The Significance of "New Religious Movement" and Its Sociological Implications

Beast Press: This is a paper written by He Crab back then. At that time, I was interested in emerging religious movements and read quite a few related papers by Taiwanese scholars. This is also an article worth rereading.

Author: Chen Shouwen Submission date: 2016-9-3 22:17:00 | Category: News | Visits: 16

Summary

This article discusses the meaning and related issues of the term "emerging religious movement" from a sociological perspective. After the Second World War, many new religious groups emerged around the world, and the research on these new religious groups has become an important research topic in contemporary sociology of religion.

In Western common folk usage, these new religious groups are referred to as cult. The sociology of religion does not take theological or doctrinal judgments on the research objects, and falls into the debate of orthodoxy/hereticism and the truth/falsehood of religion, so it tends to refer to these new religious groups as "new religious movements", "new and emerging religious movements". The term "religious movement" is a neutral term.

Religious movements are the norm in Western history, so the religious movements after World War II are called "new" religious movements, which is relative to the previous religious movements. In addition, because of the characteristics of these religious movements at the time, and their impact on society and individuals, they are called "new". As for movements, it is because these new religious groups are usually of a movement nature and are constantly in flux.

The authors also discuss the sociology of religion group of "church-denominational-worship" concepts, noting their usefulness for understanding emerging religious movements, as well as their limitations. Finally, it discusses the reasons for the emergence of new religious movements, as well as the significance of the relationship between emerging religions and the larger society.

Keywords: emerging religions, religious movements, emerging religious movements, churches, denominations, sociology of religion

I. Introduction

Six years ago, the author taught a course on "Emerging Religions" in the university. The students who were taking the course for the first time wrote down their initial impressions of "Emerging Religions". As a result, most of the impressions written by the students were On the negative side, some people even regard Tzu Chi Gongdehui and Mazu as emerging religions. As for the source of these impressions, most of them came from the media, and only a few of them were contacted by their relatives, friends or classmates, and the so-called "emerging religions" that they had actually come into contact with were almost rare. few. Perhaps at that time, it was not long after the "Aum Shinrikyo Tokyo Subway Gas Incident" occurred in Japan, and there were once "Song Qili Incident" and "Miaotian Zen Master Incident" in China. But do such negative impressions reflect the general public's impression of emerging religions? Such an impression reflects Chu's ignorance of emerging religions, and even the connotations of the terms "emerging religions" and "emerging religious movements" need to be clarified. And what exactly is a "new religion"? There is still a lack of consistent definitions and insights in the Chinese academic community. The purpose of this article is to explore the meaning and development of emerging religion-related concepts from the perspective of the sociology of religion, and to try to find a more appropriate Chinese name.

When it comes to emerging religions, most people immediately think of the "religious boom" in Taiwan, and even the so-called "religious chaos". But in fact, it is not Taiwan that has new religious movements. In the twentieth century, new religions or religious movements appeared all over the world, and Japan even had new religions in the nineteenth century. The Tianli religion in Tianli City was born in the 19th century. As for the religious groups that emerged after World War II in the twentieth century, they are even called "new new religions" in Japan. fall into this category. Before that, on November 8, 1978, in the jungles of Guyana, South America, nearly 900 people took cyanide to commit suicide, and the tragedy at the airport in which US Congressman Leo J. Ryan was killed, The People's Temple (Melton 1999: 220), led by Jim Jones, was even more impressive. However, deviation cases such as Aum Shinrikyo and the People's Temple are, after all, only a very small number of emerging religious movements. So how many new religious movements are there? According to an estimate by British sociologist Eileen Barker (1999: 16), there are about 2,000 emerging religious movements in Europe, 800 to thousands in Japan, and possibly 10,000 in the United States, Asia, Africa, and Oceania combined. More than 12 million believers. Barker himself estimates four figures in the West and five figures worldwide.

Emerging religious movements are an important research topic in the sociology of religion and have an important impact on the development of contemporary sociology of religion. In the claim of secularization theory, religion will gradually decline or even disappear with the secularization of society, and the research object of the sociology of religion will eventually disappear. There is no single discipline or subfield of disciplines that argues that its object of study will disappear, as was the case with the sociology of religion before that. The so-called emerging religious movements that flourished from the late 1960s to the 1980s prompted sociologists of religion to re-examine secularization theory and provided rich research topics in the sociology of religion, because the emerging religious movements It involves the relationship between religion and social change, and even the tension between religious groups and social institutions, and these issues are precisely what sociology is good at. Therefore, we can also see that among the various sciences, the research on emerging religions is most abundant in sociological research and theories.

