Sects, Cults, and Spiritual Communities: A Sociological Analysis (Religion in the Age of Transformation)

192 Pages·1998·0.68 MB·English

by  William W. Zellner

Sects, Cults, and
Spiritual Communities
RecentTitles in
Religion in the Age of Transformation
Persistenceand Change in the ProtestantEstablishment
Ralph E. Pyle
Religion, Mobilization, and Social Action
Anson Shupe and Bronislaw Misztal, editors
The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformationof
Religious Movements
David G. Bromley,editor
Sects, Cults,
and Spiritual
Communities
A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Edited by
William W. Zellner
and Marc Petrowsky
Religion in the Age of Transformation
Anson Shupe, Series Adviser
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Sects,cults,andspiritualcommunities : asociologicalanalysis /
editedbyWilliamW.ZellnerandMarcPetrowsky.
p. cm.—(Religionintheageoftransformation,ISSN
1087–2388)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–275–95860–4(alk.paper).—ISBN0–275–96335–7(pbk.)
1. Cults—UnitedStates—History—20thcentury. 2. Religionand
sociology—Casestudies. 3. UnitedStates—Religion—1960–
I. Zellner,W.W. II. Petrowsky,Marc,1948– . III. Series.
BL2525.S58 1998
306.6'0973—DC21 97–32995
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:1)1998byWilliamW.ZellnerandMarcPetrowsky
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:97–32995
ISBN: 0–275–95860–4
0–275–96335–7(pbk.)
ISSN: 1087–2388
Firstpublishedin1998
PraegerPublishers,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
TM
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction vii
1 The Evolution of a New Age Cult: From Total Overcomers
Anonymous to Death at Heaven’s Gate
Robert W. Balch 1
2 Jesus People USA
Anson Shupe 27
3 The Farm
Michael Traugot 41
4 The Love Family: Its Formative Years
Robert W. Balch 63
5 El Nin˜o Fidencio and the Fidencistas
Antonio N. Zavaleta 95
6 Santer´ıa
Mary Ann Clark 117
7 Single Women in Amish Society
Dachang Cong 131
8 The Church of Scientology: A Quasi-Religion
David G. Bromley and Mitchell L. Bracey, Jr. 141
vi Contents
9 Freedom Park
William Zellner and Marc Petrowsky 157
Index 177
About the Editors and Contributors 181
Introduction
Editors Bill Zellner and Marc Petrowsky found the editing of Sects, Cults, and
Spiritual Communities: A Sociological Analysis a most gratifying experience.
Our intent, as sociologists, was to illustrateconceptsusedbysocialscientistsin
the fields of their endeavor. The book is not, however, applicable just to the
field of sociology, but is appropriate for use in other social science courses,
including religion, history, anthropology, and psychology. By choosing authors
with varying backgrounds and experiences, the editors have made the book an
interdisciplinary experience.
Another reason for the book’s appeal is that it is descriptive and explanatory
ratherthananalytical.True,thedescriptionisinterwovenwithbasicsociological
concepts, but systematic analysis and inductive reasoning have been left to the
reader.
There is probably as much cultural diversity in the United States as in any
countryoftheworld.Dozensofethnicgroupsforminterestingsubcultures,some
attractivetothedominantculture,somelessso.Myriadreligiousdenominations,
sects, cults, and self-help groups vie for members. This tremendous range of
associational groups sets the United States apart from all other nations in the
world.
Of all the nontraditional groups that have been part of the American scene,
nine have been chosen for inclusion in the present volume:
1. Total OvercomersAnonymous/Heaven’sGate
2. Jesus People USA
viii Introduction
3. The Farm
4. Love Family
5. El Nin˜o Fidencio
6. Santer´ıa
7. Amish women
8. Scientology
9. Freedom Park.
With the great diversity of groups to choose from, why were those listed
above selected? First and foremost, to make readers aware of a variety of non-
normative groups and their behaviors from a scientific perspective. All of the
above accounts were written by social scientists with expertise in social move-
ments. Each author applies the scientific method as an aid to understandingthe
selected group.
SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
Each chapter is amenable to scientific illustration. For example, sociologist
TonyZavaletanotesthatcharisma,bynature,isunstable.Itcanexistinitspure
form only aslong asthecharismaticleaderisalive.Thechallengeforfollowers
with vested interests in a charismatic’s organization is to create a situation in
which his or her charisma in some adulterated form persists after the leader’s
death. In other words, charisma must be routinized, institutionalized in a bu-
reaucratic form. This is exactly what happened in Mexico afterthedeathofthe
charismatic faith healer El Nin˜o Fidencio.
Sociologist Rob Balch writes that most utopian societies inAmericanhistory
havestruggledwiththesamedilemma.Aconflictexistsbetweentwoantithetical
forms of social organization called gemeinschaft and gesellschaft. The terms
were first used by the German sociologist Ferdinand To¨nnies, in the late nine-
teenth century, to describe changes caused by the industrial revolution. Ge-
meinschaft refers to a community whose members are bound together by
common values and intimate relationships. Commitmenttotraditiontakesprec-
edenceoverindividuality,andsocialrelationshipsarevaluedfortheirownsake.
Ingesellschaftsocieties,socialrelationshipsareorganizedaroundspecifictasks,
and tradition and intimacy take a backseat to getting a particular job done.
Relationships tend to be impersonal, and individualism is valued more than
group solidarity.
Signs of the transition from gemeinschaft to gesellschaft could be seen
throughout the Love Family after 1980. As ties loosened, there wasanincrease
in personal autonomy. Members could walk to work alone or visit friends on
the way back without getting permission from the elders.
