Types of religious organisation

Question 1

What are the different types of religious organisations?

Answer 1

Church
Sect
Denomination
Cult

Question 2

What are characteristics of the Church? (4 things)

Answer 2

Large organisations often with millions of members
Often ran by a bureaucratic hierarchy of professional priests
They claim a monopoly of truth
Universalistic, aim to include the whole of society

Question 3

Who do churches tend to be more appealing to and why?

Answer 3

Higher classes because they are ideologically conservative and often closely linked to the state

Question 4

What are the characteristics of a sect? (5 things)

Answer 4

Small, exclusive groups
Hostile to wider society & expect high level of commitment
Draw their members from the poor + oppressed
Led by a charismatic leader
Believe they have a monopoly of religious truth

Question 5

What is a denomination?

Answer 5

Usually a group of people who have split away from a church and formed their own group eg methodists

Question 6

What are characteristics of a denomination?

Answer 6

Membership is less exclusive than a sect
Impose some restrictions on members eg forbidding alcohol but are not as demanding as sects
Tolerant of other religious organisations
Don’t claim a monopoly of the truth
Quite mainstream, tend to not be extreme organisations
Less hierarchal than churches

Question 7

What are the characteristics of a cult?

Answer 7

usually led by ‘practitioners’ or ‘therapists’ who claim special knowledge
Many are world affirming & claim to improve life in this world
Like denominations, they are usually tolerant of other organisations + their beliefs
Don’t demand strong commitment from followers

Question 8

What is a cult?

Answer 8

A highly individualistic, loose knit and usually small grouping around some shared themes & interests, but usually with out a sharply defined + exclusive belief system

Question 9

What are the beliefs of a sect?

Answer 9

Would be considered strange & unorthodox by most of society

Question 10

What are the characteristics of extreme sects?

Answer 10

Leaders persuade members that they’re infallible (always right)
Members are exploited & manipulated by leader

Question 11

What are examples of a church?

Answer 11

The Catholic Church
Christianity
Hinduism
Judaism
Buddhism
Sikhism
Islam

Question 12

What are examples of sects?

Answer 12

Moonies
Aum
Branch Davidians
Jonestown
Amish

Question 13

What are examples of a denomination?

Answer 13

Methodism
Quakers
Baptists

Question 14

What are examples of a cult?

Answer 14

Spiritualism (trying to contact the dead)
Yoga
Scientology
Wicca (modern witchcraft; helps & heals)
Reiki (form of healing)

Question 15

What do Stark and Bainbridge subdivide cults into based on how organised they are?

Answer 15

Audience cults
Client cults
Cultic movements

Question 16

What are audience cults?

Answer 16

The least organised
Don’t involve formal membership or much commitment
Little interaction between members
Participation may be through the media

Question 17

What are examples of audience cults?

Answer 17

Astrology & UFO cults

Question 18

What are client cults?

Answer 18

Based on the relationship between a consultant and a client
Provide services to their followers
In the dead they were often contact with the dead, but emphasis has shifted to ‘therapies’ promising personal fulfilment & self discovery

Question 19

What are cultic movements?

Answer 19

Most organised, demand a higher level of commitment than other cults
Aims to meet all its members’ religious needs, rarely allowed to belong to other religious groups at the same time

Question 20

What is an example of a Cultic movement?

Answer 20

The Moonies