2. Why is it called a "new" religious movement?

We often hear the term "new religion". The general public in Western society refers to it as cult. In Western academic circles, the term "new religion movements" (NRM) is more commonly used, although this term is not entirely absent. question. (Saliba 1995: 8; Beckford 1985: 12-13, 15, 20) In the West, NRM and Cult are often used interchangeably, and the use of Cult has a negative connotation, implying the negative stereotypes these groups have. (Robbins 1988: 17) The general public uses the word "cult", and from the point of view of doctrine and theology, they believe that these new religious groups are not orthodox religions, and even question whether they are "true religions". The Chinese "new religion" is the translation of the English "new religion". If you look at it literally in English, it actually means "new religion". In Western academic circles, the term "emerging religions" is less commonly used, because the term "emerging religions" means that these groups are completely new "religions" that have nothing to do with existing religious traditions, which is not in line with reality. (Beckford 1985:15)

Calling "emerging religious movements" as "movements", on the one hand, because most of these groups are still developing, not yet established and institutionalized, and most of them are challenges or changes to the existing religious ecology, so they are called "movements". "religious movement", somewhat similar to what we call social movement groups. Saliba, on the other hand, pointed out that the sociological approach to emerging religions (movements) is to regard them as social movements that affect not only the individuals involved, but also the larger society. (1995: 105) Beckford pointed out that the reason why such religious groups are called "movements" is that after attracting young people to join, these groups usually change their ideas and life patterns very quickly, and even give up their personal interests. Consider and engage in group activities. Also, such groups are usually active in spreading their ideas and expanding their organizations, and thus have a "movement" nature. (1985:18-20)

As for "new", it means that, in contrast to the religious movements that had appeared in the nineteenth century, it calls for sociologists who study social movements to make the twentieth century the middle class, but not the interests of a particular class or group. The social movement that was initiated is called the "new social movement" (NSM), typically such as the environmental protection movement, which is different from the social movement launched by the working class in the 19th century to strive for class interests. Saliba (1995: 9-10) also pointed out that the new religious movements in the second half of the twentieth century were called "new" for several reasons. First, they occurred during a period of religious decline in Western history, that is, under the so-called secularization trend (at least by some indicators). Second, they appear in a sociocultural environment where cultural exchanges are frequent and religions tend to be pluralistic. Third, many members of emerging religions are first-generation members, as opposed to traditionally baptized Christian members. Finally, emerging religious movements change not only the religious beliefs of their members, but also their behavior and lifestyle, which is why they are called "movements."

In Europe and the United States, there are various other names for such religious movements or groups, which emerged mainly after World War II. (Beckford & Levasseur 1986/1993: 290-291. Saliba 1995: 8; Beckford 1985: 15) According to Beckford (1985: 15-16), the term "emerging religious movements" has gradually replaced the old various names , for two reasons. First, emerging religious movements is a more appropriate, value-neutral term when we want to treat all expressions of religion equally and consider them equally valid. When we view various religious beliefs, experiences, and commitments as expressions of individual preferences or tastes, the term emerging religious movements is also more likely to reflect the values of pluralism. Beckford believes that this trend has to do with cultural pressures, as well as with the gradual blurring of doctrinal and other boundaries between mainstream churches and emerging religious groups, and more importantly, the trend toward secularization. What Beckford should mean here is that, under the trend of secularization, religion has become a private matter, a personal preference and taste, thus contributing to the establishment of pluralism and religious tolerance. The second reason is that many of these new religious groups were introduced to the United States or Europe from the East, and were not split or innovated from existing religious traditions, so they could not be conducted with Judeo-Christian theological standards. Judgment, in other words, does not fall within the category of orthodox/heretic theological judgment.

Chinese will translate new religious movements as emerging religious movements, or a lot of "xing" is more catchy, but this is only speculation. According to the research of foreign scholars, "new" religious groups are not necessarily "prosperous". Among the numerous emerging religious movements, many even have very short lifespans. (Anthony, Richardson and Robbins 1978/1993: 33) In Chinese usage, "new religious movement" is often used interchangeably with "new religion", which may also be related to the ambiguous semantics of the word "movement" in Chinese . The Chinese word "movement" is more difficult to point to the meaning of change and group, and it is often associated with protests and street demonstrations. However, the emerging religious movement is not necessarily a new "religion", it may be just a branch of the existing religion, or a new form of religious group after mixing various religious ideas. (See also Zheng Zhiming 1996: 9) For a given society, the definition and referents of emerging religious movements may be different, because emerging religious movements can be local spontaneous or imported from other countries, so It will also affect the identification of emerging religious movements in different societies.

