What is “New” About New Religious Movements?

Anyone who has searched the Web using terms such as cults and sects,¹ or who has ventured into a bookstore in search of works on astrology, witchcraft, or nontraditional methods of healing, must be aware of how diverse the audience for religious information has grown.

In this chapter, we will use terms such as cult and sect more precisely than those words are used in the media, or in casual conversation. When employed by contemporary sociologists, the term sect designates a subgroup within an established religious community, one whose belief system differs somewhat from the beliefs of that community. The term cult, however, describes a radically innovative religious community that exists outside of any established organizational structure, and one whose beliefs are often perceived by society as strange or even threatening. Beginning with the 1970s, and in the decades that followed, a number of religious groups were called “cults” if their leaders were perceived as mentally unstable, or if their teachings promoted violence or other kinds of extreme behavior. Understandably, the notoriety such communities attracted gave a pejorative meaning to the word cult that clings to it even today. Nevertheless, we will attempt to describe such groups with as much objectivity as possible—and particularly those at the very margins of social acceptability—while recognizing their problematic status within the larger religious community.