THE SOCIAL DIMENSION
Religious Freedom in America
- 1st Amendment to the U. S. Constitution
:
"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…"
THE SOCIAL DIMENSION
Religious Freedom in America
1st Amendment:
TWO CLAUSES:
1. NO ESTABLISHMENT
2. FREE EXERCISE
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN AMERICA:
Four Contributing Factors:
1. Religious Freedom: 1st Amendment protection: "don’t tread on me!"
2. Immigration: "I brought my religion with me!"
3. Proselytization: "I’m free to spread the faith!"
4. Denominationalism: "I can make my own choice on where to worship!"
RELIGIOUS ECOLOGY
Religious freedom, immigration, prosyletization, and denominationalism make for a diverse, lively, and dynamic religious ecology!
RELIGIOUS ECOLOGY
2 EXAMPLES:
Tabor Lutheran Church
Rev. Lowe
Rev. Cheryl Pero
- Willow Creek Community Church
Rev. Bill Hybels
Rev. Mark Mittleburg
RELIGIOUS ECOLOGY
Each religious organization is successful in handling the dilemmas of institutionalization by adapting to their respective social environments
DILEMMAS OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION
Mixed motivation of members over time
maintaining the vitality of the symbol system (myth and ritual)
organizational elaboration vs. movement effectiveness
DILEMMAS OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION
Need for concrete definition (doctrine) vs. legalism
balancing power factions within and without the organization
All institutions in society face the
dilemmas of institutionalization : WIU, the U.S. Govt., Greek organizations, the Chicago Bulls, etc.
INSTITUTIONAL DILEMMA:
Religion and Education
Religion = identity and relationship
THE HUMAN QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE
- Education = identity and relationship
INSTITUTIONAL DILEMMA:
Religion and Education
Religion, like education, is, at the same time, an institution of stability (control) and change (progress and evolution) in society.
INSTITUTIONAL DILEMMA
CULTS and SECTS are "institutional mutations," sometimes dangerous, often beneficial, but always part of the process in the religious ecology of a free society.
THE FORMATION OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
- The process of SECULARIZATION:
- The
dilemmas of institutionalization force religious organizations into a more secular stance.
- They must spend more energy (time, money) dealing with worldly concerns rather than concentrating on religious concerns.
THE FORMATION OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: SECULARIZATION
Occasionally, members who no longer feel that their spiritual needs are being met leave the religious organization and start a new religious movement:
Sect = renews the true faith
Cult = innovative; does not share the symbol system of the dominant religions in a given social environment
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
Established Species
Established species = religious organizations that have successfully handled the dilemmas of institutionalization:
Church = a dominant religious organization in a given society
Denomination = one of many religious organizations in a diverse social environment; voluntary attendance
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS:
Institutional "Mutations"
SECT: a splinter group the forms to RENEW the true faith; breaks off from an "established species" but maintains the same basic symbol system.
CULT: a splinter group that is INNOVATIVE; a new religious movement that shares little connection to the "established species" of religion in a given cultural environment
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
Example of Sect and Cult
SECT = the Branch Davidians are a sect of the Christian Adventist groups
CULT = the Ramtha School of Enlightenment or Cynthia Jones’ Diana’s Grove
KEY POINT: Yesterday’s cults and sects may turn out to be tomorrow’s churches and denominations in the religious ecology of a free society.
CONVENTIONAL AND NON-CONVENTIONAL RELIGIONS: ALTERNATIVE RELIGIONS
NEUTRAL CULTURE-BASED CRITERIA THAT DETERMINE CONVENTIONALITY
LONGEVITY
TRADITION
REFLECTION OF PREVAILING VALUES
NUMBERS
TENSION
NEUTRAL CULTURE-BASED CRITERIA: RELIGIOUS CONVENTIONALITY
EXAMPLE:
A Methodist church in Macomb is conventional because, in this culture, it meets the CRITERIA OF CONVENTIONALITY.
a Methodist church in Pakistan would be non-conventional according to the same neutral criteria.
CONVENTIONAL RELIGIONS
Examples of core groups in the USA
CHRISTIAN:
Lutheran Eastern Orthodox
Roman Catholics Disciples of Christ
Episcopalians Independent
Methodists
Reformed/Presbyterians
Baptists
CONVENTIONAL RELIGIONS
Examples of core groups in the USA
JUDAISM
- REFORMED
- CONSERVATIVE
- ORTHODOX/ HASIDISM
MIDDLE GROUND
Religious organizations that because of differences of belief or behavior may occupy MIDDLE GROUND between conventionality and non-conventionality.
MIDDLE GROUND
Some examples
Adventist groups including Jehovah’s Witnesses
Mormons
Christian Science
Unitarian Universalists
some Fundamentalist Christian groups
ultra-Orthodox Jews
NON-CONVENTIONAL RELIGIONS
Some Examples
Eastern traditions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese and Japanese religions
Middle Eastern traditions: Islam, Baha’I
New Age Spirituality: Ramtha, Diana’s Grove
Skeptics, atheists, humanists
New revelations: Unification Church, Scientology
NON-CONVENTIONAL RELIGIONS
Some Examples
Millennial groups: Branch Davidians, Christian Identity Movement
- Occult traditions: spiritualists, psychics, ritual magic, wicca, Gnostic sects, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, UFO groups, Satanists, Tarot/Ouija board users, etc.