So what exactly is an "emerging religious movement"? British sociologist Eileen Barker believes that there is no "correct" answer about emerging religious movements, and she believes that the so-called "new" of emerging religious movements refers to those that emerged or became visible after World War II, while They are "religions" because they provide some form of answer to broad ultimate concerns about whether there is a soul after death, who I am, meaning and purpose in life, etc., rather than just the existence and Narrow theological statements such as its nature. (Baker 1999: 16; 1995: 9) In other words, from a historical point of view, human history (at least as far as the history of Western Christianity as discussed in the sociology of religion is concerned) has been the emergence of “religious movements” that Some religious movements have disappeared in human history, while others have reappeared in different forms. Religious groups that are currently "mainstream religions" or "established religions" were also once religious movements. (Saliba 1995)

3. The relationship between emerging religions and existing religions

Saliba pointed out that in the West, from a theological standpoint, emerging religions are those who interpret the Bible differently from Catholicism or the main denominations of Christianity, that is, those who usually adopt unorthodox interpretations of the Bible or have other classics. There are of course problems with such a position, and it hinders a true understanding of emerging religious movements. (1995: 2-4) Sociological definitions, although not from the same starting point as theologians, whether called "emerging religions" (new religions) or "emerging religious movements" (new religious movements) also give rise to these theological positions. dissatisfaction. They argue that there is nothing "new" about these religious groups because they do not offer real theological insights, and in terms of the phenomenon of religious movements, religious movements are not contemporary. (1995: 8-10) The implication is that anyone or a sociologist who calls these new religious groups "'emerging' religious movements" is actually exalting these groups.

Although Chinese sociologists have taken a value-neutral stance and thus are not involved in debates about truth/falsehood, orthodoxy/hereticism about religious beliefs, such a stance has also drawn criticism in the West. Sociologists of religion basically study emerging religious movements as a socio-cultural phenomenon. In foreign cases, sociologists of religion are often based on the standpoint of safeguarding religious freedom, but also because sociologists of religion themselves usually have no beliefs or are not. To study emerging religious movements based on beliefs, and thus adopt a more sympathetic attitude towards emerging religious movements. This is of course significantly different from the positions of psychotherapists and theologians who study emerging religious movements based on combating them, and it is also very different from the religious sentiments of the general public with Christian beliefs. So sociologists of religion are often opposed to these people on emerging religious issues. The latter often accuse sociologists of religion of favoring emerging religious movements, when in fact sociologists of religion rarely study and convert to emerging religious movements, or fully agree with their worldview or way of life. (Saliba 1995: 105–113)

In fact, not only do sociologists offend mainstream church members or theologians, but new religious groups themselves do not necessarily like being called "emerging religions" or "emerging religious movements." This is because the reason why emerging religious movements offer doctrinal views or biblical interpretations that are different from mainstream denominations is because they believe that their own teachings or interpretations of the classics are the "orthodox" and "correct" views (and this is the sect's One of the most important characteristics, see later), to say they are "new" means to them to deny their legitimacy or correctness. The same is true in the case of Taiwan. With very few exceptions, there is hardly a new religious group that likes to be called "emerging religion", except that these groups recognize the negative evaluation of the term "emerging religion" by the general public. In addition, the main thing is to deny that they are completely "new", and they all emphasize that they have a certain inheritance.

