Sects And Cults
Religious sects and cults are becoming more prominent, gathering interest from sociologists in the recent past. According to Hamilton, sects and cults are in many ways religious experiments, as they offer opportunities to the sociologists to study religiosity in its purest forms, without the complexities of motive, organization and doctrine that characterize the long-established religions and denominations. Steve Bruce writes that the development of sects and cults can be attributed to modernisation and secularisation due to which religion became weaker. People thus prefer non-conventional religion which is less hierarchal than the traditional church.
Reasons for the popularity of Sects-
Sects are movements of religious protest says Wilson. They are a small grouping which aspires to an inward perfection and aims at direct personal fellowship between their members. They are breakaways from established religious organizations.
Sects renounce any idea of dominating the world rather they attempt to rationalise the dominant religion. They often spring from the lower classes or the oppressed say Hamilton and Troeltsch. Example- Ravidassias within Sikhs in India are Dalits who declared their own religion. They arise as a result of stresses and tensions differentially experienced within the total society. Bryan Wilson sees the rise of Methodism as a response of the new working class to the ethos and uncertainty of life in newly settled industrial areas.
Sects exercise stronger control over the individuals and also centre around a charismatic leader, wherein the members of the sect join voluntarily. Following a charismatic figure provides a kind of identity template a guide for how to look, how to think, and what to care about. This alleviates that chooser’s paradox and softens the stress and responsibility of having to make so many independent choices about what you believe and who you are. The driving force behind Dera Sacha Sauda led by Ram Rahim who was praised as MSG (Messenger of God) is what Prof. Jodhka termed as ‘the new-emerging anxieties of the modern Indian middle class’ along with the charisma of the leader.
Reasons for the popularity of Cults-
Historically, people’s attraction to cults tended to flourish during periods of larger existential questioning. According to Howard Becker, a cult is a quasi-group, embodying an individualistic search for ecstatic experience. Deviance, individualism and mysticism are the criteria usually employed to distinguish cultic beliefs. It is based on cultural importation and innovation. They encourage a more customer-based approach, and individual freedom, require fewer sacrifices from the followers and allow multiple memberships. Thus, less commitment is a luring factor in cults.
The internet has galvanized cults. They rewrite the rules of being. There’s a focus on internal desire. They project society as dangerous and restricting from achieving one’s truest self. Burton says that as spiritual practice becomes more eclectic, the pop culture-adjacent communities become our new source of answers to humanity’s toughest existential questions. With too many options for who to be, networking has offered solutions and a belonging. But it has also led to withdrawal from traditional religious institutions, mistrust of government leaders and the rise of countless alternative subgroups like cults.
Sects and cults, being socio-religious phenomena, are highly diverse and complex processes. Religion has evolved to offer a choice to individuals in different degrees of commitment in which they want to be involved rather than being a mere consequence of social cohesion. Hence, the liberty of law and practices in private religion has extended to all, with modernisation and globalisation.
