taking six months off work to educate herself about how a cult works, Rachel’s mother fought to prevent Rachel from joining the Family International. Her efforts paid off when Rachel started having second thoughts and started questioning the ways of the cult. Realizing the idea that she would have to live communally with other members of her husband’s cult, Rachel began to get cold feet. She was upset knowing that she would have to join the Family in order for them to have a sexual relationship together. Eventually Rachel decided to not be involved with the cult. It is obviously clear on why Rachel had thought about joining the cult. She was young and thought that she had really fallen in love. In the religious economic theory, a cult is defined as ‘a religious movement that represents faiths that are new and unconventional to society’. Even though their doctrines are viewed as unconventional and immoral by the media, the Family International still firmly believes in abandoning all responsibilities and cutting all ties with family and friends, and handing over or “donating” their entire possessions to the group. The cult also used sex to win support, recruit members, and meet influential friends at socially public places such as bars. Its former leader, David Berg,...
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...© Kamla-Raj 2006 J. Soc. Sci., 12(3): 193-198 (2006) A Critique of Students’ Vices and the Effect on Quality of Graduates of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions Oto J. Okwu Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria E-mail: oto079@yahoo.com KEYWORDS Students; vices; education; socialization; society; social problems ABSTRACT One of the most pressing issues in minds of people in Nigeria as far as education is concerned today is that pertaining to the quality or standard of education. Qualitative education should lead to detectable gains in knowledge, skills and values. There are, however, several students’ vices that seem to be militating against realization of the desired qualitative education in Nigerian tertiary institutions. Some of these vices are cultism, drug abuse, examination malpractice, obscene dressing and sexual promiscuity/harassment. Each of these vices and the possible social and academic implications are explained. Major employers of Nigerian graduates have widely agreed on quality decline in higher education in the country, particularly in the areas of communication in oral and written English and technical proficiency. It is recommended that the responsibility of preventing or curbing general students’ vices in Nigerian tertiary institutions be a collective one resting on parents, teachers, religious leaders, authorities of the institutions as well as government. This can be done through appropriate upbringing...
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...Assess the view that cults and sects are fringe organisations that are inevitably short lived and of little influence on contemporary society. Cults and sects are often hard to differentiate from one another, as a lot of them have very similar features such as a world-rejecting values and the offer of alternative explanations to traditional beliefs. According to Troeitsch, sects tend to be small, tight-knitted groups of individuals that often disagree with mainstream values and attempt to change society for the better. Cults on the other hand, are loosely knit, require a lot less commitment and do not always hold concrete beliefs. While some sects are low profile and harmless, others carry out horrific actions and rituals which have become apparent to the public through the media, such as 'Heaven’s Gate': a sect that conducted mass suicides as a way of gaining access to heaven, and the 'People’s Temple', a sect lead by the Reverend Jim Jones who famously drove a mass suicide in a jungle campsite in South America. The idea that neither sects nor cults are long lasting is an important one, with theologians such as Richard Neibuhr suggesting that sects cannot survive beyond one generation. He states that as they are often led and “held together” by one charismatic individual who claims to have some kind of “divine power”, following the death of this leader, the sect usually disappears. Furthermore, second generation members that are born into sects may not maintain...
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...Assess the view that new religious movements are mainly for the middle classes and the young. A new religious movement is a spiritual organisation founded after world war 2. They do not only have their name 'new' because of this but also due to the way they present themselves as alternatives to traditional religions. I will begin to explore the view that these new religions are designed to appeal to the middle classes and the young. Movements set up before this time were either sects or cults. Although the definitions of these terms have developed over the years to result in different meanings and connotations, many sociologists have attempted to distinguish between the characteristics of each organisation. In 1981, Troeltsch said that the characteristics of a sect include attracting those from the lower classes and that young children cannot usually directly enter a sect. These aspects are already deemed to be contrasting with those of a NRM. A cult,,, on the other hand, has no single definition accepted by sociologists but are described by Bruce as being 'a loosely knit group organised around some common themes and interests but lacking any sharply defined and exclusive belief system.' Wallis arranged new religious movements into three categories; world rejecting, world accommodating and world affirming. World rejecting new religious movements are known for being critical of the outside world and therefore actively seek change. An example of a NRM that rejected the world...