Furthermore, for existing religions, the opposite of emerging religions is "traditional religions", and existing religions are more reluctant to be called "traditional religions" because they are compared with emerging religions, because "traditional" It means that it cannot keep pace with the times, and it means that it is old-fashioned and outdated. However, sociologists usually do not use the term "orthodox religion" or "orthodox denomination" to refer to churches or religious groups within these original religious traditions3, and fall into the orthodox/heretic debate, so they usually use "existing religion" (established religion) or "established church" as a term relative to "emerging religious movements". In the West, scholars often use the term "mainstream church" to refer to those denominations that have existed for a long time, are accepted by society and mutually accept each other (brothers within the Lord), and even cooperate with each other in various ministries. 4

4. Taiwanese academic research on emerging religions

The attention of Taiwanese academic circles to emerging religions generally began in the early 1970s. Regarding the emerging religions in Taiwan, Pastor Dong Fangyuan was one of the very early researchers. At that time, Dong Fangyuan defined emerging religions as follows: they were founded locally in Taiwan after the war, sects and modern religions introduced from mainland China and abroad after the war, and new phenomena that occurred in traditional religions after the war. (Dong Fangyuan 1986: 320-321) This definition is defined by the time point after the war, which is generally similar to the definition of emerging religious movements in Europe and the United States. However, in addition to Yiguandao, the emerging religions that Dong Fangyuan studied at the time were actually less important at present, and had even ceased to be active.

Qu Haiyuan was the first scholar who began to study emerging religions. In 1974 and 1975, he published two articles, "Utilitarian Thought and Emerging Religions in Taiwanese Society" and "Exploring the Phenomenon of Emerging Religions and Related Issues" in China Times, respectively. The institutionalized emerging religions such as the New Testament Church and Tiandi Religion also discussed some phenomena that occurred in popularized religions (folk beliefs). These two articles focus on discussing the characteristics and causes of these emerging religions, but do not directly Define emerging religions. (Qu Haiyuan 1985/1988; 1986/1988) In the paper "Analysis of Emerging Religious Phenomenon", Qu used the term "Emerging Religious Phenomenon" to express his concern about the religious development trend at that time, and the term "emerging religious phenomenon" also includes Including institutional emerging religions in a narrow sense. (1989) and chaired by Qu Haiyuan, from 1998 to 2001, the Academia Sinica’s research project on “emerging religious phenomena and related issues” still used the term “emerging religious phenomena” to include more range of care.

Zheng Zhiming believes that the definition of emerging religions can be analyzed from three perspectives: new in time or age, second in space or geography, and third in meaning or content. In addition, Zheng specially proposed the concept of "emerging groups of traditional religions", which is different from emerging religions, referring to those practices that have generally inherited traditional religions in terms of teachings and ceremonies, but their organization and development have changed with the times. The trend has made some corresponding changes. (Zheng Zhiming 1996: 12-13, 18-19) The so-called "emergence of traditional religions" refers to the development of existing religions in new organizational forms and new communication methods, which is somewhat similar to the "revitalization" movement, but Not exactly the same. This concept reminds us that, in addition to the "new" institutionalized religious groups worthy of study, new phenomena that actually occur in traditional religious groups or within existing religious traditions are also worthy of attention and discussion. However, if we look at the articles of Dong Fangyuan and Qu Haiyuan, we find that such concern has always existed. In other words, Taiwanese academia's concern for emerging religious movements is actually slightly different from that of foreign countries.

In addition, Chen Xingzhi (1998) and Lin Benxuan (2000) also noticed that some folk "palace altars" in Taiwan are gradually transforming into religious groups. Emerging religions or new religious movements are no longer ordinary temples or palaces, and their original followers have also changed from "believers without teachings" to "people with scriptures". (To paraphrase Karen Armstrong's book "Muhammad") This phenomenon is somewhat similar to what Zheng Zhiming said about the "emergence of traditional religions", but it is not exactly the same, because what Zheng is referring to is mainly the A phenomenon that occurs in traditional institutionalized religions. As far as the situation in Taiwan is concerned, in fact, there is not much difference in the connotations and objects covered by the above definitions, and the "emerging phenomena" of traditional religions are also considered to be worth noting. The specific connotations of "emerging phenomena" are not exactly the same, but their spirits are similar.

Dai Kangsheng, a mainland scholar who has recently begun to pay attention to the study of emerging religions, defines emerging religions based on the criteria established after the nineteenth century. This is a relatively loose standard, which is not the same as that generally adopted by Western academic circles. Dai also pointed out that emerging religions are some religious movements and religious groups that have emerged along with the modernization of the world, deviate from the normal track of traditional religions, and have proposed some new doctrines or rituals. However, when he proposed this identification standard, he also pointed out that the question of how to identify geographically, the traditional religion of another country may be the emerging religion of another country. In terms of doctrinal content, how to identify the doctrinal content that is "different from traditional religions"? (Dai Kangsheng 1999: 2-3) As pointed out earlier, this is an inevitable problem to be encountered when discussing the definition of emerging religions or emerging religious movements. Zheng Zhiming (1996: 21) also pointed out a similar problem.

