Controversial New Religions


Controversial New Religions
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Controversial New Religions


Controversial New Religions
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Author : James R. Lewis
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Release Date : 2014

Controversial New Religions written by James R. Lewis and has been published by Oxford University Press, USA this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014 with Religion categories.


In terms of public opinion, new religious movements are considered controversial for a variety of reasons. Their social organization often runs counter to popular expectations by experimenting with communal living, alternative leadership roles, unusual economic dispositions, and new political and ethical values. As a result the general public views new religions with a mixture of curiosity, amusement, and anxiety, sustained by lavish media emphasis on oddness and tragedy rather than familiarity and lived experience. This updated and revised second edition of Controversial New Religions offers a scholarly, dispassionate look at those groups that have generated the most attention, including some very well-known classical groups like The Family, Unification Church, Scientology, and Jim Jones's People's Temple; some relative newcomers such as the Kabbalah Centre, the Order of the Solar Temple, Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate, and the Falun Gong; and some interesting cases like contemporary Satanism, the Raelians, Black nationalism, and various Pagan groups. Each essay combines an overview of the history and beliefs of each organization or movement with original and insightful analysis. By presenting decades of scholarly work on new religious movements written in an accessible form by established scholars as well as younger experts in the field, this book will be an invaluable resource for all those who seek a view of new religions that is deeper than what can be found in sensationalistic media stories.



Controversial New Religions


Controversial New Religions
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Author : James R. Lewis
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2014

Controversial New Religions written by James R. Lewis and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014 with Cults categories.


In terms of public opinion, new religious movements are considered controversial for a variety of reasons. Their social organisation often runs counter to popular expectations by experimenting with communal living, alternative leadership roles, unusual economic dispositions, and new political and ethical values. As a result the general public views new religions with a mixture of curiosity, amusement, and anxiety, sustained by lavish media emphasis on oddness and tragedy rather than familiarity and lived experience. This book looks at those groups that have generated the most attention.



Cult Controversies


Cult Controversies
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Author : James A. Beckford
language : en
Publisher: CUP Archive
Release Date : 1985

Cult Controversies written by James A. Beckford and has been published by CUP Archive this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1985 with Religion categories.




Cults And New Religions


Cults And New Religions
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Author : Douglas E. Cowan
language : en
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Release Date : 2015-04-27

Cults And New Religions written by Douglas E. Cowan and has been published by John Wiley & Sons this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015-04-27 with Religion categories.


This unparalleled introduction to cults and new religiousmovements has been completely up-dated and expanded to reflect thelatest developments; each chapter reviews the origins, leaders,beliefs, rituals and practices of a NRM, highlighting the specificcontroversies surrounding each group. A fully updated, revised and expanded edition of anunparalleled introduction to cults and new religious movements Profiles a number of the most visible, significant, andcontroversial new religious movements, presenting eachgroup’s history, doctrines, rituals, leadership, andorganization Offers a discussion of the major controversies in which newreligious movements have been involved, using each profiled groupto illustrate the nature of one of those controversies Covers debates including what constitutes an authenticreligion, the validity of claims of brainwashing techniques, theimplications of experimentation with unconventional sexualpractices, and the deeply rooted cultural fears that cultsengender New sections include methods of studying new religions in eachchapter as well as presentations on ‘groups towatch’



New Religious Movements And Religious Liberty In America


New Religious Movements And Religious Liberty In America
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Author : Derek Davis
language : en
Publisher: J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies Baylo Ity
Release Date : 2002

New Religious Movements And Religious Liberty In America written by Derek Davis and has been published by J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies Baylo Ity this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2002 with Political Science categories.


