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TYPES OF RELIGIOUS GROUP ORGANIZATION

TYPES OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION

Religious groups may be arrayed based on their alignment relationship with the larger social order of which they are part.

Alignment may be described as locations along social and cultural continua that reflect the extent to which groups align their activity culturally and socially with the corresponding patterning in the dominant social order (institutions such as religion, family, economy, media, government, education, medical).

Three conclusions follow:

• For any specific group the extent of social and cultural alignment may or may not coincide.
• There is always some degree of tension within and between groups.
• It is possible to array religious groups in such as way as to reflect both the type and extent of social and cultural alignment.


INDICATORS OF ALIGNMENT

In the comparisons below, the Dominant Tradition Groups are taken as the point of reference. For each item, the top group faces minor contestation and the bottom group major contestation.

• Is the group socially and culturally recognized as legitimately religious?

Marian Apparition at Clearwater
Church of Satan

• Is the group socially recognized as a legitimate representative of a dominant or alternative religious tradition?

Cowboy Churches
Westboro Baptist Church

• Are the core elements of the group’s myth and ritual system are compatible with the dominant cultural and social practices?

Calvary Chapel
Church of Scientology

• Does the group accept established social institutions (education, economic, family, health, government) as possessing legitimacy and authority?

Washington Buddhist Vihara
Covenant, the Sword, the Arm of the Lord

• How socially and culturally integrated is the group into mainstream society?

Insight Meditation
The Family International

• What is the overall social status of the group?

Washington Buddhist Vihara
Church of Satan

 

FOUR TYPES OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION

Dominant Religious Tradition

• These groups constitute the most legitimate expression of religiosity in the society. They are highly aligned socially and culturally with one another and major, established institutions.

• The dominant tradition groups in mid-twentieth century America included many of the same mainline Protestant churches that had constituted the core religious groups for many decades (United Church of Christ, Episcopal, Unitarians, Methodists, Presbyterian, Evangelical Lutheran) and some of the Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, Antioch) .

• By 1950 the dominant churches expanded to include the Roman Catholic Church and the Reform and Conservative Jewish traditions.

• New groups are primarily the product of merger and schism by already existing Dominant Tradition groups

Example of New Groups:

The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 when the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren, churches which had historically been separated largely by different language traditions, merged.

Humanistic Judaism broke with established Judaism by rejecting traditional accounts of Jewish history as well as all supernatural belief, asserting that individuals bear responsibility for their own ethical decisions.


Sectarian Religious Tradition

• These groups are recognized as having their cultural roots in the dominant religious tradition, but have broken away from affiliation with established churches. They are culturally but not socially aligned with dominant tradition groups.

Examples of New Groups:

*Marian Apparition at Clearwater

*Cowboy Churches

*Calvary Chapel

*Marian Apparition at Conyers

*The Twelve Tribes

*The Family International

Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International

Marian Apparition at Neceda

*Set Free Ministries

* Westboro Baptist Church

Branch Davidians

Alternative Religious Tradition

• These groups represent other cultural traditions, often major traditions in other societies. As representatives of established religious traditions elsewhere, they are socially aligned but not culturally aligned.

Examples of New Groups:

*Washington Buddhist Vihara

*Insight Meditation Society

Buddhist Churches of America

*Fire Walking

*Ramtha School of Enlightenment

* San Francisco Zen Center

Erhard Seminar Training


Emergent Religious Tradition

These groups may represent novel religious conceptions or novel amalgamations of existing traditions. They are aligned neither socially or culturally with established traditions

Examples of New Groups:

*The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord

*The Church of the Lamb of God

*The Church of Scientology

*Church of Satan

 

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Below I have listed a number of specific indices of social and cultural alignment. These are offered to illustrate how an assessment of alignment might be produced. This is supplemental information and will not be included on course examinations.

Indicators of Cultural Alignment

Public Identity

• The group does/does not receive public recognition of its beliefs and practices as religious

• The group does/does not receive public recognition of its group beliefs and practices as

consistent with national identity

• The group is/is not publicly accepted as a legitimate version o f the dominant religion

• The group is/is not publicly accepted as a legitimate version of an alternative, legitimate

religious tradition

Self Identity

• The group does/does not self-identify its beliefs and practices as religious

• The group does/does not self-identify its beliefs and practices as consistent with national identity

• The group does/does not self-identify as a legitimate version of the dominant religion

• The group does/does not self-identify as a legitimate version of an alternative, legitimate religious tradition

Myth/Ritual Systems

• Apocalyptic themes are/are not central to the group mythic system

• Ecstatic experiences are/are not central to the group ritual system

• Core elements of the mythic system are compatible with the dominant religion

Cultural Practices

• Group members make primary use/secondary use of the dominant language

• Group members observe the dominant/an alternative calendar

• Group members participate in/do not participate in celebration of dominant culture day of worship, holy days, and holidays

• Group members do/do not share in important mainstream cultural lifestyle practices

Cultural Niche

• The group mythic system does/does not claim moral authority over dominant institutions

• The group mythic system allows for/does not allow for the legitimacy of other religious traditions

• The group mythic system accepts/rejects dominant culture expectations of religious

groups

• The group mythic system is/is not consistent with dominant institution law and regulation


Indicators of Social Alignment

Group-State Relationship

• The group is/is not granted formal recognition as a legitimate religious group by the state

• The group accepts/does not accept the legitimacy and legal authority of the state

• Group members serve in/decline service in the military

• Group clergy are/are not recognized by the state (legislative, military, prison officiation)

• The group endorses/does not endorse members’ participation in mainstream political and civic activity

Group-Non-State Relationship

• Group economic, medical/dietary, familial/sexual, and educational/socialization practices are/are not compatible with corresponding mainstream institutional practices

• Group members are endogamous/exogamous

• The group does/does not actively evangelize and proselytize members of other religious

groups

• Group does/does not participate in interfaith organizations and activities

• Group is included in/excluded from membership in appropriate religious accrediting

agencies

• The group typically is/is not depicted in media coverage as a legitimate religious tradition

• The group is/is not the target of organized oppositional groups that are granted legitimacy by dominant institutions

• Dissident factions within the group are/are not in alliance with outside opponents

Social Status

• Group membership is drawn predominantly from higher/lower status social class, ethnic

groups

• Group members serve/do not serve in high-ranking political and economic positions

Religious Group Organization

• The group is organized in a priestly/prophetic mode

• The group does/does not make charismatic claims on behalf of the leader that challenge

the authority of dominant institutional leaders

•The group integrates with/separates from mainstream social networks physically and

socially

• Group membership requires/does not require ritualized identity redefinition or

transformation (baptism, conversion)