Sect

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger religious group. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles. The term is occasionally used in a malicious way to suggest the broken-off group follows a more negative path than the original. Quotes Alphabetized by author. The Branch Davidians were a separatist, communal sect of the Seventh Day Adventists that had occupied several buildings and some acreage outside of Waco,Texas. David Koresh, the sect's leader, preached an apocalyptic message of a showdown with government forces. 87 Federal Agents: The Growth of Federal Law Enforcement in America Jeffrey B. Bumgarner 2006 Praeger 978-0275989538 The vast majority of groups termed 'sects' by the Government are small organizations with fewer than 100 members. Among the larger groups is the Church of Scientology, with between 5,000 and 6,000 members, and the Unification Church, with approximately 700 adherents throughout the country. Other groups found in the country include Divine Light Mission, Eckankar, Hare Krishna, the Holosophic community, the Osho movement, Sahaja Yoga, Sai Baba, Sri Chinmoy, Transcendental Meditation, Landmark Education, the Center for Experimental Society Formation, Fiat Lux, Universal Life, and The Family. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor International Religious Freedom Report 2005 - Austria United States Department of State 8 November 2005 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2005/51539.htm The Branch Davidians are an offshoot of the Davidians, a religious sect that had split from the Seventh-Day Adventists in the 1930s. 397 2008 Ballard Campbell Disasters, Accidents, and Crises in American History: A Reference Guide to the Nation's Most Catastrophic Events Facts on File 978-0816066032 Jonestown was at heart a religious community, whether classified as a new religious movement, a cult, a sect, or a church. xvii Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown David Chidester 2003 Indiana University Press 978-0253216328 Every person who is not a fellow member, and every social, religious and political institution that lies outside the sect's domain, is portrayed as a representative of Satan's world. In our research, we found that Moonies and members of many Christian sects with similar religious and political doctrines often focus on such beliefs to the exclusion of all other thought. 161 Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change Flo Conway, Jim Siegelman 1995 Stillpoint Press, Inc. 978-0964765009 Now I see there is a people risen that I cannot win with gifts or honours, offices or places; but all other sects and people I can. Oliver Cromwell, on the Quakers, as quoted in Autobiography of George Fox (1694) by George Fox Like Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians approximated the 'apocalyptic sect' as an ideal type. 47 Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in North America, Europe and Japan John R. Hall, Philip D. Schuyler, Sylvaine Trinh 2000 Routledge 978-0415192774 As with its disciplinary practices and its round of daily life, the community of goods in the Peoples Temple at Jonestown emphasizes its similarities to otherworldly sects—both the contemporary ones labeled 'cults' by their detractors, and historical examples which are often revered in retrospect by contemporary religious culture. 460 Ritual and Belief: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion David Hicks 2010 AltaMira Press 978-0759111561 I remembered the devotion of those belonging to the Manson 'Family' or the 'People's Temple' of Jim Jones or the Branch Davidian Sect or the 'Heaven's Gate' sect of Marshall Applewhite It wasn't how much the 'Heaven's Gate' believers believed that there was a spaceship hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet, waiting to take them to paradise; only the actual existence of such a spaceship really mattered. 218 My Fortunate Brain Tumor from God Dave Jiang 2007 Xulon Press 978-1602660748 Observers of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple noted that Jones' socialist sect did not lose non-profit status or receive reams of negative publicity until the massacre at Guyana occurred. 273 1999 M. Kienholz Police Files the Spokane Experience 1853-1995: Personal & Historical Accounts by a Career Staffer Arthur H Clark 978-0870622861 There is an interesting class difference to be found among these apocalyptic sects. The victims at Waco were predominantly from the lower class, as was true of Jonestown. The Heaven's Gate believers, on the other hand, were on the whole from the middle class. 240 The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction Walter Laqueur 2000 Oxford University Press, USA 978-0195140644 The Indiana Peoples Temple was essentially a sect, which was joined by new religious movement members in California, which then recruited black church members as it focused its ministry on the residents of urban California. 75 Hearing the Voices of Jonestown Mary McCormick Maaga 978-0815605157 Syracuse University Press 1998 To read the website of the Heaven's Gate sect is to enter a world of eternal promise. Among those who are going home for good, there is only 'joy', 'the rapture of the saved', the blissful prophecy of the 'Talmudic sages'. 193 Fundamentalism in America: Millennialism, Identity and Militant Religion Philip H. Melling Edinburgh University Press 2001 978-0748609789 The Peoples Temple movement began in the 1950s as an independent Pentecostal congregation of white and black working-class families … Some argue it was initially a Christian sect that then became a new religious movement. 314 African American Religious Cultures Anthony B. Pinn 2009 ABC-CLIO 978-1576074701 Despite being a relatively new organization, the Church of Scientology already has had to denounce splinter groups, including sects that claim to practice Dianetics complete with E-Meters independent of the Church. 30 Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles Richard T. Schaefer, William W. Zellner 2010 Worth Publishers 978-1429232241 Some of these terms, including "cult" and "sect," have long traditions of use, stretching back to the centuries when Latin was the official language of scholars. But the meanings of words often change over time; and terms that once were neutral or simply descriptive sometimes take on harshly negative implications and potentially lose their original usefulness, including the two just mentioned. Other terms have been coined more recently to circumvent the stereotypes associated with older categories. Among this newer terminology are "outsider groups" and "New Religious Movements." Sometimes the newer nomenclature is useful despite certain limitations. "Marginal religious communities," for example, is a positional designation — not a qualitative judgment — implying a location on the margin or edge of mainstream religious groups. When using these terms, it is important to recognize that they are often loaded with powerful assumptions and implications. Stephen J. Stein (2003). Communities of Dissent: A History of Alternative Religions in America. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. p. xi. Branch Davidians are a modern religious sect that claims to be an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The church renounced any connection with the sect in the 1930s. 47 Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary R. C. S. Trahair 1999 Greenwood 978-0313294655 The Heaven's Gate sect received national attention in the spring of 1997, when its thirty-nine members committed suicide in Southern California. 252-253; Section: The Heaven's Gate Sect Human Behavior in the Social Environment: Interweaving the Inner and Outer Worlds Esther Urdang 2008 Routledge 978-0789034182 Peoples Temple and the Branch Davidians both approximated the 'apocalyptic sect' as an ideal type. In such sects the end of the world is taken as a central tenet. 207 Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict Stuart A. Wright 1995 University Of Chicago Press 978-0226908458 See also Belief Collectivism Groupthink Cult Large-group awareness training New religious movement Psychology Pluralism Religion Sectarianism Self religion Sociology External links Sect sect Category:New religious movements Category:Religion Category:Psychology Category:Belief Category:Sociology