New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America
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New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America
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Overview
New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements is the most extensive study to date of modern American alternative spiritual currents. Hugh B. Urban covers a range of emerging religions from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, including the Nation of Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, ISKCON, Wicca, the Church of Satan, Peoples Temple, and the Branch Davidians. This essential text engages students by addressing major theoretical and methodological issues in the study of new religions and is organized to guide students in their learning. Each chapter focuses on one important issue involving a particular faith group, providing readers with examples that illustrate larger issues in the study of religion and American culture.
Urban addresses such questions as, Why has there been such a tremendous proliferation of new spiritual forms in the past 150 years, even as our society has become increasingly rational, scientific, technological, and secular? Why has the United States become the heartland for the explosion of new religious movements? How do we deal with complex legal debates, such as the use of peyote by the Native American Church or the practice of plural marriage by some Mormon communities? And how do we navigate issues of religious freedom and privacy in an age of religious violence, terrorism, and government surveillance?
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780520962125 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of California Press |
| Publication date: | 09/15/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 328 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements
Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America
By Hugh B. Urban
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Copyright © 2015 The Regents of the University of CaliforniaAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-520-96212-5
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
The Rise of New Religions in Modern America
Each fall, my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, hosts the Universal Life Expo, a huge convention for alternative spiritual and religious practices held at our local Veterans' Memorial Hall. Since most central Ohioans come from a mainstream Christian or Jewish background, they are usually amazed to discover that right here, a few blocks from the Ohio Statehouse, we have one of the largest gatherings of New Age and alternative spirituality in the country. Featuring over 330 booths and vendors, the Expo describes itself as a "metaphysical extravaganza" offering "herbs, crystals, jewelry, angels, musical instruments, wholesome food, incense, readings, wellness products, clothing, candles, art, healers, publications, spiritual fulfillment, and something for everybody, even your pets." The various groups and individuals present include both established religious traditions, such as a group of Tibetan monks who create a large sand mandala, and a vast array of newer spiritual arrivals, such as Spiritualists, Scientologists, channelers, Reiki therapists, psychics, crystal healers, and professional ghost-hunters. The interested visitor can consult with a Spiritualist medium, have a tarot card reading, receive a quick "stress test" from the Church of Scientology, have her or his aura photographed, purchase any of the thousands of crystals and other objects on display, and finally relax with a stop by the "Cuddle Party." In many ways, the Expo is a microcosm of religious diversity and of the complex role of spirituality in the contemporary United States, where hundreds of new spiritual groups exist and compete alongside more established religions in a vibrant but at times chaotic marketplace of religious ideas, practices, goods, and services (figure 1.1).
If most Americans are surprised to discover a massive New Age convention in downtown Columbus, they are typically even more astonished to know that the Midwest is also one of the largest hubs of neopagan activity in the United States, with dozens of Wiccan, Druid, and other groups. Just a few weeks after the Universal Life Expo is the neopagan holy day of Samhain (corresponding to Halloween and falling on the autumn equinox). Our own local Druid group, called ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin, or "A Druid Fellowship"), welcomes the public to attend its major holy days and always performs its major rituals in public spaces such as metro parks, where anyone is invited to attend (figure 1.2).
Even closer to home, I can walk just a few blocks from my campus office down to the Krishna House, the local center for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Perhaps the most successful new religious movement to come from India to the United States, ISKCON began in the mid-1960s, and the Columbus Krishna House is one of its oldest centers. The Columbus Krishna House has been visited by such figures as the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who had a famous exchange with the ISKCON founder Swami Prabhupada here in 1969. To this day, the Krishna House remains a popular center for spiritual instruction, free food, and high-energy, often ecstatic devotional music, attracting a large crowd of both curious college students and first- and second-generation South Asians. Meanwhile, just two hours to the east lies Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, a large and opulent shrine dedicated to ISKCON's founder in a gorgeous setting surrounded by the West Virginia mountains, flocks of live peacocks, an award-winning rose garden, a major temple, and a cow protection sanctuary (figure 1.3).
This remarkable diversity of new religious life is surely not unique to Columbus, Ohio, where I happen to live (although being in the center of the Midwest, Columbus is typically the ideal test market for virtually everything in America, from new fast-food items to new religious ideas). Rather, this is simply one example of the astounding diversity of alternative spiritual life that exists almost everywhere across the United States, often in the least expected and seemingly most "mundane" spaces. Similar pockets of new religious diversity can be found not just in obvious places such as Northern California but in the farmlands of central Pennsylvania, in the mountains of New York and Massachusetts, on the coasts of Florida, in the forests of Washington, and in the deserts of Arizona, Utah, and Texas.
