New Religious Movements

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New Religious Movements

• Mary Fisher Living Religions
• Chapter 12

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Terms (1) Concepts Movements

• Apocalypse apostasy
• Millennium Rapture
• Cult Audience Cults Client cults
• New Age Thetan
• Sect Church
• Progressive millennialism Progressive revelation
• Babi movement Bahai Faith
• Syncretism Universalism
• Ethnic religions Goddess spirituality
• Neo-Paganism/ Wicca/ Witchcraft

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Terms (2) Names Movements

• Depak Chopra New Age
• L. Ron Hubbard Scientology
• Rev. Sun Myung Moon Unification Movement
• Sathya Sai Baba of India Sai Baba followers
• Joseph Smith Mormonism/
• Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter
  Day Saints
• Charles Taze Russell Jehovah Witnesses
• Caodaism Santaria
• Madame Blavatsky Theosophical Society
• Bahaullah Bahai Faith
• Marcus Garvey, Ras Tafari Rastafari

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Learning Outcomes

• Be able to identify and comprehend key concepts,
  main beliefs, and practices of each of these
  movements
• Be able to distinguish, compare and contrast
  these movements with each other and with the
  developed religions
• Be able to comprehend these expressions within
  the broader Humanities discipline

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New Religious MovementsIntroduction

• History of Religions continual change
• Times of rapid social change spawns new
  religious movements
• Experience ranges from fleeting to deep change

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Social Context of New Religious Movements (1)

• Cult
• Sect
• New Religious Movements label intended to be
  neutral and used by scholars
• Sociologists study new religious movements
• Church and sect distinction W. Bainbridges
  distinction
• Stark and Bainbridge Audience cults New Age
  groups tend to fall in this category (e.g. Depak
  Chopras The Seven Spiritual Laws for Success)

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Social Context of New Religious Movements (2)

• Client Cults e.g. 1 Scientology
• L. Ron Hubbard ( 1911-1986)
• Hubbards Teaching the thetan
• Stark Bainbridges cult movement definition
• Apocalypse
• Millennium
• Rapture

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Charismatic Leadership

• Unification Movement
• Rev. Sun Myung Moon (1920--)
• Basic Teachings/Beliefs
• Sathya Sai Baba of India (1926-1986)
• Claims reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba
  Avatar
• Center is in Puttaparthi massive ashram
• Basic Teachings/ Beliefs, and practices

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Offshoots of Older Religions

• The Mormon Church/ Mormonism/ The Church of Jesus
  Christ of the Latter Day Saints
• Joseph Smith
• The Book of Mormon
• Mormon Central Teachings, Beliefs,
  Practices
• Jehovahs Witnesses
• Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916)
• Central Beliefs, Teachings, and Practices

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Offshoots View of Christianity

• Mormonism
• Apostasy (apostate) Christian Church fell
  away from the truth and Mormonism comes in 19th
  cent. and restores the true biblical view, the
  true priesthood, the true Church
• Jevovahs Witnesses
• Christian Church also viewed as corrupt and
  apostate, focusing on corrupted non-biblical
  terms such as Trinity, and generally
  anti-institutional

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Syncretistic New Religions

• Syncretism
• Caodaism 1926 Vietnam
• African-Inspired Syncretic Religions
• Santaria
• Theosophical Society
• Madame Blavatsky (1831-1891)
• Ascended Masters

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The Bahai Faith

• Universalist beliefs have also manifested in a
  new global religion, the Bahai Faith M.
  Fisher, p.482

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Map of West Asia (Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan),
1863
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Birthed in Persia Ottoman Empire
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Bahai Faith Spreads through the exiled journey of
the Founder
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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (1)
the Bab) and the Babi Movement

• In 1844, Ali Muhammad announces that he has been
  sent by God to prepare humanity for a new age and
  the imminent appearance of another messenger even
  greater than himself from US Bahai website.
• (This section is taken from the Hopfe/Woodward
  text) In 1844, a Shia Muslim named Ali Muhammad
  declared that he was the promised twelfth imam
  and called himself the Bab (the Gate). He
  advocated sweeping religious and

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (2)

• social reforms, such as raising the status of
  women thus, the Bab gathered around him a group
  of disciples who called themselves Babis. The
  movement was short-lived, as the religious and
  political forces of Persia moved to crush it. The
  Bab was publicly executed in 1850, and many of
  his disciples were imprisoned or executed.

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Religious, Political, and Geographic Contexts
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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (3)

• Before he died, however, the Bab predicted that
  he had prepared the way for one who was yet to
  come, one who would found a universal religion.
• Hopfe/Woodward text summarizes it this way What
  began as a sect of Shiite Islam in Persia moved
  so far away that it is now considered a separate
  religion altogether.

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (4)

• This next portion of the story is taken from
  Gloria Faizis The Bahai Faith An Introduction,
  Bahai Pub. Trust
• Bahaullah (Ali Husayn) was in Tirhan at the time
  when the Bab declared His mission to his first
  disciples in Shiraz. The new message reached
  Husayn through the Babs first disciple, and he
  accepted it without the least hesitation though
  he had not met the Bab. Husayn was 27 years old.
  

