Editing New religious movement (section)

==Beliefs and practices==
[[File:Rasta Man Barbados.jpg|right|thumb|A Rasta man wearing symbols of his religious identity in [[Barbados]]]]
[[Eileen Barker]] has argued that NRMs should not be "lumped together,"  as they differ from one another on many issues.{{sfn|Barker|1989|p=1}} Virtually no generalisation can be made about NRMs that applies to every group,{{sfn|Barker|1989|p=10}} with [[David V. Barrett]] noting that "generalizations tend not to be very helpful" when studying NRMs.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=9}} J. Gordon Melton expressed the view that there is "no single characteristic or set of characteristics" that all new religions share, "not even their newness."{{sfn|Melton|2004|p=76}} [[Bryan R. Wilson|Bryan Wilson]] wrote, "Chief among the miss-directed assertions has been the tendency to speak of new religious movements as if they differed very little, if at all, one from another. The tendency has been to lump them together and indiscriminately attribute all of the characteristics which are, in fact, valid for only one or two."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/115621228/Why-the-Bruderhof-is-not-a-cult-by-Bryan-Wilson|title=Why the Bruderhof is not a cult|author=Bryan Wilson|work=Cult And Sect {{!}} Religion And Belief|publisher=Scribd|language=en|access-date=2017-07-07|archive-date=2021-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308213539/https://www.scribd.com/document/115621228/Why-the-Bruderhof-is-not-a-cult-by-Bryan-Wilson|url-status=live}}</ref> NRMs themselves often claim that they exist at a crucial place in time and space.{{sfn|Hammer|Rothstein|2012|p=6}}

===Scriptures===
Some NRMs venerate unique [[Religious text|scriptures]], while others reinterpret existing texts,<ref>[[John Bowker (theologian)|John Bowker]], 2011, ''The Message and the Book'', UK, [[Atlantic Books]], pp. 13–14</ref> utilizing a range of older elements.{{sfn|Hammer|Rothstein|2012|p=7}} They frequently claim that these are not new but rather forgotten truths that are being revived.{{sfn|Hammer|Rothstein|2012|p=8}}  NRM scriptures often incorporate modern [[scientific]] knowledge, sometimes with the claim that they are bringing unity to science and religion.<ref>{{cite book | last=Zeller | first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin E. Zeller | title=Prophets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America | publisher=New York University Press | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-8147-9721-1 | pages=10–15}}</ref>  Some NRMs believe that their scriptures are received through [[mediums]].<ref>''The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements'', [[George D. Chryssides]], [[Benjamin E. Zeller]], A&C Black, 2014, p. 214</ref> ''[[The Urantia Book]]'', the core scripture of the Urantia Movement, was published in 1955 and is said to be the product of a continuous process of [[revelation]] from "celestial beings" which began in 1911.{{sfn|Gardner|1995|p=11}}  Some NRMs, particularly those that are forms of [[occultism]], have a prescribed system of courses and grades through which members can progress.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=57}}

===Celibacy===
Some NRMs promote [[celibacy]], the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both.  Some, including the [[Shakers]] and more recent NRMs, inspired by Hindu traditions, see it as a lifelong commitment. Others, including the Unification Church, as a stage in spiritual development.<ref>Teaching New Religious Movements, [[David G. Bromley]], Oxford University Press, May 25, 2007</ref>  In some Buddhist NRMs, celibacy is practiced mostly by older women who become [[nuns]].<ref>''New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response'', Jamie Cresswell, Bryan Wilson, Routledge, 2012, p. 153</ref> Some people join NRMs and practice celibacy as a [[rite of passage]] in order to move beyond previous sexual problems or bad experiences.<ref>The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, Volume 1, James R Lewis, OUP US, 2008, p. 385</ref>  Groups that promote celibacy require a strong recruitment drive to survive. The Shakers established orphanages, hoping that the children would become members of their community.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=67}}

