Showing papers in "Sociology of Religion in 1986"

Religious Mass Suicide before Jonestown: The Russian Old Believers

Abstract: Over a period of several decades in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century Russia, tens of thousands of "Old Believers" committed suicide, generally by self-immolation. Most of the suicides were not individual acts but transpired in the context of catastrophic collective events at hermitages or monasteries. In several instances the number of persons who perished at a burned-out settlement far exceeded the number of deaths at Jonestown. Convergences with the People's Temple holocaust include: a general climate of apocalyptic excitation; a sectarian mani-chean outlook which perceived absolute evil triumphant in the world, and in which "political" themes became more prominent over time; and a conviction of imminent armed assault by hostile forces. Both the Old Believers and the People's Temple experienced difficulties in resolving the tension between the impulse to violently confront a demonic state and the desire to develop a communal refuge where they could live according to their faith. Marked divergences include the degree of actual persecution, and the post-holocaust survival and growth of the Old Believers.

Political Ideology and Political Action in the New Christian Right

Abstract: In attempting to explain the recent prominence of politicized Evangelicalism, many researchers have used exposure to religious television as an important intervening variable between religious fundamentalism and the politicized attitudes of the New Christian Right. Using Tamney and Johnson's data (1983; 1984), we try to refine that model by distinguishing between televangelists with specifically political messages from those who emphasize a more traditional, salvation-oriented message. The resulting statistics, however, do not show any improvement in explanatory power. Some possible reasons for this, as well as an alternative conceptial scheme for studying American political ideology, are presented.

Reconstructing the “Cult” Experience: Post-Involvement Attitudes as a Function of Mode of Exit and Post-Involvement Socialization

Abstract: The principal evidence for the cult stereotype has been derived from the testimony of deprogrammed former members. Although scholars of new religious movements have fiequently observed that deprogrammees are not neutral witnesses, systematic empirical work in this area has been scant. The present paper is a report of a survey of 154 former members of controversial religious movements. The results of this research replicate the conclusions of Trudy Solomon 's study, i. e., that the tendency of ex-members to hold negative, cult-stereotypical attitudes toward their former groups is highly correlated with the extent of their exposure to the socializing influences of the anti-cult movement. In the controversy over "cults," the general public has overwhelmingly accepted the brainwashing/mind control ideology which has been propagated by "anticult" groups opposed to alternative religious movements. The reasons for this largely uncritical acceptance include our society's secular world view and our tendency to utilize such values as economic success as criteria for determining what is reasonable and logical. From this perspective, a more than nominal religiosity which seems to interfere with, or to supplant, more instrumental goals and values is automatically suspect as not quite "rational." This cultural bias, combined with the mass media's penchant for sensationalism, has enabled "anti-cultists" to enlist this powerful ally in their efforts to shape public opinion. The chief support for the notion of "cultic brainwashing" has been the negative testimony of (usually deprogrammed) former members of controversial religious groups. Accounts by former

How People Recognize Charisma: The Case of Darshan in Radhasoami and Divine Light Mission

Abstract: This paper examines the recognition of charisma as an active, conscious social process involving the confirmation of belief through non-cognitive methods of altering perception. In the illustrative case of Sant Mat/Radhasoami/Divine Light Mission tradition the Hindu concept and ritual of darshan is examined. Devotees use meditative means to recognize charisma in the guru considered as the formless Absolute, as himself, and as a "presence" generated within the community of followers. The aim on all three levels is ecstatic merging of a separate sense of self with the Absolute,. It is conjectured that once Westerners learned this they no longerfelt need of the guru. The discussion calls forfurther

Religion, health and healing: findings from a southern city

Abstract: During the last decade the traditional Christian practice offaith healing has reemerged in a number of mainline denominations. Most of the recent social science investigation of faith healing has been qualitative in nature. The present study explored faith healing practices in the context of a larger survey research project on education and health care. A sample of 586 adult respondents in the Richmond, VA SMSA were asked about their use of prayer in dealing with physical illness. The single most striking finding was that 14 percent of the respondents reported having experienced a healing which they attributed to prayer or regarded as a divine healing. Reported instances offaith healing probably would have been higher had the item wording encouraged reporting of multiple incidents and of non-physical healings. Multivariate analysis suggests thatfaith healing is not concentrated among deprived populations but rather is widely diffused through a broad range of churches and segments of the general population. The history of the relationship between religion and health is nearly as long as the history of humankind. Indeed, faith healing, divine healing, or healing in answer to prayer, has been an element of many religious traditions. Within Christianity, belief in and practice of faith healing (used here in a generic sense rather than in reference to the "faith healing movement") has been present in every period of church history since the ministry of Jesus, although its acceptance and popularity have varied in different historical eras. Earlier in the twentieth century faith healing assumed a truly multi-denominational character but then declined in the years following World War I. For over a quarter of a century the Pentecostals and a few small sects and independent churches were the primary practitioners of faith healing in the United States. In the decades following World War II, however, there was a resurgence in the practice of faith healing. "Healing revivals" became popular in the 1950's and routinely attracted crowds of several thousand in the major cities. Established denominations began exploring the resurgence of faith healing and drafting position

Changing Partisanship and Issue Stands among American Catholics

Abstract: Various studies of the changing political orientations of American Catholics have reached differing conclusions. While some studies suggest that Catholics are becoming more politically conservative, others suggest that this isn't so. This paper examines changing political orientations of Catholics over the 197283 period. Thefindings support the position that Catholics have, in fact, become more conservative over the past decade. However, little evidence supports the idea that changing Catholic political orientations are the product of either rising social status or suburbanization. While Catholicism has had a limited impact on Americans' ideological orientations, it has had a relatively large and growing impact on party identification.

