Conversion&Commitment to New Religious Movements & Cults Research Paper

Conversion&Commitment to New Religious Movements & Cults - Research Paper Example .all religions involve ceremonials practiced collectively by believers which normally occur in special places - churches, temples or ceremonial grounds. The existence of collective ceremonial is usually regarded by sociologists as one of the main factors distinguishing religion from magic..." "...resembles a sect, but has different emphases. It is the most loosely knit of all religious organizations, being composed of individuals who reject what they see as the values of outside society. Their focus is on individual experience, bringing like-minded individuals together. People do not formally join a cult, but rather follow particular theories or prescribed ways...Like sects, cults quite often form around an inspirational leader.". The cult form of religious organization is significantly different from other forms in that religious experience tends to be highly individualistic and varies considerably with the individuals personal experiences and interpretations. A cult tends to be a very loose knit social group (and probably hardly qualifies as an organization in the accepted sense of the word) that collects around a set of common themes, beliefs or interests. Cults, for the above reasons, tend to be highly individualistic and lacking in formal organizational structures (clerical hierarchies, meeting places and so forth). The followers of a cult tend to resemble consumers rather than members, since there is rarely any formal joining mechanism; people who are interested in a particular cult theme (spiritualism, transcendental meditation and so forth) are encouraged to buy into the cult to varying degrees (TM, for example, sells a number of stages to spiritual enlightenment that the consumer can buy as and when they want to). Cults are tolerant of dissenting views. Since they rarely possess anything akin to a priesthood whose role is to interpret the word of God for their followers, discussion, argument and