Thankstoanewpolicythatallowedthemtohavetheirownspendingmoney,
workers enjoyed the freedom to treat themselves to a cup of coffee or stop off
Introduction ix
for a beer after work. All this and more broke down the ‘‘communal spirit’’of
the Love Family.
Anson Shupe explores the concepts of contract and covenant in his study of
Jesus People USA. The impression most people have when they hear the word
‘‘commune’’ is of a small, self-sufficient, inwardly focused group, physically
isolated from the ‘‘real’’ world. Members have abandoned ordinary privacy,
personal possession, and individual autonomy.
Images of promiscuous sex (once termed ‘‘free love’’) and rampantdruguse
or alternatively, strict celibacy and abstinencefromworldlypleasures,mayalso
be envisioned. Such stereotypes resemble someofthecommunitarian‘‘hippie’’
experiments during the late 1960s and early 1970s. But like most stereotypes,
they can be found misleading when confronted by actual examples.
So it is with one successful evangelical Christian communal group in down-
town Chicago, the diverse, energetic, and outward-looking Jesus People USA.
This commune, organized around a covenantal understanding of biblical pre-
cepts, overcame the demands of the blatantly contractual culture of one of
America’s largest cities.
Let us look at one more example of sociological illustration. DavidBromley
and Mitchell L. Bracey, Jr., study Scientology in terms of a quasi-religious
therapy, a social-psychological perspective. Scientology is popular because it
addressesfeelingsofalienationfromgovernmentandbusinesslife.Italsomeets
expectations for personal fulfillment.
INTEREST
Another reason the nine groups were chosen is simply that they are interest-
ing.Threeofthechaptersaredevotedtocounterculturesdevelopedinthe1960s
(Love Family, Jesus People, TheFarm). They wereestablishedoncollegecam-
puses across the nation, and the youngsters who joined them rejected central
aspects of American culture, such as financial success, achievement, authority,
hard work, efficiency, premarital chastity, and the nuclear family.
Alternative living arrangements were developed, altered workstylesreplaced
the eight-hour day, and there was a definitive sexualrevolution.Drugsofevery
kind became part of the lifestyle.
The three countercultures discussed were begun by charismatic leaders, but
noindividualisarepeatoftheothertwo.Althougheachofthesegroupsreached
a zenith and then declined, each has taken a different path and adapted. All, to
a varying degree, are successful in today’s world.
Much interest has been developed in the rural Amish. We know about their
horse-and-buggy lifestyle and their rejection of modernity. We know that most
Amish believe automobiles would contaminate their lifestyle to such an extent
that they would imperil their cultural identity. We understand their economic
system, the farming procedures, their relationships with the outside world. But
x Introduction
until the study by Dachang Cong, published in this book, we knew very little
of the gender roles of Amish women.
The fate of a cult usually hinges on the caprice of a charismaticleader.Clar-
ence Klug, charismatic founder of Self-Initiation, developed a program that re-
vealed how one could achieve union with God by following a strict regimenof
spiritual exercises. In the beginning his classeshad about80members,butnear
the end the number had dwindled to about 20 devoted students.
Klug, for whatever reason—perhaps advancing age, perhaps declining
health—in 1976 led his followers to a pair of charismatics then called Guinea
and Pig. Klug told them that his new friends, founders of a New Age flying
saucer cult, Total Overcomers Anonymous, had the answers. Guinea and Pig
were Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles. Everyone now knows
Total Overcomers Anonymous by the name they used on their Web site,
Heaven’s Gate.
Sociologist Rob Balch, who observed Klug’s students during the mid-1970s,
the period when they were introduced to Total Overcomers Anonymous, be-
lieves that had it not been for Clarence and his students, Marshall Applewhite
and Bonnie Lu Nettles might never have become cult leaders. Balch says he
was shocked to learn that two of Klug’s former students remained with Apple-
white and died with him as members of the Heaven’s GatecultinMarch1997.
Certainly interesting is the diversity of religions crossing thebordersintothe
United States from Latin America. Not only is Tony Zavaleta’s chapter on El
Nin˜oFidenciorifewithsociologicalillustration,itisextremelyinteresting.Con-
temporary followers of the Mexican faith healer El Nin˜o Fidencio, who diedin
1938, are bringing his practices, a brand of folk Catholicism, into the United
States.
Interesting, too, is the chapter written by Mary Clark on Santer´ıa, a polythe-
isticreligionwithrootsburieddeepinAfrica.Issuesrelatedtoitspracticeshave
already reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Much to the chagrin of many in Hi-
aleah, Florida, the Santerians won.
Finally,theeditors,BillZellnerandMarcPetrowsky,haveincludedachapter
on the Freedom Park movement. The purpose of the chapter is to illustrate,
through description, the social science definition of a cult. We hope thechapter
is as interesting as the other eight.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Who are these social scientists so interested in the affairs of others, andhow
did their interests develop? Preceding each chapter is a brief account of each
author’s response to the question ‘‘Howdid you getinterestedinthegroupyou
studied?’’ Students should find this facet of the book interesting. For example,
how did Dachang Cong, born in the People’s Republic of China and a Yale
graduate, get interested in the gender roles of Amish women? Read our work,
find out about us, and maybe you will become one of us.