Communities of dissent : a history of alternative religions in America

200 Pages·2003·2.78 MB·English

by  Stein

COMMUNITIES OF DISSENT

COMMUNITIES OF DISSENT
A History of Alternative Religions in America
STEPHEN J. STEIN
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright © 2000, 2003 by Stephen J. Stein
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stein, Stephen J.,
Communities of dissent : a history of alternative religions in America/
Stephen J. Stein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-515825-3 (alk. paper) 1. Cults—United States—History. 2.
Sects—United States—History.
3. United States—Religion. I. Title.
BL2525 .S74 2002
291.9′0973—dc21
2002006219
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper On the cover: The Shakers of New Lebanon, New York,
Religious Exercises in the Meeting-house by Joseph Becker.
Frontispiece: Two Shaker sisters at Canterbury, New Hampshire, display
their saxophones. Members of alternative religions do not always
conform to uninformed stereotypes. These religious women obviously
enjoy secular music.
To many friends among members of alternative religions
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION: Talking About Religious Outsiders
CHAPTER ONE Early Dissenters and Popular Religion
CHAPTER TWO Peace Movements in Colonial America
CHAPTER THREE Communitarians Living on the Margins
CHAPTER FOUR Apocalyptic Traditions: Watching and Waiting for
the End
CHAPTER FIVE Healers and Occultists: Women of Spiritual Means
CHAPTER SIX Sectarians in the City
CHAPTER SEVEN Twentieth-Century Sects and Cults
CHRONOLOGY
FURTHER READING
INDEX
PREFACE
The citizens of the founding generation of the United States dissented
from English rule and boldly asserted their independence. The
Declaration of Independence gave voice to the political aspirations of
those who rebelled against a parliament that taxed colonists who had no
representation in those proceedings. The U.S. Constitution, crafted after
the turmoil of warfare and an era of political disunity, sought to secure
peace and unity and to guarantee fundamental liberties, including the
free exercise of religion. Dissent in a political context has been an
honored tradition in America, and we celebrate the founders as patriots.
But Americans have not uniformly celebrated communities of
religious dissent, endorsed in the Constitution by the principle of the free
exercise of religion. On the contrary, the public expression of religious
dissent has often resulted in opposition. People, whose views or practices
differ from dominant religious patterns in American society, frequently
have been the target of ridicule, harassment, and persecution. Rarely
have such religious dissenters been accorded the honor that Americans
regularly heap upon political dissenters.
The contrasting public images of the two different forms of dissent,
political and religious, are evident in the simple juxtaposition of pairs of
political and religious dissenters Thomas Paine and Ann Lee, Frederick
Douglass and John Humphrey Noyes, Jane Addams and Mary Baker
Eddy, Ralph Nader and David Koresh. American historians have widely
Eddy, Ralph Nader and David Koresh. American historians have widely
celebrated the first person in each of these pairs for his or her pioneering
efforts on behalf of, respectively, political liberty, the abolition of
slavery, assistance to the urban poor, and protection of the environment.
The second half of each pair experienced bitter opposition: Lee was
physically assaulted by angry mobs in several New England towns;
Noyes was run out of the country by clergy, who hoped to bring him
into criminal court; Eddy was the target of vilification by former
students as well as lawyers and ministers; and Koresh was harassed by
the government. Moreover, historians, looking back on the roles of these
religious dissenters, have often failed to offer balanced accounts of their
lives.
Why have religious dissenters so often attracted the ire and hostility
of others? What motivates those who attack such dissenters? What can
we gain by learning more about the diverse communities of religious
dissent that have been a part of American history from its earliest days?
What role have these communities played in our national story, and
what may we expect in the years ahead?
The chapters that follow employ a variety of terms used to identify
and define religious communities of dissent. Some of these terms,
including “cult” and “sect,” have long traditions of use, stretching back
to the centuries when Latin was the official language of scholars. But the
meanings of words often change over time; and terms that once were
neutral or simply descriptive sometimes take on harshly negative
implications and potentially lose their original usefulness, including the
two just mentioned. Other terms have been coined more recently to
circumvent the stereotypes associated with older categories. Among this