Showing papers on "Religious organization published in 1978"

A Typology of Cults

Abstract: The development of a concept of "cult" usefulfor empirical research has lagged behind the refinement of terms used to analyze otherforms of religious organization. Utilizing Troeltsch's "technical mysticism" concept, the article defines cults as non-traditional religious groups that are based on a belief in a divine element within the individual. Three ideal types of cults are posited: a mystically-oriented illumination type; an instrumental type, in which inner experience is sought for its effects; and a service-oriented type, which is focused on aiding others. The usefulness of the typology is tested in its application to the analysis of six groups: Theosophy, Wisdom of the Soul, Spiritualism, New Thought, Scientology, and Transcendental Meditation.

Dutch Jews in a Segmented Society

Abstract: Before 1795, the situation of Dutch jews differed greatly from one local community to another. The Union of Utrecht of 1579 had banned any form of inquisition. No stigmatizing jewish insignia were allowed. There was no numerus clausus on the number of jews admitted, or any restriction on their marrying. A decree of the States General of 1657 gave resident jews the status of Dutch subjects on a par with any other Dutchman in relations to foreign States or trading partners. But for the rest, everything depended on local magistrates. Some towns (like Utrecht and Deventer) excluded jews until 1795, although Utrecht made one exception for a rabbi teaching Hebrew at a university in the early eighteenth century. Amsterdam allowed free entry to poor and rich jews alike, but excluded them from citizenship. Other towns offered more freedom on that score. But only in 1795 was a framework established for national decisions.1

Leopard Skins and Paper Tigers: 'Choice' and 'Social Structure' in the Nuer

Abstract: Critique du re-examen recent de l'organisation politique des Nuer par Peter Gruel (1971). Selon P. Gruel, E. Evans-Pritchard analyse le chef a peau de leopard comme un personnage religieux officiel, sans pouvoir, alors qu'il est en realite le leader puissant d'une coalition.

Witches, Moonies and Evil

Abstract: A S sociologist Andrew Greeley observed in his recent book Unsecular Man and as others have since reaffirmed, the 1970s have not witnessed the continuation of the secularization process projected by observers during the 1960s. On the contrary, the current decade has been one of widespread religious ferment. Estimates given in the media of evangelical participation alone range as high as thirty to forty million Americans. An NBC newscast recently reported, on the basis of a national opinion poll, that one out of every three Americans was "born again" and returning to fundamentalist Christianity. Thht a number of public figures from Charles Colson to Eldridge Cleaver to Larry Flynt have been among the converts has served to dramatize the influence of the movement. Alongside this resurgence of conventional Judaic-Christian religious activity, there has been a proliferation of marginal or "new" religious groups such as the Unification church, the Children of God, Hare Krishna, the Divine Light Mission, Scientology, and numerous other less well known groups. While this myriad of marginal religious groups taken together includes only a fraction of the number of Americans who are born again Christians, such groups have commanded as much or more public attention and concern. Much of this negative publicity can be traced to the loosely organized but highly vocal members of a conservative countermovement which has been alternately christened the "anticult" or "deprogramming" movement. (Deprogramming refers, in its coercive extreme, to the abduction and restraint of marginal religious group members for the purpose of pressuring them to recant their new faiths.) The members of this countermovement, most of whom are disgruntled former members or relatives of members of these marginal religions, have charged that these groups gain converts through the use of coercive, manipulative mind-control techniques. The spectacular charges of Svengalian brainwashing methods used by these groups create the impression that these religious organizations constitute a rare social aberration. However, even a cursory examination of American history reveals that marginal religious groups have always existed in substantial numbers. For a variety of reasons these groups sometimes become more visible and are regarded as threats to the conventional order. When members of conventional society perceive them to be a clear and present danger to cherished values, there follows a tendency to attach to them beliefs and powers which, in whatever the terms of that culture, constitute evil. From the perceived danger is initiated a process of locating, identifying, and neutralizing that evil.

