What is a “Cult”?
Cults & New Religious Movements
Agenda
• Attendance
• Defining terms
• Make-your-own cult
• What is a cult? compared to a religion?
• Media attitudes
Slide 2.
Preview: Studying
NRMs
• “Describe what a “cult” is in terms of its
necessary and typical characteristics.
• How are the terms “Sect”, “New Religious
Movement,” “High Demand New Religion”
“Alternative Religion” “Controversial Religious
Movement” different?
• What is a “cult”?
• What components does a “cult” have?
• What do “cults” have in common?
• Are all “cults” the same?
Slide 3.
In this class…
Slide 4.
If you started a cult…
• What would it be like?
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Teachings?
Rituals?
Authority?
Organization?
Daily Life?
Slide 5.
What would you call a
“cult”?
• What qualifies a group to be called a cult?
• Name some.
• Necessary characteristics:
• What must a movement have in order to
qualify as a “cult”?
• Typical characteristics:
• What do cults typically but not necessarily
have?
Slide 6.
“Words don’t mean;
people mean” - Hayakawa
Slide 7.
What is “religion”?
• What components do “religions” have?
• Which of these are necessary (without them
it wouldn’t be a religion)?
• Which of these are optional (a religion may
or may not have them)?
• What do “religions” have in common?
Slide 8.
Definitions of religion
American Heritage Dictionary: "Belief in and
reverence for a supernatural power recognized as
the creator and governor of the universe; A
particular integrated system of this expression; The
spiritual or emotional attitude of one who
recognizes the existence of a superhuman power
or powers."
Durkheim: “A religion is a unified system of beliefs
and practices relative to sacred things, i.e., things
set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices
which unite in one single moral community called a
Church, all those who adhere to them.”
Wallace: “a set of rituals, rationalized by myth, which
mobilizes supernatural powers for the purpose of
achieving or preventing transformations of state in
man or nature”
Geertz: "Religion is (1) a system of symbols which
acts to (2) establish powerful, persuasive, and
long-lasting moods and motivations in [people] by
(3) formulating conceptions of a general order of
existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with
such an aura of factuality that the moods and
motivations seem uniquely realistic.“
Bellah: "...a set of symbolic forms and acts that relate
man to the ultimate conditions of his existence."
William James: “The very fact that they are so many and so
different from one another is enough to prove that the word
'religion' cannot stand for any single principle or essence,
but is rather a collective name."
Talal Asad: My argument is that there cannot be a universal
definition of religion, not only because its constituent
elements and relationships are historically specific, but
because that definition is itself the historical product of
discursive processes.
Slide 9.
Small groups:
define religion
• Do not use these words in your definition:
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spiritual/spirituality
belief
experience
“the sacred,” “the holy,” or “the
transcendent”
• faith
• mystical
Slide 10.
Necessary
components
• Connects humans to a supernatural
reality
• Is organized:
• Is shared with others
• has recognized authorities
• Has rituals
Slide 11.
Optional components
• Teachings:
• Meaning: what is the purpose of life, the universe, and
everything?
• Salvation: How to escape the basic human predicament
• Ethics: What is right and wrong?
• What happens after death?
• Practices:
• Rites of passage
• Expressing devotion: Worship, Prayer, Thanks, Praise,
Sacrifice, Appeasement
• Scriptures
• Education
• Service
Slide 12.
“Religion” or
something else?
• What is the difference between a “religion”
and:
• Spirituality?
• Spirituality can be individual; Religion is shared with
others. (e.g., New Age spirituality)
• Philosophy?
• Philosophy ignores the supernatural, or at least
supernatural persons. (Confucianism? Scientology?)
• Cultural Worldview?
• May not have recognized authorities or rituals.
Slide 13.
Sect
• “Sect” usually refers to a dissident group that has
separated from another, usually mainstream,
religion (often proclaiming its intent to recover
principles or practices believed to have been
present in earlier times but from which the
denomination has drifted away), while
• a “cult” is a small, intense religious group whose
ties to mainstream religion and culture tend to be
less pronounced, one that often espouses a belief
system not rooted in Christianity or Judaism and
often under the personal direction of a single
charismatic leader.
Slide 14.
Necessary
characteristics
• Fringe (not mainstream in numbers or
area)
• Religious beliefs?
• Recently begun?
• High-demands placed on members
Slide 15.
(Stereo-)Typical
characteristics
• High-demand
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• Self-sacrifice for the cause
Encapsulation (us & them attitudes)
Charismatic leader
Peculiar scriptures or teachings
Difficult to leave?
Unreasonable?
Aggressive recruiting?
Apocalyptic?
Violent?
Sexually deviant?
Slide 16.
Differences between
“cult” and:
• “Sect”
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More established than “cult”, a branch within a larger religion.
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Carries no negative connotations
Not everything considered a “cult” (especially by the ACM) is
new. (e.g. gnosticism, Freemasonry)
• “New Religious Movement”
• “High Demand New Religion”
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Not everything considered a “cult” puts high demands on its
members (e.g., New Age Movement, Wicca).
• “Alternative Religion”
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Who decides what is mainstream and what is not?
Does it vary from place to place (Mormonism in Utah; Judaism
in Antigonish)?
• “Emergent Religion”
Slide 17.
Richardson, J. T. (1993). Definitions of Cult: From
Sociological-Technical to Popular-Negative. Review of
Religious Research, 34(4), 348.
http://doi.org/10.2307/3511972
• Abstract: This paper examines the theoretical and historical
development of the term "cult," from its inception in the
work of Troeltsch to more modern delineations of the term
in the work of researchers studying new religious groups.
The usurpation of the term by popular usage associated
with strong negative connotations is discussed, along with
efforts by a few contemporary scholars to salvage the term
by redefining it in ways which attempt to combine traditional
and popular meanings. The futility of this approach is
discussed, and the paper concludes with suggestions that
scholars should avoid the term and that it should not be
allowed to be used in legal proceedings because of its
confused and negatively connoted meaning in
contemporary society.
Slide 18.
Olson, P. J. (2006). The Public Perception of “Cults” and
“New Religious Movements.” Journal for the Scientific
Study of Religion, 97–106.
Slide 19.
Biased portrayals of
cults
• Media portrayals
• Dangerous Devotion video (0:00-5:48)
• What are proposed as cult characteristics?
• Counter-Cult Movement:
• Walter Martin on Christian Cults
• According to Martin, what makes something
a cult?
Slide 20.
Jehovah’s Witnesses
• “Children of Jehovah” video
• We have guest speakers coming next
week. Be respectful and try to understand
where they are coming from.
• To prepare, read the chapter on
Jehovah’s Witnesses by Ashcraft and
Daschke, on the Moodle site.
Slide 21.
Next Sociological
Issue
• Read Chapter 1 in
Comprehending
Cults
• Write a summary
and response, and
paste it into Moodle
“Summary 1”
Slide 22.
Next Religious
Movement
• Read the “Reading on Jehovah’s Witnesses”
(on Moodle)
• Make notes on what you notice about what
they believe about
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God
The world
Humanity
The problem
The good life
Death
• Come prepared to ask questions of our
guests
Slide 23.