New%20Religious%20Movements%20Or%20Cults%20and%20Sects

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New Religious MovementsOrCults and Sects
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Sects

• A sect
• demands greater conformity of its members than a
  church
• is exclusive in membership
• distances itself from the concerns of larger
  society
• claims to be the bearer of religious truth

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Cults

• A cult
• is founded by a charismatic leader who remains
  the focus of the followers
• normally claims a new revelation from God
• demands a high level of conformity by its members
• is viewed with extreme suspicion by established
  religious communities

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New Religious Movements

• New
• Understood as a recent development relative to
  older established religions

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New Religious Movements

• Religious
• It must involve myths, rituals, beliefs, symbols,
  sacred texts, etc.
• Its overall aim must be religious in nature, that
  is, offering a form of salvation either in this
  life or the next.

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New Religious Movements

• Movement (can be understood in two ways)
• It generally grows out of a current that moves
  within a wider organization, or within society as
  a whole.
• It is in motion. It is in the process of
  changing or evolving.
• Mormonisms position on polygamy
• Jehovah Witness rejection of Christian
  celebrations in the 1930s

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Examples of New Religious Movements - Mormonism

• Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints
  (Mormons)
• Founded by Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York
• In 1827 he received a revelation from the prophet
  Mormon. The prophet showed the text of the book
  of Mormon inscribed on two golden tablets.

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Jehovah Witnesses

• Founded by Charles Taze Russell in the late19th
  century
• Predicted return of Christ in 1879
• Rejected fundamental Christian beliefs such as
  the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of
  Christ

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Christian Scientist

• Founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1875.
• Rejected the Trinity and all sacramentalism
• Reality exists only through the spiritual. Other
  aspects of matter and mankind are unreal and
  illusory.
• Evil is an illusion

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The Unification Church (Moonies)

• Founded by Sung Myung Moon in 1954 in Seoul,
  Korea
• Claimed a direct revelation from God directing
  him to continue the work that Jesus failed to
  complete
• Believes communication with the spirits of dead
• Well known for its mass marriage ceremonies
• Openly uses its operations for the acquisition of
  wealth