Religious Affiliations and Homicide: Historical Results from the Rural South

Abstract: Durkheim had argued that Protestantism decreased homicidal tendencies while Catholicism tended to increase it. However, other writers have maintained that fundamental Protestantism may increase the tendency toward homicide. This study examines the question by relating religious affiliation data by race obtained from a 1916 Census Department study to homicidal rates in the rural South for 1920, and finds that both Protestant and Catholic affiliations for whites are related to less homicide, while for blacks religious affiliation is unrelated to the homicide rate. For the case of the South, these results tend to refute Durkheim's position that Catholicism increases the tendency toward homicide. In examining the interaction between religious behavior and social activity, one may raise the theoretical question as to the manner in which religious patterns in an area relate to the level of deviant behavior in the area. A classic example of this type of analysis may be seen in Durkheim's (1899) study of the relationship between levels of religious affiliations in countries and provinces and their levels of suicide and homicide.' Durkheim (1899) found that for suicide Catholicism and Judaism tended to protect their members against this self-destructive act, while Protestantism did not offer this protection to its members. By contrast, for homicide Durkheim (1899: 353-354) found that Protestantism gave its individual members protection against it, while Catholicism increased the tendency of its members to commit this act. For homicide Durkheim's (1899) results were surprising; since homicide is a deviant activity in most human societies and since religion tends to integrate individuals into the social fabric of society, one would expect greater adherenece to religious organizations by individuals in an area to reduce the level of this deviant activity. 1. In his analysis of this problem Durkheim (1899) committed what Robinson (1950) labelled the "ecological fallacy," i.e., he imputed individual properties to aggregate data. Because Catholic countries have higher homicide rates than Protestant countries, one cannot conclude that Catholics as a group have higher homicide rates than Protestants, especially since it is difficult to control for the cultural tradition of the country. Also, as Selvin (1965:126-29) pointed out, homicide is a rare phenomena, and this fact again makes it difficult to interpret ecological associations. Although this work suffers from the same methodological limitations as I)urkheim's work, it does have the advantage over his work that it employs smaller units of analysis (i.e., county units). Also, this work does not attempt to determine the homicide rates of the various religious groups, but only the manner in which religious activity as a cultural phenomena in an area

Catch-22 and the Language of Discontinuity

Abstract: Joseph Heller's Catch-22, with its irreverent and bitterly comic description of the last days of World War II, has seemed for many of its readers a frighteningly accurate portrait of the "mentality" behind contemporary social and intellectual institutions.' Heller's novel, however, issues more than just a simple challenge to the various commercial, military, and religious organizations which govern the lives of its characters. In the world of Catch-22, patients' illnesses always coincide with their doctors' areas of specialization (182-3), fliers disrupt political indoctrination sessions with cries of "Who is Spain?" or "When is right?" (35), and Yossarian, the bombardier, must struggle against the "logic" of the Air Corps if he is to continue to survive. Such situations reveal how society's institutions reflect fundamental discontinuities in language, thought, and behavior.2 More than this, they suggest that at the heart of such dislocations is that problematic and radical discontinuity which has been the subject of so much critical discussion.

Ethical Issues in the Prevention of Sexual Problems

Abstract: To discuss the prevention of sexual problems, we must begin by recognizing that the definition of sexual problems is no simple matter. There is wide cross-cultural variation in determining the context of sexual problems; there is equally great disparity as a function of the sweep of history. Even if the discussion is limited to the present day and the United States, there is surprising discordance of definition, both among the general public and among professionals, regarding what constitutes a sexual problem. For example, although the American Psychiatric Association has removed homosexuality from its category of mental illness, many psychiatrists continue to regard homosexuality as a sexual disorder, many states continue to proscribe it legally, and many social, economic, and emotional forces that have been highly visible in recent decisions within our armed forces, school systems, and religious organizations perpetuate the view of homosexuality as a problem behavior.

The worldwide Church of God: a study of sectarian evolution

Abstract: The Worldwide Church of God had its beginnings in the early thirties and since that time it has experienced considerable change. Upon close examination, I have found that this change is not random, but orderly and consistent. I have labelled it sectarian evolution. -- I studied this process by examining examples of change in many major doctrinal areas of the Worldwide Church God such as tithing, healing, Sabbath observance, etc. I concluded that significant change had occurred and that the Worldwide Church of God is moving toward a “church-type religious organization in contrast to a “sect-type”. -- On the basis of my investigation of the many areas of Worldwide Church of God sectarian evolution I formulated an explanation of its cause. I found that the need for a religious sect to remain in a workable state is the basic reason why constant change is necessary. -- A pivotal area which I concentrated on in the latter stages of the thesis is concerned with the Worldwide Church of God remains united and how it maintains a growing membership in the face of ongoing sectarian evolution.