These two issues are indeed important issues. For example, if the Soka Gakkai traces its belief tradition, it has a history of more than 700 years since the establishment of Nichiren Sage in the thirteenth century. The Soka Gakkai itself was founded in 1930. It does not necessarily meet the above definitions, but if Taiwan is used as the benchmark, if the Soka Gakkai has followers (called members) since the 51st year of the Republic of China, it will meet the above definitions. The existing beliefs of a certain country may be "emerging religions" or "emerging religious movements" of another country or another society. This is a definitional difficulty and unavoidable. Another example is that in many Western documents discussing emerging religions, Zen Buddhism and some groups of Hinduism are emerging religious movements in American society, and even occupy an important proportion in emerging religious movements. (Bruce 1996: 169) In addition, emerging religious movements are also in constant flux (Barker 1999: 21). Taking Taiwan as an example, Yang Zanru, a pen student of the Shengxian Hall in Taichung, was noted for his book "Journey to Hell" by Fu Luan. Later, he established the Shengdebao Palace by himself and continued to write good books such as "Journey to Heaven" by Fuluan, which is generally regarded as a group of emerging religions, or called "Confucianism". (Zheng Zhiming 1988: 369-410) Later, he converted to the elder Wuming of the Chinese Buddhist Association, with the name of Master Shenglun, and obtained the inheritance of Tibetan Buddhism. Currently, he established the Buddhist Dharma Mountain Dojo, which is unique with "organic farming Zen".

In terms of the characteristics of emerging religious movements in the twentieth century, Eileen Barker (1999) argues that almost all characteristics of the population are likely to participate in emerging religions. However, the research of religious sociologists generally points out that the participants of emerging religious movements in Europe and America are mainly those with higher education level and better socioeconomic background. Campbell (1982: 238) also pointed out that the participants in emerging religious movements were mainly young (under thirty-five, the age at the time), not yet married or in the labor market, middle-class, and had a good (higher) educational background. Barker (1999) pointed out that the social significance of emerging religions is not in their statistics, that is, the reason why emerging religious movements attract social attention is not because of their belief population. Because from the perspective of the number of believers, except in Japan, where nearly 10-20% of the people are followers of emerging religions, the proportion of the population of emerging religions in other regions is not very high. The significance of emerging religious movements therefore lies in the social significance they display, not necessarily in the size of the population of their beliefs. And this is exactly what religious sociologists focus on. Qu Haiyuan (1989) once pointed out that the characteristics of emerging religious movements in Taiwan are: all-regional, throbbing, efficacious, spreading, believer orientation, WTO-entry, re-creation and re-vibration, and he devoted himself to putting forward Theories about the emergence of emerging religious movements in Taiwan.

5. How to view emerging religious movements

So, how should we view "emerging religions" or "emerging religious movements"? Here, we try to speak from three aspects: history, society, and organization. From a historical perspective, "new religions" are relative, and the current world religions were once "religious movements". Buddhism originated from Brahmanism. Christianity originated from Judaism and was originally a religious movement in Judaism (Wilson 1999). Islam is a religious movement that took place on the Arabian Peninsula based on the Abrahamic beliefs. As far as Christianity is concerned, since the beginning of the second century, "Gnosticism" can be regarded as the first wave of religious movements in Christianity, and there have been continuous religious movements since then. (Saliba 1995: 37-64) As for the Reformation in the sixteenth century, it was also a religious movement in the Christian world. Almost all of these religious movements were persecuted or oppressed at first, but they all eventually became another "new" "religion". Therefore, in the history of Christianity, religious movements are the norm, and in the history of mankind, religious movements are by no means unique to the twentieth century.

There continued to be religious movements in the West until the nineteenth century, especially in the United States. Many new Christian sects (sects) preached in New York in the nineteenth century, so that New York was called by later historians the "burned-over district", and Mormonism was born in the New World at this time religious movement. (Saliba 1995: 52) Barker (1999) believes that from its current development, it cannot be seen that any emerging religion will become the mainstream religious tradition in the future. Of course, even in the development process of the aforementioned world religion, it is not possible to predict whether it will become a mainstream religion in the future in a short period of time.

