Religion and Violence
Part III
Spring 2003
ALTERNATIVE RELIGION PROCESS
1. Prophet
2. Promise
3. Plan
4. Possibility
5. Place
…all “5 Ps” are needed for the creation of a NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
New Religious Movements: Why?
w
NRMs emerge in
response to the failure of traditional
religion or secular society to resolve:
n
needs
n
conflicts
n
challenges
w of life experienced by individuals or
communities
NRMs: Why?
w
NRMs offer new
solutions to resolve social and
existential crises
w
sectarian
solutions attempt to renew the true faith
w
cultic solutions
are innovative
w
Both critique
established religious and secular culture
w Both offer new solutions
A Typology of New Solutions: 5 Types*
New Understanding:
•
addresses the nature of the cosmos
•
new sense of self; new relationships
•
explores the illusions and errors of consciousness
that limit life
* authored by Ashcraft & Daschke
Typology of NRMs
New Self:
• potential
for unlimited spiritual growth is inherent to all people
• Focuses
on the godliness of all individuals
• offers
practices to achieve the new awareness
Typology of NRMs
New Family:
• rejects
traditional family structures and replaces it with a “spiritual family”
• Holds
a negative view of established secular and religious authority
Typology of NRMs
New Society:
• seeks
to reform society
• Promotes
a new moral code and social justice imperative
• transforms
existing institutions
• achieves
a unified higher purpose which improves the lives of individuals
Typology of NRMs
New Earth:
• anticipates
the total transformation of the planet
• may
be apocalyptic – a violent end to the “old earth”
• may
be “exit-oriented” – leaving earth for a better “planet”
Curing Violence
w
Juergensmeyer envisions 5 possibilities
for ending the problem of religion and violence
w
“violence” emerges when people have lost
faith in existing religious and political systems of order
w “violence” is
the last resort when spiritual and social realities are disparate, distorted,
and distant
Curing Violence
w
Destroying violence
w
Terrifying terrorists
w
Violence wins
w
Separating religion from politics
w
Healing politics with religion
moderating religious
passion
Recovering authentic
spirituality in the political arena
Kimball’s “Solution”
w
An inclusive
faith rooted in tradition:
n
celebrating religious diversity
n
leaving questions of “ultimate truth” and “religious
absolutes” up to God
n
focusing on a “non-exclusive” spiritual and social
mandate: love God and your neighbor
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PROPHET:
• L.
Ron Hubbard (1911-1986)
• WWII
vet, science fiction writer, thinker
• Dianetics:
The Modern Science of Mental Health becomes a national bestseller in 1951
•
1953; Hubbard incorporates the Church of
Scientology
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PROMISE:
• Combines religion, science, and psychology in a unique
self-actualization program
• To be CLEAR = a being who is unrepressed and
self-determined
• “to clear” = to release all the physical pain and
painful emotion from the life of the individual
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PLAN:
• ENGRAMS = unconscious memories of physical or
psychological pain stored in the reactive mind
• REACTIVE MIND = causes people to act in irrational,
self-defeating ways
• Auditing = the process by which engrams are brought to
consciousness in the “analytical mind” and diffused, leading to success and
happiness
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
POSSIBILITY (PEOPLE):
•
AUDITING requires a
human auditor and the Hubbard Electrometer or E-Meter
•
E-METER registers
emotional reaction to the auditor’s words; provides clues to the underlying
sources of engrams lodged in the reactive mind
• The “therapy” leads to the state of CLEAR
• Controversy = each step in the process costs BIG
BUCKS$$$$
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
PLACE: (the universe)
• OT = OPERATING THETAN – a being who has escaped from
MEST (matter, energy, space, time)
•
The EIGHT DYNAMICS =
the “place” where the OT seeks his/her true identity as Spirit, leading to the
8th “urge” toward existence as Infinity; the highest level; the
God dynamic
• The TABLE OF CONDITIONS = strict ethical standards
controlling behavior on all levels
Ramtha School of Enlightenment
JZ Knight channels a 35,000 year old Ascended Master named RAMTHA
w
a classic numinous experience
w
an example of New Age Spirituality
w
seeker style religion
w
spiritual seekers finding a new and different
set of answers to profound life questions
Spiritualism and Channeling
1. Spiritualism - 2 primary influences,
late 1600s - early 1700s
n
Emanuel Swedenborg -
provides the metaphysical basis = wrote extensively on psychic revelations from
angelic beings.
n
Anton Mesmer -
discovers “animal magnetism” = the latent human ability to manipulate life and
energy (wicca???)
Spiritualism and Channeling
w
Founders of the
movement in America:
n
Andrew Jackson Davis
- the “first spiritualist” = writes The Principles of Nature (1847).
n
The Fox sisters -
March 31, 1848, the Fox sisters hold a series of seances in Hydesville,
NY; mysterious “rapping” sounds are interpreted; the dead contact the living
with useful information = mediumship.
Mediumistic Activity
w
Movement of furniture
or other material objects
w
interpretation of
mysterious noises
w
trance speaking
w
automatic writing
w
clairvoyance/clairaudience
w
manifestations of
visual phenomena
w
contact with the dead
History of Spiritualism in America
w
1893 - National
Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAS) formed in Chicago
Challenges
to Christian Roots:
w
entire scriptures
dictated by spirit beings have a more universal focus:
n
Aquarian Gospel of
Jesus the Christ
n
Urantia Book
n
Oahspe Bible
CHANNELING: a more modern form of Spiritualism
Characteristics of Channeling:
w
rejection of traditional Christianity
w
belief in reincarnation
w
contact with spiritually evolved beings who have
migrated to higher levels of existence
w
the soul evolves through ever-higher levels of
consciousness