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...BRAINWASHING DICTOR The word brainwashing is a process of changing the way an individual thinks and behaves. In Other words, the victim’s value systems, beliefs and goals are washed away and replaced by a new set of ideas that are beneficial to the dominate group such as cult not to the individual. There are various types of brainwashing such as thought reform, mind control and influence which cults used to manipulate their followers. The word brainwashing originated in 1950 when Edward Hunter, a journalist, wanted to describe the techniques used by Chinese Communists. Cults use more precise techniques which do not depend on physical coercion Meaning; forcing the followers to behave in an involuntary manner. The effects of cult involvement can last for sometime after a person leaves a cult. The term Mind control is being used on the public by religious organizations is the new form of persuasion. This technique helps cult leaders get what they want, without necessarily having to put a spell under the followers. Mind control allows you to enter a person unconscious and create influences. Getting people to agree with Jim Jones was easier since he was seen as a powerful leader of the group. They trusted his opinions and judgments. Back then it was not common for people to find someone to guide them toward a decision. Mind control techniques are not always negative it helps you manage your own ability to communicate within. You can use them to be more...
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...particular (religious) messages: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (St Matthew 11:28). Deprivation was seen by generations of scholars, not necessarily Marxists, as the cause of both personal religious commitment and sect and cult formation. The German scholars Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch were pioneers with regard to the relationships between sect and church membership, and social class and status group. In The Social Sources of Denominationalism (Holt 1929), H. Richard Niebuhr saw sects as the "churches of the disinherited"; because of their lack of economic and political power, the less privileged needed religion most, and sects and cults could provide their members with compensation for the lack of social and personal success. In the 1950s and 1960s, much theorizing centered on the construction of typologies. This was also the case in deprivation theory. For example, Charles Glock (1964, Glock and Stark 1965) distinguished five types of deprivation, depending on the kinds of strain felt: economic, social, organismic, ethical, and psychic deprivation. Every type gave rise to a particular type of religious group, respectively: sect, church, healing movement, reform movement, or cult. According to the class into which it fell, Glock could predict the "career" of the particular religious group. According to Bryan Wilson (1973), most new religious movements in the Third World were either thaumaturgic—that is, they responded to very specific and...
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...difference between a sect and a cult?" Answer: The word sect comes from the Latin word secta, which means “school of thought.” It is a subjective term that may apply to a religious faith or denomination, or it may refer to a heretical splinter group. Sometimes, the connotation is one of disapproval, similar to the “destructive heresies” spoken of in 2 Peter 2:1, though there are no consistent or accepted exemplars to use to identify a sect. Sects are found in all religions. Islam has Sunnis and Shias, Judaism has Orthodox and Karaites, Hinduism has Shiyaism and Shaktism, and Christianity has Baptists and Lutherans. These are all examples of religious sects, and they can be thought of as “branches” of different religions. There are also non-religious sects, such as capitalists and socialists among economists, or Freudians and Jungians among psychiatrists. In contradistinction, the word cult always carries a negative connotation. There are specific criteria used to identify a cult. In Combatting Cult Mind Control, deprogrammer Steven Hassan singles out what he refers to as “destructive cults,” which he defines as “a pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control. It uses deception in recruiting new members (e.g. people are NOT told up front what the group is, what the group actually believes and what will be expected of them if they become members).” Hassan also correctly points out that cults are not only religious; they...
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...Cults are intriguing and arouse curiosity in the minds of people who have accepted life in society and joined humanity the way it is. It is amazing to think that people leave their life of normalcy to put their trust in something that is alien but promises them something in return or will save their souls from whatever will harm them. There are many causes that affect people s minds to make them join cults. Cults are very promising, can be very eye-opening, and may be the only option left for some people because of what has happened to them in their life or the mental state they are in. Cults, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, are systems or communities of religious worship that may include obsessive devotion to a person or ideal. In our society, cults are common and have the potential to be destructive. This paper will focus on the factors such as education, stake in conformity, turning points, and strength of local religious organizations that may cause people to join cults, as determined by Stark and Bainbridge. It will also discuss the methods used by cults to influence new recruits and current members. Cult leaders employ tactics such as information deprivation, extinction of former identities, and scarcity in order to maintain their authority. All these techniques combined create an environment that can be classified as a cult. Traditionally, cults have formed after or during turbulent periods of history, when people are most vulnerable. However, not...