From a sociological point of view, emerging religious movements are the product of social changes, and emerging religions or religious movements usually occur when social changes are more drastic. For example, in the nineteenth century in the United States (especially after the end of the Civil War), population migration caused geographic movement, which in turn led to a religious revival and the emergence of various new denominations, such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. The emerging religious movements in the United States and Europe after World War II were also related to post-war social changes. (Wuthnow 1986/1993) The emergence of a large number of new religions in Japan in the nineteenth century was related to the national crisis caused by the political, military, economic and cultural threats posed by Western forces in Japan at that time. (Shimazono 1986/1993)

From an organizational point of view, the emerging religions are partly the result of the continuous division of the original religions. This phenomenon is actually the familiar phenomenon of "schism" (schism). The main sources of sectarian schism are: 1. Different interpretations of doctrine. 2. The division of organizational leadership authority (the problem of inheritance of divine authority) 3. The difference between believers' religious needs and religious services (due to the diversification of believers caused by the expansion of the organization). Different interpretations of scriptures and teachings in the original religious groups may lead to division of the organization. Of course, such different interpretations of scriptures and teachings may also come from social changes, which makes the interpretation of scriptures and teachings tense with the social environment relationship, or the need to be more responsive to social situations. The inheritance of organizational leadership authority usually occurs after the death of the first generation of leaders (founding leaders). Because of the "chrisma" characteristics of the founding leaders, as Max Weber said, it must be routine. ), that is, through the system or through blood, it will continue to be passed down, resulting in a dispute over leadership, and the organization will split. For example, after the death of Miki Nakayama, the founder of Tenri Sect in Japan, the two sects that supported his daughter and supported his eldest disciple, Izo Izo, split. (Shimazono 1986/1993)

From the perspective of the composition of believers, if it is assumed that believers of different social classes have different religious inclinations and religious needs, a religious group may be dominated by lower-class people at the beginning of its development, but may gradually include more middle- and upper-class people later. Those from the lower class may leave because of dissatisfaction, or even set up new religious groups. Or, a religious group that strongly emphasizes supernatural or mystical religious experience at the beginning of its founding, or that asserts itself as the only truth has tensions with other religious groups or society, and gradually emphasizes the rationality of its beliefs over time sectarianization (abandoning the element of mysticism) or reconciling with other religious groups in order to gain the approval of the larger society, but at the same time may cause dissatisfaction among some believers in their group and leave. 5

Of course, as far as contemporary society is concerned, whether the phenomenon of sectarian division occurs is not only related to the above factors, but also related to the external social environment and legal provisions. It is easy, because the acquisition of a religious legal person is based on the "certification system", and the design of "religious legal person alone" and "including religious legal person" is conducive to breaking away from the relationship between it and the headquarter (headquarters), turning it into a New religion or denomination. 6

As mentioned earlier, the emergence of new religious movements has led sociologists of religion to re-examine the theory of secularization. Some of them believe that the large number of emerging religious movements indicates that the theory of secularization is problematic, while some scholars (such as Bryan Wilson) argue that emerging religious movements are actually evidence of the secularization of society as a whole, because emerging religious movements In fact, it is more like a kind of consumption. People are like taking what they need in a religious supermarket, and few people care about the truth claims established by religion. (Robbins 1988: 54 below) As for the important scholars of Rational Choice Theory (Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge), they believe that due to the gradual rationalization of existing religions, more and more The less the supernatural is to look at the world, the emerging religious movements have embraced such a field, so they believe that when a society becomes secularized to a certain extent, a new religious movement or sect (emphasizing the supernatural orientation) emerges , pulling the secularization trend back up. (Stark and Bainbridge 1985: 124-125) This view is not necessarily shared by everyone, and there is a certain insight into understanding the emergence of emerging religions.

6. Concepts Relevant to Emerging Religious Movements: Church, Denomination, and Worship

When discussing the classification of religious organizations, it is inevitable to mention the group of concepts "church" and "sect". This distinction was first made by the German sociologist Max Weber in The Sociology of Religion, and by his friend theologian Ernst Troeltsch (1986-1923) in The Society of the Christian Church The Social Teaching of the Cristian Church (1912). The so-called church refers to an organization with a monopoly in a specific area, mainly referring to the European Church of the Papal States in the Middle Ages, and the Protestant Lutheran Church, which has the status of state religion in the Nordic countries today. In this state, a person is baptized as a member of the church at birth, not based on a voluntary choice of the individual, and through socialization to learn the teachings, morals, and values of the religion. Denominations, on the other hand, refer to religious groups that challenge the doctrine of the dominant church. Therefore, denominations and churches are disputes within the same religious tradition. For example, during the Reformation, the religious movements led by Martin Luther and John Calvin were classified as a denomination.