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (5)

• Having identified himself with the Cause of the
  Bab, Husayn arose to promulgate its teachings and
  share in the sufferings of its followers. Before
  long, all his property was confiscated, and he
  himself was thrown into a dungeon called The
  Black Pit, for murderers and robbers. Husayn
  spent 4 months there with a heavy chain on his
  neck. Yet, while in this gloomy dungeon, he
  became fully aware of the Revelation which was to
  flow through him to the rest of mankind.

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (6)

• The Bab was now executed (martyred), and many
  others had laid down their lives for the Cause,
  and the few remained were being hunted down by
  their cruel enemies. But Bahaullah knew that
  the blood of martyrs had watered the mighty tree
  of Gods Cause that nothing could stop its
  growth until it had gathered all the peoples of
  the world under its shadow.

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (7)

• After 4 months, Husayn was so ill they thought he
  would die. He was released from the dungeon and
  banished from his land to Baghdad, and some
  friends and family volunteered to go into exile
  with him.
• He remained in exile in Baghdad for 10 years.
  Though he was destitute and branded a heretic,
  people of all backgrounds and denominations came..

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (8)

• seeking his presence. Forgetting their
  differences of classes, color, and religion, they
  sat down together listening to his teachings.
• The Iranian govt heard about this, hoping the
  movement was dead, and so persuaded the Turkish
  govt (under which Baghdad was) to send
  Bahaullah further away from his native country.

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (9)

• He was going to be banished to Constantinople.
  On the eve of his departure, he revealed that he
  was the promised one, the Great Teacher promised
  in all the Holy Scriptures of the world, whose
  advent the Bab prepared the way at which time he
  took on the name Bahaullah, meaning the Glory
  of God. This Declaration was a turning point in
  the history of this new Cause. The promise of
  the Bab

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (10)

• had been fulfilled. The Day of the Unity of
  Mankind had now been ushered in.
• His exile in Constantinople lasted 4 months
  during which time a number of notables of the
  city came under the influence of his teachings.
• Then he was sent to Adrianople, where he stayed
  for 5 years.

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The Story of the beginning of Bahai Faith (11)

• There, Bahaullah proclaimed his Mission to the
  kings and rulers of the earth, and to
  ecclesiastical leaders of all religions. He
  called them to listen to the Message of God, to
  come together to resolve their differences, to
  work toward world peace.
• The Revelation of Bahaullah, which had been born
  in the dungeon of Tirhan and declared on the eve
  of his departure from Baghdad, reached its zenith
  in Adrianople.

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Bahaullahs Banishment Journey
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Chronological Overview

• 1844 Ali Muhammad, a 25 year old merchant,
  declares himself to be the 12th Imam
• 1858 Ali Muhammad executed, his followers are
  persecuted
• 1863 Bahaullah (Husayn Ali) founds Bahai
  faith
• 1892 Bahaullah dies Abbas Effendi assumes
  leadership of Bahai movement
• 1863-1908 Repression of Bahais in Middle East
• 1908present Global missionary efforts taken
• 1963 Universal House of Justice established

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Bahai Key Terms/Concepts

• Bab-Gate, Ali Muhammad of Persian, 12th Imam
• Bab-ud-Din-Gate of Faith, Founder of the Babi
  movement, Ali Muhammad
• Babis-Religious group, followers of the Bab,
  immed. Forerunner of the Bahai religion
• Twelfth Imam-Shiite Muslim Iranian prophecy
  that the 12th one to come, a Messiah-type figure

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Key Terms/Concepts, continued

• Bahaullah the Glory of God, title of Ali
  Husayn, the Founder of the Bahai Faith
• Abdu'l-Baha Bahaullahs successor and son
• Ridvan annual festival commemorating Ali
  Husayn revealing to the Babis that he was the
  promised one, occurred in Ridvan (near Baghdad)
  in exile
• Universal House of Justice international seat of
  the Baha'i community located in Haifa, Israel

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The Main Bahai Beliefs (1)

• One God, one World, one Humanity
• Bahaullah the Promised One of the Ages
• Bahaullah is the most recent messenger of God
• All religions come from the same Divine source
• Divine revelation continuous and progressive the
  Messengers of God Moses, Zoroaster, Jesus,
  Muhammad, Buddha, the Bab, and Bahaullah
  represent successive stages in the spiritual
  growth of humanity

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Main Bahai Beliefs (2)

• Bahaullah fulfills prophecies of the past
  manifestations of God that his coming ushers in
  the age of fulfillment in religion.
• One God and one humanity his greatest message
  was in the oneness of the human race all races,
  sexes, and religious truths are the expressions
  of the one God.

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Abdul-Bahas Message to the World

• Abdul-Baha (Bahaullahs successor) left Acre
  (north of Haifa) to preach the following Bahai
  doctrines around the world
• There is oneness in the entire human race. This
  is a fundamental doctrine of faith and essential
  to Bahai.
• There must be an independent search after truth,
  unfettered by superstition or tradition.
• There is a basic unity of all religions. Bahai
  teaches that all religions essentially preach the
  same message.

