religion

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After years of thinking about traveling to Asia, you finally take the plunge. Following a tour of the major cities of China, you are now in Vietnam on your own. During your first days there, you explore Hanoi, a beautiful city of two-story pink and yellow buildings, red-pillared temples, lakes, and large old trees. You visit its Confucian Temple of Literature, where a genial statue of Confucius seems to focus its glass eyes directly on you. Afterward, you fly south to Hué, a former royal city that sits beside the Song Huong River, whose slow-moving water is so thick with brown silt that it looks like chocolate pudding. When you visit Hué’s square of old palaces, you are amazed by the extent to which its royal enclosure was patterned after the Forbidden City of Beijing. Clearly, you think, China has had a profound influence on Vietnam.

Eventually you arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. In your hotel lobby, you see a poster advertising tours to the underground tunnels at Cu Chi that were used by the North Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War. You walk over to talk with the agent at the tour desk, and she tries to interest you in additional tours. “Have you heard of Cao Dai?” she asks. You hadn’t till now. “It is a big religion here in Vietnam,” she explains. “Its cathedral is not far from the tunnels, and there is a Mass every day at noon. Why don’t you go there, too?”

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At 11:30 the next morning, you arrive at Tay Ninh, a quiet town of yellow stucco buildings, gravel roads, and people dressed in white. You can’t miss the cathedral; it is an immense yellow building with two tall towers that face the main road. Upon entering the building, you are directed up a long flight of stairs to a narrow visitors’ gallery that runs along three sides of the interior. Looking down from the observation gallery to the front of the church’s interior, you see a huge eye painted on a large blue globe that seems to hover in the sanctuary. Around you, decorative green dragons climb tall pillars to the sky-blue ceiling. Just before noon, people dressed in robes of red, blue, yellow, and white take their places in groups on the shining marble floor below. Chanting starts. The service begins.

What, you wonder, does the large eye represent? What are the people chanting, and what is the significance of the variously colored robes? Why are there Chinese dragons on the pillars inside a building that looks like a Christian cathedral? Why do they call their service a “Mass”?

ORIGINS OF NEW RELIGIONS

One of the most fascinating things about religions is that, like all forms of life and culture, they are constantly changing. Change occurs for many reasons. Sometimes followers of one religion move to another culture, and their religion mixes with a locally established religion, thereby producing a hybrid faith. Sometimes social problems lead to the emergence of a new religion, one that helps people cope with the new social issues they face. Sometimes followers of an older religion argue with each other and then separate, creating a new branch or, occasionally, an entirely new religion. And sometimes individuals have lifechanging insights, attract followers, and create a new religion around themselves. We should recognize that many of the major religions and denominations began in similar ways—as new, small, and sometimes persecuted religious movements. In this chapter, we will look at some of the vital new religious movements that are currently small but that might someday become venerable old religions, after growing and changing for one or two thousand years. (The vitality of these new religious movements is apparent from their many Web sites.)

In the religions that we examined in previous chapters, we sometimes saw the emergence of a religious variant that was close enough to its origin to be considered a modern interpretation of an older religion. As we learned, from Shinto emerged the New Religions of Tenrikyo and Omoto; from Christianity, Mormonism and Christian Science; and from Buddhism, Soka Gakkai.

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Contemporary Issues

“CULTS,” “SECTS,” AND “NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS”

Because they are small and unfamiliar, new religious movements are often looked at suspiciously. Critics may accuse them of hurting society or endangering their followers. The words sect and cult are sometimes applied to these movements. The word sect (Latin: “to cut”) usually has no negative meaning. But the word cult (Latin: “to cultivate”) brings to mind a charismatic, overly powerful leader, docile followers, and separation from society.

We might recall that early Christianity was once viewed as a dangerous import into Roman society and that Buddhism was once viewed as a dangerous import from India into China. Because of the emotional overtones of some words that are used to describe small and new religious groups, scholars now try to use emotionally neutral terms. One of the most common is “new religious movement,” often referred to by its abbreviation NRM.

There are, however, some movements that emerge from one religion and take on such independent forms that they ultimately constitute new, even if small, religions: Baha’i, which in the nineteenth century grew out of Shiite Islam, is a good example. And then there are other movements that emerge independently of established religions and eventually are recognized as distinct religions; Scientology is an example of such a religion.

Quite often, a new religious movement is syncretic—a blend of religions. The Vietnamese religion of Cao Dai, for example, blends Christianity with Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. Santeria and other related religions, prominent in the Caribbean, mix Christianity with elements from West African religions. We also see syncretism in religious movements that have grown out of Shinto, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

In this chapter we will consider some of the most significant new religious movements, along with a few older alternatives that are generating new interest. We will begin with religious movements that share features with indigenous religions (Contemporary Paganism and the Yoruba-tradition religions) and then proceed to religions that appear to have elements of Indian spirituality (such as Theosophy and Scientology). Next, we will take a look at religions that are close to traditional Chinese religions (Falun Gong and Cao Dai) and then end with religions that have some roots in Christianity and Islam (Rastafarianism and Baha’i).

CONTEMPORARY PAGANISM: WICCA AND DRUIDISM

The past hundred years have seen both a great growth in world population and a depletion of natural resources. As a result, many people sense an urgent need to reestablish harmonious relationships with the global environment. At the same time, developments in genetics, anthropology, and psychology have brought human beings to a clearer understanding of their closeness to the animal world. Perhaps for these reasons, new religious movements that reclaim ancient nature-based religions or that promote new environmental sensitivity are attracting many followers. Some of these followers are reacting against the insensitivity to native cultures and values that some mainstream religions exhibit. Others find the philosophies of these old-yet-new religious movements to be more compatible with their views on various social issues, including gender equality and environmentalism.