Tues2 March 10th: Types of religious organisations
HOMEWORK: Types of religious organisations notes and revision
cards
Thurs2 March 12th: Types of religious organisations
Thurs1 March 19th: Types of religious organisations
HOMEWORK: Types of religious organizations essay
Mon2 March 23rd: Types of religious organisations & Religiosity and
social groups
Tues2 March 24th: Religiosity and social groups
Thurs2 March 26th: Postmodernity and religion
Religious organizations, including cults, sects,
denominations, churches and New Age
movements, and their relationship to religious or
spiritual organizations and movements, beliefs
and practices
What is the difference between:
1.A church
2.A denomination
3.A sect
4.A cult
Roy Wallis (1976) - divided organizations into respectable
(uniquely legitimate or pluralistically legitimate) or deviant
Respectable
Deviant
Uniquely legitimate
Church
Sect
Pluralistically legitimate
Denomination
Cult
Church
1.The church - Ernst Troeltsch (1931) –
• refers to a large religious organization.
• Individuals are born into it.
• A church might try to be universal but in reality
substantial minorities don’t belong.
• It usually ‘stabilizes and determines the political order’.
• Churches are often closely related to the state.
• Likely to be religiously conservative and support the
status quo.
Denominations
2. Denominations
Stark and Bainbridge (1985) – an
organization that shares several but not all
the supposed features of a church – a
watered down church.
H.R Niebuhr (1929) –
a denomination does not have universal appeal – 2005 – 289,000
attending Methodists, 287,600 attending Pentecostal and
254,800 Baptist.
- Denominations are not so closely linked with the upper classes.
- Denominations don’t identify with the state
- they do not claim a monopoly on religious truth (Steve Bruce –
most important distinction)
- usually conservative
Sects
# Sects are groups that are formed as an offshoot of an existing religion.
Troeltsch (1981)
-
Diametrically opposed to the church
Smaller and more integrated
Connected with the lower classes or at least from those opposed to the state
They reject the values of the world
Members might be expected to withdraw from the world outside the group
They are expected to be deeply committed to their beliefs
Members join as adults voluntarily and adopt the lifestyle of the sect – they
exercise a stronger control over individuals
Monopoly of the truth
No hierarchy of paid officials – usually there is one single charismatic leader
Roy Wallis (1976) – views sects as deviant groups
which see themselves as uniquely legitimate.
Sects tend to break away from the dominant
group in society because of a disagreement.
Some of these groups which broke away would
be accepted as denominations but deviant
groups were seen as sects.
The People’s Temple –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NQ5KBzD8w0
Branch Davidians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0jTEzyf1yc
Amish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtNXvE_rLoE
Mormons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIaoBHJ3m0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6udew9axmdM
Bryan Wilson (1985)
Seven different types of sects
Conversionist; Revolutionary; Introversionist;
Manipulative; Thaumaturgical (miracles/personal
messages from God); Reformist; Utopian
Cults
Bruce (1995) ‘mysticism’ - a highly individualistic
expression, varying with personal experiences and
interpretations. A cult is a ‘loosely knit group organized
around some common themes and interests but lacking in
any sharply defined and exclusive belief system’.
- Tends to be individualistic
- Tolerate other beliefs
- Often no concept of heresy because their beliefs are so
vague
- Stark and Bainbridge (1985) sees them as novel within a society and that
there is an overlap between New Age movements and cults – cults are
new religions within a society and are unconnected to existing religions:
1. Audience cults – least organized and involve little face to face contact –
usually through mass media – EG: astrology
2. Client cults – more organized and offer services to its clients – scientology
claims to clear repressed memories of painful experiences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4PDZt74adg
3. Cult movements – more involvement – single religion only – The Reverend
Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church is one example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL0uxDscjdo
Why have they grown?
Weber (1922) – likely to arise amonst marginalized groups who don’t feel
they are receiving what they deserve. A theodicy of disprivilege – an
explanation of why they are in this situation and how to escape it.
Bryan Wilson (1970) war, natural disaster or economic collapse can create
fertile ground for sects and cults to emerge.
1960s – targeting of marginalized groups – Nation of Islam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rurGNvDnBV8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh7L8uRiW-Q
However, on the whole, most NRMS are made up of white
middle class Americans and Europeans - but Wallis
argues that these people are still marginalized in some
way.
Relative deprivation might explain why these white
middle class members join these groups because whilst
they are not objectively poor, they might feel poor in
comparison to other members in society (Stark and
Bainbridge and Wallis)
Bryan Wilson (1970) argues that sects develop
during periods of rapid social change (see
Russian cult video below). He gives the
example of the Methodist movement which he
says was in response to urbanization and
industrialization.
Bruce (1995) attributes it to modernization and
secularization – as traditional institutions have weakened,
some people have sought alternatives. In a more secular
world, cults have become more popular because they
require fewer sacrifices and less commitment than
churches and sects. However, a small number are only
willing to join the stricter sects.