NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

-Most new religious movements started after the 1800s.

-The number of new religions today is beyond one thousand.

A question to take into consideration when looking at new religions is “are they cults?”

This is a good question, but a question without a distinct answer, because a status of a religion differs from state to state. For example, Scientology is a religion in the USA (and tax exempt), but recognized as a dangerous cult in most of Western Europe.

Church of Latter-Day Saints

(Mormonism)-Founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith.

-15 million members today

-HQ at Salt Lake City, Utah (USA)

-One of the fastest growing religions in the world.I believe, Book of Mormon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZIFqaqKoBI

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-Believes that Jesus Christ was born in the USA,

-Mandatory to donate to Church (10%),

-Caffeine is not allowed,

-Believes that the trinity was three separate beings,

-Females banned from priesthood, Blacks banned until 1978,

-Belief in multiple level of heavens.

Founded by Bahá’u'lláh in the 19th century in Persia.

-Around 5 million followers in over 200 nations.

-Believes that there is one major god that looks over all religions.

-Believe that all humans are equal.

-Look at all prophets (such as Muhammad, Jesus, as messengers of god).

BAHAI FAITH

Jehovas Witness

Founded by Charles Russell in the 1870s;

-Over 8 million members,

-Refuses military service or blood transfusions,

-They do not celebrate Christmas, Easter or birthdays,

-Believe that only 144,000 people will go to heaven on the day of judgement,

-Believe all non witnesses are part of Satans world.

ScientologyScientology was started in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

-Recognized as an official religion in the USA, but considered a dangerous cult in most of Western Europe.

-The church constantly uses litigation against critics.

-Many cult-like aspects of the group include a very expensive fee to be part of the church, and the practice of forcing people to not speak to people who left the church even if they are family members.

Unification ChurchThe full name is Family Federation for World Peace and Unification founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon.

-Most members reside in East Asia,

-Their holy book is the The Divine Principle. The book is based on Christianity, but differs in many ways from the Christian bible,

-One major difference was that they believed that Jesus Christ’s death was not a sacrifice for all man-kind.

RastafarianismStarts in the 1930s in Jamaica by Marcus Garvey.

-Rastafarians believe in a mix of the bible and old African tales.

-They believe that Ethiopia is the promised land.

-They are vegetarians and find nature to be an important part to their spirituality.

-They smoke marijuana as part of their religion.

-There are around 100,000 Rastafarians today.

Peoples TempleThe Peoples Temple was established by James Warren “Jim” Jones. It is known for its cult members mass suicide that took place in the 1980s.

-There were 3,000 to 5,000 members before the Peoples Temple fell apart.

-They believed in radical sharing. That everyone would live in one community, one bank account, making food for everyone.

Jonestown Massacrehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpWr45bKWpE

Heavens Gate-An American UFO religion based in San Diego, California.

-They believed that eventually they would die and be transported to UFOs.

-They believed in the ancient astronaut hypothesis, that aliens placed humans on earth as an experiment.

-The group was best known for its mass suicide in 1997.