Denominations challenge the mainstream church and claim that they are the truth, so they are regarded as "heresy" by the mainstream "church" (which usually has some form of power), and the denomination usually has tension with the larger society at this time. Relationship. (According to Peter Berger [1967] in his book The Holy Veil, religion [the church] and society under the monopoly of the "sacred veil" support each other, and attacking the mainstream "church" is naturally compatible with Greater Society Tensions) Over time, the relationship between the denomination and the dominant "church" may gradually change and adjust to its tensions with the greater society. On the other hand, members of the first generation of denominations joined based on their own choice, but with the birth of the second and third generations of believers, their members no longer chose to join voluntarily (but not without this at this time). membership of the class), to be dominated by members who were born, baptized, and learned doctrine through socialization. At this time, we may say that this denomination has generally been converted into a "denomination" (this process is what Niebuhr calls a "sectarianization" process). , has now become a member of the mainstream sect.

Denominations may gradually turn into denominations, but such as "Jehovah's Witnesses" (also known as "Watch Tower", Watch Tower, founded in 1970) and Mormons (formally known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Chinese translation of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", and the early translation of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", established in 1930) such groups are still controversial in the Christian world, and they are still classified as such. Have sectarian characteristics (and "mainstream sects" might call them "side gates"), although they are more than a hundred years old and have several generations of believers. Generally speaking, when sociologists use these categorical concepts, they take a neutral position as much as possible, and do not get involved in disputes about the orthodoxy or value judgments of doctrines, but only discuss their development.

Another common English word cult, Latin for cultus, originally means a specific form of worship (worship) or ritual in a religious tradition, such as the worship of saints in Christianity, but some psychotherapy Writers, lawyers, and journalists pick up the negative connotation of the word and use it to refer to groups they consider deviant, dangerous, "false religions" (Sabila 1995: 1), that is, the word cult is associated with new or emerging religions Movement is a word used interactively. (Beckford 1985: 12-13) Chinese media often translate it into "xie jiao" without thinking, which is very problematic. Although in general non-academic usage in English the word has somewhat negative and derogatory connotations, most sociologists of religion generally take a neutral stance when using the term, treating it only as part of an emerging religious movement. Classification refers to those religious groups that cannot be classified by sect. (But some are not called "groups")

The word cult is difficult to translate into Chinese, and there is currently no ideal translation name. It is temporarily translated as "worship" or "worship group" ("worship" in Chinese tends to mean a verb), and some people have translated it as "small group" Or "small group religion", etc., the problem is that such groups are not necessarily "small group" (as for the Christian world, it is translated as "side door", such as "Dictionary of Theological Terms" edited by Zhao Zhonghui, 1983 edition, p. 94). The so-called worship group refers to the existing religious traditions in a certain society (there is a dominant religious hegemony, or there is no religious hegemony in a society, but several churches or sects share a core. Religious groups or religious movements other than values, teachings or practices, etc.), of course, the so-called established religious traditions here are Christianity for Western societies. (Beckford 1985:16)

One of the characteristics of worship is usually the integration of the teachings of various existing religious traditions, and even the integration of so-called scientific concepts, especially psychology and psychoanalysis, and its religious color is often not very prominent. Such groups are usually loosely organized, and sometimes even operate in the form of workshops or cram schools—although some groups charge and some do not—and usually do not have obvious disciplines and admissions. teach ceremonies. This category includes various potential development groups, religious qigong or yoga groups (such as Transcendental Meditation, TM), and groups that combine psychoanalytic techniques and religious concepts, such as "Scientology" (Scientology, founded in 1954, was previously translated as "Spiritual Science Church" in China, and now the group also has branches in Taiwan, and their Chinese translation name is transliterated "Scientology"), Falun Gong can also be regarded as this category, although Some people in China think they are not a religion, and they also say they are not a "religion".

