Organisations, movements and members

• Church


  Large, with millions of members, place few demands on members, have a bureaucratic hierarchy, claim a monopoly of truth and are universalistic, ideologically conservative and linked to the state
• Sect


  Small, exclusive groups demanding real commitment from members, are hostile to wider society, recruit from the poor and oppressed, often have charismatic leadership and believe they have a monopoly of religious truth
• Denomination


  Midway between churches and sects, membership is less exclusive, they broadly accept society's values, are not linked to the state and impose some minor restrictions, but are not as demanding as sects and are tolerant of other religions
• Cult


  Least organised of all religious organisations, highly individualistic, small loose-knit groupings without a sharply defined belief system, often world-affirming
• Types of New Religious Movements (NRMs)

  • World-rejecting NRMs
  • World-accommodating NRMs
  • World-affirming NRMs
• World-rejecting NRMs


  • Have a clear notion of God, are highly critical of the outside world and expect radical change, members must break with their former life, live communally and have restricted contact with the outside world, the movement controls all aspects of their lives
• World-accommodating NRMs


  • Often breakaways from existing churches, neither accept nor reject the world, focusing on religious rather than worldly matters, members tend to lead conventional lives
• World-affirming NRMs


  • Often lack some of the conventional features of religion, offer followers access to spiritual or supernatural powers and accept the world as it is, promising followers success in their goals, followers are often customers rather than members
• Sects


  Result from splits in existing organisations breaking away and offering otherworldly benefits to those suffering economic or ethical deprivation
• Cults


  New religions or ones that have been imported, offer this-worldly benefits to individuals suffering psychic or health deprivation
• Types of Cults


  • Audience cults
  • Client cults
  • Cultic movements
• Audience cults


  • The least organised, with no formal membership and little interaction between members
• Client cults


  • Have a consultant/client relationship, with therapies promising personal fulfilment
• Cultic movements


  • More organised, exclusivist, requiring high levels of commitment claiming to meet all their members' religious needs
• Marginality


  Sects appeal to disprivileged groups who are marginal to society, offering a religious explanation of their disadvantage
• Relative deprivation


  People may feel deprived compared to others and turn to sects for a sense of community
• Social change


  Periods of rapid change undermine established norms, producing anomie, those most affected may turn to sects
• Denomination or death


  • Sects are world-rejecting organisations that come into existence by splitting from an established church, within a generation, they either die out or compromise with the world, abandoning their extreme ideas to become a denomination
• Sectarian cycle


  • Religious organisations move through a cycle: schism (splitting from a church); initial fervour and charismatic leadership; denominationalism and cooling of fervour, establishment, as the sect becomes world-accepting; further schism
• Established sects


  • Depends on how the sect answers the question, "What shall we do to be saved?" - Conversionist sects are likely to grow rapidly into larger denominations, Adventist sects keep themselves separate from the corrupt world, preventing them from compromising and becoming a denomination
• Some sects survive for many generations, e.g. Amish and Mormons
• Self-spirituality


  New Agers seeking the spiritual have turned away from traditional 'external' churches and instead look inside themselves to find it
• De-traditionalisation


  The New Age rejects the spiritual authority of external traditional sources such as priests and instead values personal experience
• Postmodernity


  People have lost faith in experts (e.g. scientists) and are disillusioned with the churches' failure to meet their spiritual needs
• Modernity


  The growth of the New Age is a feature of the latest phase of modern society, not postmodernity, modern society values individualism which is a key principle of New Age beliefs
• Link between New Age and modernity

  • Provides a source of identity in modern society, offers an alternative way to achieve perfection, provides a sense of certainty and truth, fills the void left by the decline of organised religion
• More women than men believe in God, sin etc and participate in religious activities
• In 2021, female churchgoers outnumbered males by half a million
• Gender and religiosity


  Women are more religious because they are socialised to be more passive, obedient and caring - qualities valued by most religions, women's closer proximity to birth and death brings them closer to 'ultimate questions about life that religion is concerned with, women's lesser involvement in paid work, a secularised sphere, makes them more religious
• Women and the New Age

  Women may be more attracted than men to New Age movements because they are more often associated with a healing role, child-rearing makes women less aggressive and more cooperative and caring - fitting the expressive emphasis of the New Age, New Age religions appeal to women's wish for autonomy and emphasis on being 'authentic'
• Compensation for deprivation


  Glock and Stark argue that deprivation is more common among women, which explains their higher level of sect membership - organismic deprivation, ethical deprivation, social deprivation
• Although woman generally remain more likely than men to be religious, there has been a decline in women's participation in religion
• Pentecostal gender paradox


  Despite being generally regarded as patriarchal, Pentecostalism has proved attractive to women because it demands an ascetic lifestyle and a traditional gender division of labour, which women can use to combat the culture of machismo
• Ethnicity and religiosity


  Higher than average rates for most minority ethnic groups - Muslims, Hindus and Black Christians are more likely to see religion as important, due to country of origin, cultural defence, cultural transition
• Age and religious participation


  The older a person is, the more likely they are to attend religious services, due to the ageing effect, the period effect, and secularisation