New Religious Movements

1. New Religious Movements

2. Who Is Drawn To NRM’s and Why Young Affluent Educated Unmarried Geographically Mobile • Search for friendship, acceptance, recognition • Desire to experience religion rather than think about it • Something and someone to believe in • Authenticity and naturalness in an otherwise “artificial” world

3. Conditions For Successful NRMs Ability to develop novel ideas and recruit/retain members • Maintain continuity with the host society • Maintain a medium level of tension with host society • Teach doctrines that are non-empirical • Legitimate leaders who some kind of authority • Generate highly motivated volunteer labor force • Maintain fertility • Tread carefully in our unregulated religious economy • Sustain strong internal attachments • Maintain sufficient strictness • Socialize young to minimize defection

4. Asceticism self-denial or pain Mysticism unmediated experience with “God” Soteriological Differences Between Western Churches AndEastern New Religious Movements focus on the by-and-by Otherwordly focus on the here-and-now Innerwordly