New Age Movements & Cults

• Who argued that many religious organizations do not fit into traditional categories?

  Brian Wilson
• What has been developed due to the inability to categorize some religious organizations?

  Typologies of cults and New Religious Movements
• How do cults differ from sects according to Roy Wallis?

  Cults are individualised, loosely-organised, and tolerant
• What do cults not claim according to Wallis?

  They do not claim to have found the truth
• Who developed one typology of cults?

  Roy Wallis
• What is the contrasting typology of cults developed by Stark and Bainbridge?

  Stark and Bainbridge's typology
• What do New Religious Movements (NRMs) include according to Wallis?

  Cults and certain types of sects
• What do world-affirming NRMs seek to offer their members?

  Spiritual enrichment
• Do world-affirming NRMs generally include belief in a God?

  No, they often do not include belief in a God
• What do world-affirming NRMs offer instead of strict demands?

  Personal fulfilment and meditation
• How do world-accommodating NRMs view the world?

  They neither affirm nor reject the world
• What do world-rejecting NRMs believe about the world?

  They see the world as inherently evil or corrupt
• How do Stark and Bainbridge view religions and spiritual movements?

  As if they were business organizations
• What is an audience cult?

  A cult where participants are passive consumers
• How might Scientology have begun as an audience cult?

  People read L Ron Hubbard’s book on Dianetics
• What characterizes a client cult?

  It has a doctor/patient-like relationship
• How did Scientology evolve from an audience cult?

  It sought to treat people through Dianetics
• What is a cult movement?

  A cult that fulfills all spiritual needs
• How did Scientology ultimately evolve?

  From a client cult to a cult movement
• What does John Drane suggest about New Age movements?

  They grew from a failure of science as a belief system
• What did the Enlightenment lead people to dismiss?

  Traditional religions
• What problems did science create according to Drane?

  Environmental disaster and nuclear catastrophe risks
• What are people turning to as a result of science's failures?

  Spirituality and looking within themselves