The Class Basis of Early Christianity: Inferences from a Sociological Model

Abstract: For most of this century historians and sociologists agreed that in its formative days, Christianity was a movement of the dispossessed-a haven for Rome's slaves and impoverished masses. This thesis seems to have first gained ascendancy among scholars in Germany at the turn of the century. Thus, New Testament scholars trace this view to Deissmann (1908), while sociologists look to Troeltsch (1911) who claimed that in fact all of the "really creative, church-forming, religious movements are the work of the lower strata," if for no other reason than that only they have the need and the "unreflective character of thought" from which the "intransigence of certitude can rise." Marxists also look to Germany in this same period for Kautsky's (1908) elaborate, orthodox analysis of Christianity as a proletarian movement, which, he claimed, even achieved true communism briefly. Moreover, many scholars confidently attributed this conception of the social origins of early Christians to Paul on the basis of his first letter to the Corinthians in which he notes that not many of the wise, mighty, or noble are called to the faith. In recent decades, however, New Testament historians have begun to reject this notion of the social basis of the early Christian movement. E. A. Judge (1960) was the first to raise a vigorous dissent. He argued that perhaps the early Christian movement did not include a substantial number of Roman nobles or notables, but it was not abundant in the lowest strata of Roman society either. Judge showed that the New Testament gives ample evidence of privileged converts and inferred that the early church appealed primarily to the middle and upper-middle classes. Moreover, Judge perceptively noted that the "proof text" in I Corinthians 1. 26-8 had been over-interpreted: Paul did not say his followers included none of the wise, mighty, or noble-merely that there were "not many" such persons, which means that there were some. Of course, there were not "many" such people in the general population either. Moreover, even if early Christianity displayed a relative shortage of elite members, this does not imply a corresponding superabundance of the downtrodden. Since Judge first challenged the proletarian view of the early church, a consensus has developed among New Testament historians that Christianity was based in the middle and upper classes (Scroggs, 1980). However, the justification for this claim, or for any claim about the social basis of early Christianity, must remain

Dyadic Intimacy and Social Control in Three Cult Movements

Abstract: A common feature of certain highly controversial new religions (Unification Church, Hare Krishna, Children of God/Family of Love) is the prohibition against exclusive dyadic relations. Some related studies suggest that this prohibition helps eliminate competition for members' loyalties, thus perpetuating commitment and diminishing the likelihood of dyadic withdrawal. However, no direct evidence for dyadic defection has yet been adduced. This study explores the dyadic intimacy hypothesis using data from intensive, in-depth interviews with voluntary defectors (N=45) and current members (N=45) of the three groups mentioned above. It was found that every case involving a defector who was part of a dyad resulted in the disaffiliation of the defector's spouse or mate as well. In several instances, the spouses or mates of defectors reported no personal dissatisfaction or disillusionment with the movement but left only in order to remain with their dyadic partner. In contrast, there were no cases of permanent dyadic splits among members. Substantive data from the interviews are examined, implications of findings are discussed, and suggestions for further research are made.

Immanence and Transcendence: Connections with Personality and Personal Life

Abstract: Several years ago, I found that a group's being organized as an association or a social system had important consequences (Swanson, 1967, 1971). Societies in early modern Europe were likely to become Protestant if they were organized as associations. The more definite a society's organization as an association, the more likely it was to become Calvinist rather than Lutheran (or Anglican). Societies organized primarily as social systems were likely to remain Roman Catholic. I came to these findings by a familiar route, that is by drawing on sociology for an understanding of religious developments. But one can move in the opposite direction as well. The debates between the Reformers and their adversaries can be seen as analyses of the nature of life in an association or in a social system and thereby as extending our understanding of these two forms of social organization. The things we learn from that approach can improve our account of any historical event in which the distinction is important. The Reformation is but one such event. In this paper I present evidence from new studies that turn on the distinction between association and social system. Each study concerns relations between personality and social structure as suggested by the Reformation debates. In each case I describe some feature of these relations as conceived at the Reformation. Then I cast them in a more general form and look at samples of primitive societies and/or American families to see whether expected relations to association/social system do in fact appear.

A House Divided: Protestant schisms and the rise of religious tolerance

Abstract: L'A. montre qu'au 18 s. en Ecosse les schismes presbyteriens et la diversite des mouvements religieux qui en resulta, creerent des conditions favorables au transfert des fonctions sociales de l'Eglise a l'Etat qui n'avait d'autre choix que de rester neutre. Le pluralisme religieux, l'independance croissante de l'Eglise et de l'Etat aboutirent ainsi a la tolerance religieuse, a la secularisation et a l'acceptation des Catholiques Romains.

Modes of Leader Rhetoric in the Institutional Development of Mormonism

Abstract: This study analyzes variation in the expressive modes of official religious rhetoric by Mormon leaders during a 150 year span of Mormon history. Rhetorical modes-identified through content analysis of a comprehensive sample of Mormon general conference addresses-include categories of: (1) exposition (i.e., explanation, justification, repudiation, narration), and (2) admonition (i.e., prescription, proscription, chastisement). Findings include: consistent preference for expository rhetoric over admonition; within expository rhetoric, a shift towards more explanation and repudiation but less narration and justification; general predominance ofprescriptive over proscriptive and chastisement rhetorical modes within the category of admonition; but variations in admonitory modes relative to different audiences (e.g., members vs. non-members, men vs. women, adults vs. youth). The theoretical and historical implications of these findings are discussed in relationship to the social transformation of Mormonism from its initial cult-sect beginnings to its modem state of rapid growth and public acceptance.