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...Assess the view that sects and cults are only fringe organisations that are inevitably short lived and of little influence in wider society Troeltsch believed that a sect was “the opposite of a church”. He defines this type of religious organisation as a small, tightly-knit group of individuals that often oppose mainstream values and attempt to change society in some way. Cults on the other hand, are loosely knit and lack any concrete beliefs. Stark and Bainbridge suggest that cults often have “clients” rather than members. There are therefore some significant differences between these two organisations, although it is widely accepted that they are similar, in that they are usually short lived and have little influence on society as a whole. Supporting the notion that sects and cults are short lived; Niebuhr offers a number of explanations as to why this is so. He proposes that sects cannot survive beyond one generation, as they are often led and “held together” by one charismatic individual who claims to have some kind of “divine power/connection”. Following the death of this leader, the sect usually disappears. Furthermore, second generation members that are born into sects may not maintain the traditions of the movement with the same fervour as the founding generation. As a result, it is difficult for sects to maintain their extreme values, and they may accommodate/compromise their theology and become denominations. This can be seen in the example of early Methodism, which...
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...effects that these tools for change have had on people’s lives. Like any powerful tool in the right hands it can repair, but in the wrong hands it can destroy, it all depends on the intention and moral judgments of the user. My purpose for writing this book is to shine a light on those who choose to use these transformative tools for their own personal gain. Cults, are just some of the organizations which use countless techniques to get its members to commit themselves and take part in what may be harmful activities. The sum of these techniques constitutes what many professionals have come to call “Repatterning." It's also known as "thought reform," "hypnotic programming", "mental conditioning," and “mind control”. These techniques involve the systematic breakdown of a person's sense of self. Patty Hearst, heiress to the Hearst publishing fortune, became famous in the 1970s after she was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, which has come to be known as a "political cult”. Hearst was locked in a dark closet for several days after her kidnapping and was kept hungry, tired, brutalized and afraid for her life while Cult members bombarded her with their anti-capitalist political ideology. Within two months of her kidnapping, Patty had changed her name, issued a statement in which she referred to her family as the "pig-Hearsts" and appeared on a security tape robbing a bank with her kidnappers. Emotional Repatterning is an umbrella term for any number of techniques used to...
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...Assess the usefulness of typologies in our understanding of religious organisations (33 marks) Religions are based upon very heterogenic principles and are structured in different ways, making them different of each other and therefore proving that they are not universal as some sociologists argue. Typologies within religious organisations have helped as to define religions and prove that they are based on religious pluralism and that they can be era-dependent, or in other ways can become outdated. Troeltsch was the first sociologist to divide religions into three different typologies; churches, sects and denominations, with very different characteristics and objectives. Troeltsch proved that some aspects of religions can be very different, like the background of members, the relationship to society or the tolerance towards other faiths and based upon this principles he divided each religion into one of his tree basic typologies. Troeltsch defines churches as large organisations with a universal appeal and defines Christianity and Islam as universalistic and as the main churches with a very close relationship with the state. Churches can have as mentioned a very close relationship with the state and the government, such as the Church of England, which has `monopolised´ the demands of the British society by becoming the predominant religion in the country. The Church of England has a very close relationship with the government, but also with the monarchy and therefore `jealously...
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...Psychology May 26, 2012 Conformity To Cult Behavior In the early 1960s, psychologists in the United States interviewed several U.S. soldiers and American Prisoners of War returning home from combat against North Korea. Their main focus in particular were on those who had suffered an extreme change in their personality. These young soldiers had experienced being brainwashed under the communists. Psychologist have later realized that people involved in cults may have experienced similar psychological changes. Cult leaders use the same structure known as, mind control or mind reform. The book "Combating Cult Mind Control", by Steven Hassen explains that mind control is more refined than brainwashing. Cult members are considered to be a good friend and righteous people. As a result, the person being indoctrinated offers less defiance and contention than if they being forcefully coerced. Through compliance with the process of mind reform, the victim slowly begins to surrender over his personality and accept the doctrines of the cult as biblical truth. Mind control does not involve physical abuse but it is limited to certain hypnotic processes to create a compelling effect of precepts (Cephas, 2010). Many of the individuals who are deceived are not just naive people, but they are often successful educated people. There are several methods of mind control which are not considered harmless. People who find themselves getting deep into cults need to be aware of this. There are...
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