J. Gordon Melton, one of the most important scholars of new religions, has recently counted over 2,500 religious and spiritual groups in the United States alone; and by his estimate at least half of them are "non-conventional" or alternative spiritual movements. In other words, in addition to hosting every imaginable form of Christianity and Judaism, as well as various forms of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, the United States is home to an incredible array of New Age, neopagan, and new religious movements. These include huge global movements such as Mormonism as well as small and fairly esoteric groups such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; high-profile groups that attract celebrity spokespersons such as the Church of Scientology and fairly obscure, low-profile groups such as Heaven's Gate; new forms of Christianity such as the Branch Davidians and various forms of Satanism such as the Temple of Set; movements that emerged in the nineteenth century such as Spiritualism and Theosophy and groups that emerged in the age of cloning technology such as the Raëlians; earth-based forms of spirituality such as neo-paganism and groups based on UFOs from other worlds such as the Aetherius Society; movements based on Eastern religions such as ISKCON and movements rooted in European traditions such as Wicca; and many hundreds of others. Far from marginal or insignificant, New Age, neopagan, and new religious movements are an integral part of the thriving and increasingly eclectic religious landscape of contemporary America.
As we will see in this book, the United States has been from its inception an unusually fertile land for the growth and development of new religions. Indeed, new religions are arguably quintessentially "American" phenomena. If Americans have long prided themselves on the values of free speech, freedom of religious expression, individualism, and an entrepreneurial spirit, then new religions are perhaps the boldest expression of those ideals. Yet perhaps for these very reasons they also raise some of the most complicated questions surrounding religious diversity, freedom, and privacy in modern America, particularly in a post-9/11 era of government surveillance and scrutiny of religions that fall outside the "mainstream."
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS, NEOPAGANISM, AND NEW AGE: THE SCOPE OF THIS BOOK
The book will be organized more or less historically, moving from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, and it will focus on three broad groups of alternative spiritual movements. The first is new religious movements, which we can define as groups that have emerged roughly within the last 150 years and tend to have clear boundaries between insiders and outsiders; they are also usually organized around a charismatic central figure, such as a Joseph Smith, a Madame Blavatsky, an L. Ron Hubbard, or a Jim Jones. Groups in this category include Mormonism, the Theosophical Society, Scientology, Peoples Temple, the Nation of Islam, the Raëlians, and hundreds of others.
The second group is New Age spirituality, which is a far more amorphous, diverse, and decentralized network of beliefs and practices that has roots in the nineteenth century but has become particularly influential since the 1960s and '70s. The broad label "New Age" includes a diverse array of alternative spiritual practices, such as channeling, crystals, astrology, aromatherapy, and various ideas drawn from Eastern religions. But it tends on the whole to be quite "forward looking," that is, looking toward a coming era of spiritual realization and freedom (most famously articulated in the idea of the dawning "Age of Aquarius"). It also tends to be quite individualistic, focused on the optimum physical, psychological, and spiritual development of the individual practitioner, who is free to pick and choose from a wide array of spiritual options.
Although the New Age is a diff use and "leaderless" phenomenon, there are many high-profile figures in the movement, including self-help gurus such as Deepak Chopra (well known for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show), popular channelers such as JZ Knight (the medium for the spiritual entity named Ramtha), and celebrities such as Shirley MacLaine (who helped popularize New Age ideas widely through her best-selling books and TV miniseries). And although the New Age is a decentralized phenomenon, there are many key centers of New Age spirituality around the United States. One of the most famous is Sedona, Arizona, well known for its unique red-rock formations, which are believed by many to be "vortices" or centers of spiritual energy. Sedona is also home to a vast array of alternative spiritual shops, such as the Center for the New Age — a self-described "metaphysical superstore" that offers every imaginable spiritual service and product, ranging from channeling, psychic readings, and UFO guides to crystals, jewelry, incense, and even a "canned vortex" (figure 1.4).
The third group covered in this book is neopaganism, which is a blanket term that covers a broad array of movements that have emerged since the middle of the twentieth century. In contrast to the New Age, neopagans tend to be "backward looking," that is, looking to an older, usually pre-Christian past that has been long forgotten but is now being rediscovered and revived. And in contrast to new religious movements, neopagans tend to be more fluid and flexible in their communal organization, so that an individual might be a member of multiple covens or involved in a Wiccan circle as well as a Druid group, or be a solitary practitioner. In general, however, neopagans tend to emphasize praxis, that is, practical techniques for altering the internal and external world, such as ritual, dance, performance, and magic. Today, there are literally hundreds of neopagan groups in the United States, ranging from well-known groups such as Wicca, to various pagan traditions drawn from a particular region or ethnicity (Celtic, Norse, Slavic, etc.), to gay and lesbian groups such as the Radical Faeries, and countless others.
WHY STUDY NEW AGE, NEOPAGAN, AND NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS?
Up until the late 1970s, New Age and new religious movements were rarely taken very seriously by scholars and students of religion. For the most part, new religions either were studied by psychologists and sociologists interested in so-called "cult" phenomena or were viewed as relatively insignificant off shoots of the "great traditions," or the world's major religions.