It has been said that the measure of a healthy and civilized society is how well it treats its elderly and indigent. Perhaps it should be said also that the measure of the health of religious liberty in a society is the degree to which minority, nontraditional faiths are protected. This book is a collection of essays on the subject of religious liberty and new religious movements (NRMs). NRMs are often called "cults" by popular media commentators and the public at large, but scholars eschew that term because it is so pejorative that it skews the argument from the very beginning. By contrast, the term "new religious movements" attempts to place NRMs squarely in the mix with older, more traditional forms of religion. This is due in part to the fact that in America there should be no correlation between the level of social approval a group has achieved and the degree of religious liberty it enjoys. As the Supreme Court itself averred famously in the 1872 case Watson v. Jones, "The Law knows no heresy and is committed to the support of no dogma, the establishment of no sect." Each author represented in this volume believes that NRMs should enjoy the same liberties as more mainstream religions. If the book has a bias, it is a bias in favor of religious liberty. The authors believe that if the First Amendment is applied to protect the newest, nontraditional, seemingly unusual religions (by the standards of the majority of the population), then nearly everyone is safe as far as religious liberty is concerned. -- "The Cult Awareness Network and the Anticult Movement: Implications for NRMs in America" by Anson Shupe, Susan E. Darnell, and Kendrick Moxon -- "Scientology: Separating Truthfrom Fiction" by Heber C. Jentzsch -- "Witchcraft and Satanism" by Stuart A. Wright -- "Women in Controversial New Religions: Slaves, Priestesses, or Pioneers" by Susan Palmer -- "New Religious Movements and Conflicts with Law Enforcement Agencies" by Catherine Wessinger



New Religious Movements


New Religious Movements
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Author : Bryan R. Wilson
language : en
Publisher: Psychology Press
Release Date : 1999

New Religious Movements written by Bryan R. Wilson and has been published by Psychology Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1999 with Cults categories.


Focusing on five countries (Italy, Brazil, Germany, Britain and the United States), New Religious Movements offers a comprehensive and wide-ranging study of the phenomena and impact of new religions.



Introduction To New And Alternative Religions In America


Introduction To New And Alternative Religions In America
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Author : William M. Ashcraft
language : en
Publisher: Greenwood
Release Date : 2006-10-30

Introduction To New And Alternative Religions In America written by William M. Ashcraft and has been published by Greenwood this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2006-10-30 with Religion categories.


Most new or alternative religious are gravely misunderstood by members of the religious mainstream. Labeled cults or sects, groups and their members are often ridiculed or otherwise disregarded as weird and potentially dangerous by the populace at large. Despite their efforts at educating the general public, the various anti- and counter-cult activists have in fact promoted much more mis-understanding than accurate understanding of the religious lives of some of their fellow citizens. Consequently, they have helped to create a very hostile environment for anyone whose religious practices do not fit within a so-called mainstream. This set rectifies the situation by presenting accurate, comprehensive, authoritative and accessible accounts of various new and alternative religious movements that have been and are active in American society, and it addresses ways of understanding new and alternative religions within a broader context. Determining what actually constitutes a new or alternative religion is a subject of constant debate. Questions arise as to a new faith's legitimacy, beliefs, methods of conversion, and other facets of a religious movement's viability and place in a given culture. How a religion gains recognition by the mainstream, which often labels such new movements as cults, is fraught with difficulty, tension, and fear. Here, experts delineate the boundaries and examine the various groups, beliefs, movements, and other issues related to new faiths and alternative beliefs. Readers will come away with a fuller understanding of the religious landscape in America today. Volume 1: History and Controversies discusses the foundations of new and alternative religions in the United States and addresses the controversies that surround them. This volume helps readers better understand what makes a new or alternative belief system a religion and the issues involved. Volume 2: Jewish and Christian Traditions explores the various new religions that have grown out of these two Abrahamic faiths. Groups such as the Shakers, the People's Temple, the Branch Davidians, Jehovah's Witnesses and others are examined. Volume 3: Metaphysical, New Age, and Neopagan Movements looks at Shamanism, Spiritualism, Wicca, and Paganism, among other movements, as they have developed and grown in the U.S. These faiths have found new and devoted followers yet are often misunderstood. Volume 4: Asian Traditions focuses on those new and alternative religions that have been inspired by Asian religious traditions. From Baha'i to Soka Gakkai, from Adidam to the Vedanta Society, contributors look at a full range of groups practicing and worshiping in the U.S. today. Volume 5: African Diaspora Traditions and Other American Innovations examines the various traditions linked to the African diaspora such as Rastafarianism, Santeria, and the Nation of Islam, alongside traditions that are truly American incarnations like Scientology, UFO religions, and Heaven's Gate. Some of the new and alternative religions covered in these pages include: ; Shamanism ; Wicca ; Black Israelites ; Santeria ; Scientology ; Elan Vital ; Hare Krishna ; Soka Gakkai ; and many more



The Church Of Scientology


The Church Of Scientology
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Author : Hugh B. Urban
language : en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date : 2013-02-24

The Church Of Scientology written by Hugh B. Urban and has been published by Princeton University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-02-24 with Religion categories.