===Violence===

Violent incidents involving NRMs are very rare. In events having a large number of casualties, the new religion was led by a charismatic leader.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=83}}  Beginning in 1978, the deaths of 913 members of the [[Peoples Temple]] in [[Jonestown]], Guyana, by both murder and suicide brought an image of "killer cults" to public attention. Several subsequent events contributed to the concept.  In 1994, members of the [[Order of the Solar Temple]] committed suicide in Canada and Switzerland. In 1997, 39 members of the [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]] group committed suicide in the belief that their spirits would leave the Earth and join a passing comet.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=82}} There have also been cases in which members of NRMs have been killed after they engaged in dangerous actions due to mistaken belief in their own invincibility.  For example, in Uganda, several hundred members of the [[Holy Spirit Movement]] were killed as they approached gunfire because its leader, [[Alice Lakwena]], told them that they would be protected from bullets by the oil of the [[shea tree]].{{sfn|Barker|1989|p=55}} The history of the Latter Day Saint movement includes multiple cases of significant [[Mormonism and violence|violence committed by or against Mormons]].

===Leadership and succession===
[[File:Mary Baker Eddy cph.3b20582.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mary Baker Eddy]]]]
NRMs are typically founded and led by a charismatic leader.{{sfn|Barker|1989|p=13}} The death of any religion's founder represents a significant moment in its history.   Over the months and years following its leader's death, the movement can die out, fragment into multiple groups, consolidate its position, or change its nature to become something quite different from what its founder intended. In some cases, a NRM moves closer to the religious mainstream after the death of its founder.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|pp=58–60}}

A number of founders of new religions established plans for succession to prevent confusion after their deaths. [[Mary Baker Eddy]], the American founder of Christian Science, spent fifteen years working on her book ''The [[Manual of the Mother Church]]'', which laid out how the group should be run by her successors.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=66}} The leadership of the Baháʼí Faith passed through a succession of individuals until 1963, when it was assumed by the [[Universal House of Justice]], members of which are elected by the worldwide congregation.<ref>[http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjen.nandita2/bahai-world-statistics-2001.htm Baha'i World Statistics 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017212116/http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjen.nandita2/bahai-world-statistics-2001.htm |date=2007-10-17 }} by Baha'i World Center Department of Statistics, 2001–08</ref><ref>[http://bahai-library.com/danesh_life_shoghi_effendi The Life of Shoghi Effendi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919010001/http://bahai-library.com/danesh_life_shoghi_effendi |date=2010-09-19 }} by Helen Danesh, John Danesh and Amelia Danesh, Studying the Writings of Shoghi Effendi, edited by M. Bergsmo (Oxford: George Ronald, 1991)</ref> [[A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]], the founder of the [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness]], appointed 11 "Western Gurus" to act as initiating [[gurus]] and to continue to direct the organisation.<ref name="isbn0310232171">{{cite book
|author = Ron Rhodes
|title = Challenge of the Cults and New Religions
|publisher = Zondervan
|year = 2001
|quote = Before Prabhupada died in 1977, he selected senior devotees who would continue to direct the organization.
|page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780310232179/page/179 179]
|isbn = 978-0-310-23217-9
|url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780310232179/page/179
}}</ref><ref name="isbn0-941532-57-7">{{cite book
|author1=Smith, Huston |author2=Harry Oldmeadow |title = Journeys East: 20th century Western encounters with Eastern religious traditions
|publisher = World Wisdom
|location = Bloomington, IN
|quote = Before his death Prabhupada appointed eleven American devotees as gurus.
|page = 272
|year = 2004
|isbn = 978-0-941532-57-0
}}</ref><ref name="isbn0-8135-1114-3">{{cite book
|author = Rochford, E. Burke
|title = Hare Krishna in America
|publisher = Rutgers University Press
|location = New Brunswick, NJ
|year = 1985
|page = 222
|quote = In the months preceding his death Srila Prabhupada appointed eleven of his closest disciples to act as initiating gurus for ISKCON
|isbn = 978-0-8135-1114-6
}}</ref> However, according to British scholar of religion [[Gavin Flood]], "many problems followed from their appointment and the movement has since veered away from investing absolute authority in a few, fallible, human teachers."<ref name=Flood1996>{{cite book
|author = Flood, G.D.
|year = 1996
|title = An Introduction to Hinduism
|url = https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo
|url-access = registration
|publisher = Cambridge University Press
|isbn = 978-0-521-43878-0
|quote=Upon demise of Prabhupada eleven Western Gurus were selected as spiritual heads of the Hare Krsna movement, but many problems followed from their appointment and the movement had since veered away from investing absolute authority in a  few, fallible, human teachers.
|page = [https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/272 272]
}}</ref>