religious organisations Flashcards
what are the four different religious organisations?
- churches
- sects
- denominations
- cults
what are churches?
- large organisations
- often with millions of members - universal
- run by bureaucratic hierarchy of professional preists
- often linked to the state (royal family are the head of the church of england)
- EXAMPLES: church of england, catholics, sikhs, muslims
what are sects?
- small, exclusive groups
- often regarded as heretical (holding an opinion that odds from what is generally excepted)
- hostile to wider society
- their members are likely to be marginal and oppressed
- regarded as extreme or dangerous
- often led by a charismatic leader
- EXAMPLES: heavens gate, the peoples temple, the Manson family
what is a denomination?
- midway between a church and a sect
- accept societies values
- may impose minor restrictions on members, such as forbidding alcohol but are not as demanding as sects
- some sects can evolve into denominations
- EXAMPLE: Methodism - began as a sect, moderated their strict beliefs/criticisms and developed into a denomination
what is a cult?
- loose-knit memberships who have a shared interest/theme
- usually led by ‘practitioners’ or ‘therapists’ who claim special knowledge
- followers are often treated like customers or trainees
- EXAMPLE: scientology
EXAMPLE OF A SECT: heavens gate
- American sect founded in 1974 and led by Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite
- followers believed they could transform themselves into immortal extra-terrestrial beings by rejecting their human nature and they would ascend into heaven, referred to as the ‘next level’
- death of Nettles in 1985 challenged the groups views, as they originally believed they would ascend to heaven on a UFO
- they later believed that the body was a container for the soul
- on march 26 1997, police discovered bodies of 39 active members of the group
- they had participated in a mass suicide coinciding with the closest approach of the closet Hale-Bopp
EXAMPLE OF A SECT: the peoples temple
- led by Jim Jones advocating civil rights
- American organisation that existed from 1954 to 1978
- in 1965 Jones moved his family/peoples temple to California
- moved to Guyana and set up an agricultural commune
- goal was to create an egalitarian society free of problems of class/race
- population of Jonestown had grown to 900 by 1978
- in November 1978 congressman Leo Ryan and three journalists and one defector were shot and killed
- 900 members died in Jonestown in a mass suicide in 1978
- Jones ordered his followers to drink cyanide, resulting in the mass suicide of over 900 people
what are the differences between sects and cults?
SECTS:
- small, exclusive groups
- hostile to wider society
- members are likely to be marginal and oppressed
- often led by a charismatic leader
CULTS:
- loose-knit memberships who have a shared interest or theme
- usually led by ‘practitioners’ or ‘therapists’ who claim special knowledge
- followers are often treated like customers or trainees
why are sects short-lived?
BAKER
NEIBUR
EILEEN BAKER:
- people are unable to cope with strict discipline and rules imposed on members
- heavy and often extreme commitment required is difficult to maintain
REINHOLD NEIBUR:
- enthusiastic fervor is hard to maintain after the first generation
- this leads to the death of sects or it will adapt and become less of a protest movement and more tolerate of mainstream society, like a denomination
CULTS: what is scientology?
- believe people are immortal aliens (thetans) who are trapped on earth. they believe thetans have lived numerous past lives
- believe traumatic events cause subconscious command-like recordings in the mind (engrams) that can only be removed through ‘auditing’
- ‘auditing’ is answering exact sets of questions or directions given by an auditor to help a person locate areas of spiritual distress
- scientology has an estimated membership of under 40,000 worldwide
what is the new age movement?
- range of beliefs/activities that have been widespread since the 1980s e.g. astrology, tarot, crystals, alternative medicine, medication etc
- postmodern society reject meta narratives i.e. big stories which claim to have the answer to everything
- some sociologists argue a spiritual revolution is taking place, which involves a shift away from the idea of doing your duty and obeying external authority to exploring your inner self
what two themes characterize the new age:
SELF SPIRITUALITY: new agers who seek spirituality have turned away from traditional religions and instead look inside themselves to find it.
DETRADITIONALISTS: new agers reject authority of traditional sources such as priests/sacred texts. they think they can find the truth inside themselves
new age movement: women
- women may be more associated with the new age because women are often associated with nature (e.g. childbirth and healing roles)
- these movements often celebrate the natural and involve healing which gives women a higher status
new age movement: class
- new age beliefs and practices emphasizing personal autonomy and self-development appeal to some middle class women
- middle class women are more attracted to ideas that give them a passive role such as belief in an all-powerful god
