Religious Organisation Flashcards
What is the characteristic of a Church?
-Large organisations
-Often has million of members e.g. Catholic Church
-Ran by bureaucratic people such as priests
-Aim to include the whole society
-Tend to be more attractive to higher classes
What is the characteristic of a Sects?
-Small exclusive groups
-Hostile to wider society
-Expect a higher level of commitment
-Target members from poor background
-Charismatic leader
-They also believe they have a monopoly of truth
What is the characteristic of a cult?
-Individualistic
-Open memberships
-May not be religious in nature
-e.g scientology
Roy Wallis says two characteristics of organisations?
1)How they see themselves->Churches and sects claim their faith is the only correct one
2)How other see them->Chruches and denominations are seen as respectable whereas cults and sects are seen as deviant
Evaluating sociological definitions and explanations of these religious organisations?
-The criteria doesn’t always suits some religions
-Popularity of a religion changes over place and time this means that religions can go from being a denomination to a church if they gain popularity
-Churches no longer have a monopoly of truth and in some cases have no relation with the state because of secularisation
-In modern western societies it is less usual for most people in society to belong to a church e.g. Islam it’s a growing popularity in the UK
What is New Religious movement
there has been increase in the number of new religions
Roy Wallis puts NRM into three groups based on their
relationship with the outside world?
World accommodating
World rejecting
World Affirming
What is World accommodating?
are often breakaways from churches or denominations example, Neo-Pentecostals who split from Catholic.They act to restore the sprituality of religion and are not focused on worldly matters e.g. Pentecostals believe that Christian religions have lost the Holy spirit
What is World rejecting?
Highly critical of the outside world e.g moonies
What is world Affirming?
They accept the world as it is and lack some of the conventional features of religion such as collective worship.They use logic explanations e.g. scientology
Stark and Bainbridge identify two types of organisations that are in conflict with the wider society ?
•Sects-are a result of ‘break away’ from Religion
•Cults-are new religions that are alternative to traditional religion
Stark and Bainbridge subdivide cults?
•Client cults-They provide a service for their followers .i.e. contact with the dead.
•Cultic movements-They demand a high level of commitment and not able to belong to other religions e.g doomsday cults
•Audience cults-Do not involve formal membership.
An example of this may include UFO cults / Astrology cults.
Why has there been a growth in World Rejecting religious movement?
-Growth in radical political movement meant young people were attractive because they want to feel a sense of belonging in a new world
-Wallis suggests that work stopped providing meaning or a source of identity.NRM gave people a sense of identity and belonging where they couldn’t find it anywhere else.