In the last few decades, however, that attitude has changed dramatically, and today not only scholars but also journalists, legal experts, and even politicians and law enforcement agencies have recognized the importance of understanding new religions. The reason for this shift in attitudes is at least threefold. First, these movements give us valuable insight into the incredible and growing diversity of religious life in the United States. At the beginning of the twentieth century, many sociologists predicted that religion would gradually wane in significance in the increasingly scientific, rational, industrial, and technological modern world; yet at least in the United States it would seem that quite the opposite has happened, and we now see an incredible proliferation of new spiritual groups in our scientific and technological world. The United States is today arguably the most religiously diverse nation on earth, with new movements proliferating on an almost daily basis, so understanding new religions is critical to understanding this amazing spiritual ferment in modern America. They force us to ask, Why are there now so many new religions? And why particularly in the United States?
Second, new religions raise key legal, ethical, and political debates surrounding religion in the contemporary world. As we will see throughout this book, many new religions have become involved in deeply contested legal questions, such as the use of peyote by the Native American Church, the practice of plural marriage by Mormons, the claim to tax-exempt status by the Church of Scientology, and experimentation in human cloning by the Raëlians. Precisely because they are usually small minority groups on the boundary of "mainstream" religion in the United States, new religions highlight the key issues inherent in the First Amendment, the questions of the free exercise of religion, and the problem of just how far that freedom can be pushed before it conflicts with other laws and rights. Although seemingly "marginal" groups, new religious movements have helped in very real ways to define the boundaries of what counts as "religion" in the United States itself.
Finally, new religions raise profound questions surrounding religious freedom and privacy in a new age of terrorism. At least since the 1990s, following the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 and even more clearly after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Americans have faced an intense and complicated debate about religious freedom and the rapidly expanding new forms of surveillance wielded by the federal government. We now know that the FBI has been secretly monitoring mosques and other religious establishments, and we have learned that the National Security Agency has been monitoring vast amounts of telephone, Internet, and other communications by American citizens. Particularly toward the end of this book, we will discuss the difficult question of how to balance a commitment to freedom of religious expression and privacy with the need to protect public safety. Where do we draw the line between reasonable government surveillance and real invasions of privacy? How do we negotiate between the long-held American values of religious freedom and privacy and the new technologies of surveillance wielded by the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI that might potentially keep citizens a bit safer?
In other words, New Age, neopagan, and new religious movements are hardly just interesting curiosities for a few people in the academic study of religion. Rather, they raise huge, complex, and critical questions that are of importance to any student in any discipline — from political science to law, from sociology to psychology to business — and really to any thinking citizen who cares about maintaining a healthy, diverse, and vibrant democracy.
"CULT" CONTROVERSIES: NEW RELIGIONS AND ALTERNATIVE SPIRITUALITY
One of the first problems to grapple with in the study of new religions is the use of the term cult. Our English word cult is derived form the Latin term cultus, and in its simplest meaning it merely refers to a system of religious belief or to a form of religious veneration. Up until the twentieth century, the word cult did not really have any particularly negative or derogatory connotations. But in the decades following World War II, as the United States saw the rise of a huge number of new religious communities and alternative spiritual groups, the term cult began to be applied in much more specific and usually negative ways to refer to groups that fell outside the dominant American traditions of "Protestant/Catholic/Jew." By the early 1960s, anticult paranoia combined with growing fears about the alleged phenomenon of "brainwashing" during the Cold War. This was particularly the case after the publication of Robert Jay Lifton's widely read book on brainwashing in China, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (1961). Fueled by anticult literature, the fear was now that brainwashing might take place not just in a faraway communist state but within alternative religious groups right here on American soil. And by the 1970s, the fear of new religions had blossomed into a widespread "cult scare" and given rise to a wide array of anticult groups — the Individual Freedom Foundation, Love Our Children, the Citizens Freedom Foundation, the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, Cults Exodus for Christ, the Cult Awareness Network, and many others — dedicated to saving America's youth from dangerous mindcontrol groups.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements by Hugh B. Urban. Copyright © 2015 The Regents of the University of California. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS.
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Table of Contents
List of IllustrationsPreface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: The Rise of New Religions in Modern America
2. The Native American Church: Ancient Tradition in a Modern Legal Context
3. Mormonism and Plural Marriage: The LDS and the FLDS
4. Spiritualism: Women, Mediums, and Messages from Other Worlds
5. The Nation of Islam and the Five Percenters: Race, Religion, and Hip-Hop
6. Rastafari: Messianism, Music, and Ganja
7. The Church of Scientology: New Religions and Tax Exemption
8. Wicca and Neopaganism: Magic, Feminism, and Environmentalism
9. The Church of Satan and the Temple of Set: Religious Parody and Satanic Panic
10. ISKCON (Hare Krishna): Eastern Religions in America and the “Brainwashing” Debate
11. Channeling and the New Age: Alternative Spirituality in Popular Culture and Media
12. Peoples Temple: Mass Murder-Suicide, the Media, and the “Cult” Label
13. The Branch Davidians: Millenarian Movements, Religious Freedom, and Privacy
14. The Raëlians: UFOs and Human Cloning
Appendix: Method and Theory in the Study of New Religions
Index