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The Bahai Practices

• Daily obligatory prayer morning and evening
• Weekly devotional/worship community
  meetings/fellowship locally, internationally
• No clergy or priests neither local assembly
  leader-designate

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Bahai Practices, continued

• Note In U.S., Bahais meet on Sundays
• Festivals, some of which follow the Sunday
  devotionals, and includes potluck food
• Visiting the international Bahai Shrine in
  Haifa/pilgrimages on high festival, e.g. Ridvan

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Practices Festivals/Fasts

• New Year March 21 (1st day of spring)
• Ridvan (occurs between April 21 - May 2)
  commemorates Bahaullahs declaration that he was
  the promised one
• Other certain feasts throughout the year to
  celebrate events in the life of Bahaullah
• Fast during month of Ala (daylight fast, compare
  w/ Islams Ramadan)

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Taboos

• Alcohol
• Narcotic drugs

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The Bahai Sacred Texts

• Katib-i-Aqdas The Most Holy Book (written by
  Bahaullah)
• Katib-i-Iqan The Book of Certitudes (written
  by Bahaullah)
• The Hidden Words (written by Bahaullah)
• The Tablets of Abdul-Baha
• The Gleanings from the Writings of Bahaullah,
  translated by Shoghi Effendi

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The Main Bahai Symbol

• The nine-pointed star is a main Bahai symbol.
• Each of the Bahai national shrines has nine
  sides, which is the largest unit number (single
  digit), and thus symbolizes unity

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The Bahai Religion Today

• A mission-focused religion-globally
• Intl Shrine, Haifa, National Shrines
• Structure of three levels
• Universal House of Justice
• National Spiritual Assemblies
• Local Spiritual Assemblies (20,000)
• 6 million adherents (estimate)

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Factors in its Growth Success as a modern World
Religion

• Universal Outlook one God, one world, one
  humanity (all races are a part of)
• Progressive Theologically (relative to Islam)
  and Socially equality of men and women and
  justice for all
• Missionary Focus-globally
• Banishment of Bahaullah from Persia ended up
  working to spread their message

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Bahai Review and Summary

• What was the historical, political, cultural, and
  religious context of the birth of this religion?
• (empire, country, religion?)
• What was the name of the forerunner and the name
  of the Founder founders successor?
• Summarize of the story of its origin
• How did the banishing of Bahaullah end up
  leading to the spread of this new Faith?

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Bahai Review and Summary

• What are the main beliefs?
• What are the main practices?
• What are the sacred texts (holy books)?
• What is the profile of this religion is today?

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Bahai Discussion Questions

• How is the Bahai Faith related to Islam,
  particularly Shiite Islam in Iran during its
  origin?
• How may the Bahai faith be related to other
  religions like Sikhism, Christianity, Judaism,
  Zoroastrianism, etc.?
• How do you think Bahais regard the holy
  Scriptures of other religions?
• How can persecution, even the executing of
  thousands of its follows, be fuel for its growth
  into an unstoppable religious/spiritual movement?
• Why do some consider the Bahai religion to be
  more in step with the modern world?

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New Religious MovementsSocial Trends

• Ethnic-based Religions
• Rastafari
• Nature Spirituality
• Neo-Paganism, Wicca, Goddess spirituality
  Gaia
• Ethnic Religions
• Deep Ecology
• New Age Spirituality
• Drew from progressive millennialism,
  spiritism/channeling, nature-reverence,
  universalism
• New Thought, Unity School Christianity

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New Religious MovementsConclusionWill they
last?

• Four Factors in determining their longevity and
  success
• 1) Balance with similarities to existing beliefs
• 2) Organization, personal commitment, bonds
• 3) Social Setting- is freedom of choice allowed?
• 4) Spiritual aspects-perceived true genuine

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New Religious MovementsProbing Questions

• In modern times, there has been a come-back of
  nature-based religion which some refer to as the
  old ways. Some have been trying to reproduce
  these old sacred ways. What does the textbook
  say why it is difficult to reproduce the old
  ways? (c.f. p. 486)
• When religious groups or cults isolate themselves
  and believe the apocalypse is about to come, what
  usually results?

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New Religious MovementsSmall Group Discussion 1

• Textbook states, Religion is best when it is
  community and humanitarian focused. Discuss
  this statement, its value, and whether you agree
  with it based from what you learned in this
  course.

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New Religious MovementsSmall Group Discussion 2

• In the section of Nature Spirituality, in the
  topic of ethnic religions, the example from
  Russia, the textbook states, Now that the
  freedom of religion is permitted, people are
  returning to the traditional agrarian rites for
  the earths fertility.Some members of ethnic
  religions question why they should revere the
  myths of West Asian desert tribes, as in
  Judeo-Christian tradition, rather than the ethnic
  myths of their own ancestors. (p. 489) Discuss
  this assessment and discern the meaning of West
  Asian desert tribes. Is this a fare assessment?