Scientology's long and complex journey to recognition as a religion Scientology is one of the wealthiest and most powerful new religions to emerge in the past century. To its detractors, L. Ron Hubbard's space-age mysticism is a moneymaking scam and sinister brainwashing cult. But to its adherents, it is humanity's brightest hope. Few religious movements have been subject to public scrutiny like Scientology, yet much of what is written about the church is sensationalist and inaccurate. Here for the first time is the story of Scientology's protracted and turbulent journey to recognition as a religion in the postwar American landscape. Hugh Urban tells the real story of Scientology from its cold war-era beginnings in the 1950s to its prominence today as the religion of Hollywood's celebrity elite. Urban paints a vivid portrait of Hubbard, the enigmatic founder who once commanded his own private fleet and an intelligence apparatus rivaling that of the U.S. government. One FBI agent described him as "a mental case," but to his followers he is the man who "solved the riddle of the human mind." Urban details Scientology's decades-long war with the IRS, which ended with the church winning tax-exempt status as a religion; the rancorous cult wars of the 1970s and 1980s; as well as the latest challenges confronting Scientology, from attacks by the Internet group Anonymous to the church's efforts to suppress the online dissemination of its esoteric teachings. The Church of Scientology demonstrates how Scientology has reflected the broader anxieties and obsessions of postwar America, and raises profound questions about how religion is defined and who gets to define it.



Legitimating New Religions


Legitimating New Religions
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Author : James R. Lewis
language : en
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Release Date : 2003

Legitimating New Religions written by James R. Lewis and has been published by Rutgers University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2003 with Religion categories.


James R. Lewis has written the first book to deal explicitly with the issue of how emerging religions legitimate themselves. He contends that a new religion has at least four different, though overlapping, areas where legitimacy is a concern: making converts, maintaining followers, shaping public opinion, and appeasing government authorities. The legitimacy that new religions seek in the public realm is primarily that of social acceptance. Mainstream society's acknowledgement of a religion as legitimate means recognizing its status as a genuine religion and thus recognizing its right to exist. Through a series of wide-ranging case studies Lewis explores the diversification of legitimation strategies of new religions as well the tactics that their critics use to de-legitimate such groups. Cases include the Movement for Spiritual Inner Awareness, Native American prophet religions, spiritualism, the Church of Christ-Scientist, Scientology, Church of Satan, Heaven's Gate, Unitarianism, Hindu reform movements, and Soka Gakkai, a new Buddhist sect. Since many of the issues raised with respect to newer religions can be extended to the legitimation strategies deployed by established religions, this book sheds an intriguing new light on classic questions about the origin of all religions.



The Cambridge Companion To New Religious Movements


The Cambridge Companion To New Religious Movements
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Author : Olav Hammer
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2012-08-30

The Cambridge Companion To New Religious Movements written by Olav Hammer and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-08-30 with Religion categories.


New religions emerge as distinct entities in the religious landscape when innovations are introduced by a charismatic leader or a schismatic group leaves its parent organization. New religious movements (NRMs) often present novel doctrines and advocate unfamiliar modes of behavior, and have therefore often been perceived as controversial. NRMs have, however, in recent years come to be treated in the same way as established religions, that is, as complex cultural phenomena involving myths, rituals and canonical texts. This Companion discusses key features of NRMs from a systematic, comparative perspective, summarizing results of forty years of research. The volume addresses NRMs that have caught media attention, including movements such as Scientology, New Age, the Neopagans, the Sai Baba movement and Jihadist movements active in a post-9/11 context. An essential resource for students of religious studies, the history of religion, sociology, anthropology and the psychology of religion.