Religious organisations Flashcards
(20 cards)
Who came up with churches and sects?
Troeltsch
Who came up with Denominations & Cults?
Niebuhr
What is a church?
Churches are large organisations, often with millions of members, run by a bureaucratic hierarchy of professional priests, who also claim monopoly of truth
They Integrate with the Social & Economic Structure of Society and are universalist with open membership
What are Sects?
Sects are small, exclusive groups. They’re hostile to wider society and they expect a high level of commitment.
They draw the poor and oppressed and are led by charismatic leaders but are more Egalitarian
They are Radical in Nature and require Withdrawal from society
They also have Closed/ Controlled Membership
What are denominations?
lie midway between churches and sects, membership is less exclusive than sects but they don’t appeal to the whole of society
They are generally conservative but with some restrictions
What are cults?
Cults are highly individualistic, loose-knit and are usually small group based around a shared interest, but aren’t based around a specific belief system.
They don’t demand a strong commitment and continue with normal lives
Open membership and tolerate other religions, mainly Higher class members
What is a new religious movements (NRM)?
A New Religious Movement are unconventional religious movements used to describe groups that were too complex to be categorised as a sect or cult.
What are the 3 types of NRM?
World-rejecting NRMs
World-accommodating NRMs
World-affirming NRMs
Who came up with the 3 types of NRM?
Wallis
What is a World Rejecting NRM?
Clear religious belief with a clear notions of God
highly critical of the outside world and seeking radical change
members follow with total commitment and usually requires a change in lifestyle
For example - The People’s Temple, The Moonies
What is a world accommodating NRM?
These NRM’s neither fully accept, nor fully reject mainstream values.
They often stem from traditional religion, and attempt to revive traditions/beliefs which they have been lost in society.
Neo-Pentecostalism for example, attempts to revive the worships of the Holy Spirit.
What is a World Affirming NRM?
Similar to “client cults”
Offer a service, and claim to allow people to achieve their ‘full potential’.
They require little commitment (apart from the cost), and members can live a normal life.
They do not oppose mainstream society
non-exclusive and are tolerant of other religions
For example, EST, Transcendental meditation.
1 Evaluation of Wallis’ 3 types of NRM
Beckford - does not take account of the diversity of views that often exist within a single organisation.
What are the 3 types of cults?
Audience cults
Client cults
Cultic movements
Who came up with the 3 types of cults?
Stark and Bainbridge
What is an Audience Cult?
least organised, do not involve formal commitment
What is a Client Cult?
based on the relationship between a consultant and client, provides services to their followers
What is a Cultic Movement?
most organised and demand a high level of commitment
movements aims to meet all members religious needs
rarely allow their followers to be a part of other religious movements as well
What are 3 reasons people join NRMs?
Marginality
Social Change
Relative deprivation
How does marginality cause people to join NRMs?
People are disillusioned with institutionalised religion.
Weber - sects attract the poor,
they develop a ‘theodicy of disprivilege’ ‑ a religious set of ideas which explains why they are in that position.
E.g. God’s chosen people‘ and the promise of ‘salvation’ is ‘compensation’ for their poverty
However, since the 60s, world-rejecting NRMs have recruited from well-educated young middle class whites, rather than from the poor.
But this doesn’t contradict Weber - these individuals had become marginal to society, e.g. most were hippies, dropouts and drug-users.