As mentioned earlier, ordinary people in the West often use cult to refer to the emerging religious movement we are talking about here, and although a few scholars also use this term, most of them use the neutral term "emerging religious movement". In this context, cult is a category of emerging religious movements. The famous sociologists of religion Stark and Bainbridge (1985) divided the cult under this classification into three types: audience cult (audience cult), client cult (customer worship) and cult movements (sports worship). The so-called reading and listening worship refers to the gathering of people who are interested in the same subject through leaflets, mailing, etc., and face-to-face meetings such as lectures. These people have common interests or beliefs (cult doctrine, such as belief in seclusion). floating existence), but no specific ritual. Bainbridge cites his work on UFO groups in the 1970s as a typical example. Zheng Zhiming once believed that Lin Qingxuan also had the image of a "leader", and the group formed by Lin Qingxuan and his readers was similar to the "reading, listening and worship" mentioned here. In addition, it is said that "Professor of the Heart Sea Compass", who is said to have a good rating on the TV speech program, can also be regarded as a kind of "reading, listening and worship" mentioned here, but its religious nature is not obvious at present.

Customer worship usually provides some kind of service to the participants, mainly medical treatment, fortune-telling, psychic communication with the dead, etc. The relationship between the group and the participants is like the relationship between the seller of goods or services and the customer. Because participants are usually partial (but to a greater extent than listening to worship) rather than full participation (because what the group offers only partially meets their needs), its participants usually participate in several at the same time. Such worship, or other worship, may also remain involved in other organized religious groups. And when a worship group intensifies the participation of its members, reaches the stage of regular participation, and severes ties with other religious groups (such as through initiation rites), while fully meeting the needs of its participants, it can be said that It was a sporting cult and was starting to feel a bit sectarian. (Stark and Bainbridge 1985: 26-30) In Taiwanese society, groups specializing in teaching Qigong, meditation, and yoga can usually be called "customer worship" according to this classification. Some groups have fees, some do not, some are relatively religious, some are relatively weak, or even have no religious character at all. This classification provides us with further examination of the relationship between worship and its participants, as well as the dynamics of its organization. Controversy about whether a certain group is a "religious group" or whether it can be a "new religion (movement)", in fact, from this classification, different insights can be obtained.

As mentioned earlier, sociologists are extremely reluctant to fall into the orthodox/heretic debate, but as in the above classification, the use of sect and cult, although only an organizational classification, calls Mormonism a sect rather than a Called denomination, it is clearly influenced by the theological judgments of the evangelical or mainstream church. In addition, whether to call the Unification Church a sect or a cult also involves the theological issue of whether to identify the Unification Church as "inside" or "outside" the religious tradition of Christianity. What's more, for some evangelical or fundamentalist Christians, even Catholicism is considered a cult (Saliba 1995: 3). Thus, Roland Robertson (1979) long ago pointed out that churches, denominations, denominations, and cults The classification method is of limited value for the study of the sociology of religion. And Beckford also pointed out that the church/sect/cult classification has gradually become unacceptable. (1985: 16) In addition, there has never been a “church” in Chinese society with a dominant and monopoly position similar to that in Western society (for example, the various “sects” of Buddhism were not established out of a challenge to a mainstream “church”), Therefore, it is impossible to describe or analyze the dynamics of religious change with the model of church-sect-sect-worship, not to mention that it is impossible to get rid of the entanglement of value/doctrinal judgments.

7. The main reasons for the emergence of new religious movements

As mentioned earlier, religious movements are the norm in Western history, and the reasons for the emergence of contemporary new religious movements are even more complicated. Here we take the statement of British sociologist Bryan Wilson as an example. Wilson (1982) believes that the reasons for the emergence of new religious movements are as follows: 1. Existing religions cannot meet people's religious needs. 82. Easier, quicker, clearer way to be saved. Similar to what we generally call a quicker way. 3. Reaction to spiritual elitism, existing religions ignore the religious needs of ordinary people. 4. Reaction to institutionalized means of salvation. 5. The "rationalization" of means of salvation vs. the return of the supernatural. 6. The expansion of the objects of salvation. 7. Diversification of spiritual needs and tastes after material wealth. 8. Emphasis on functions such as religious medicine. 9. Take the niche as the orientation and shape a new identity focus. The first of these is therefore a commonly heard argument, but another scholar Campbell (1982) rejects this argument, arguing that it presupposes a "functional substitution theory", while empirical evidence shows that adding New religious movements and those who break away from traditional religions or churches are not the same group, and there are many differences in numbers. That said, only a small fraction of those who break away from traditional churches are attracted to emerging religions, so there is no evidence to support this claim.

Dong Fangyuan (1986) once put forward the view of the origin of emerging religions, there are six points: 1. The influence of social crisis. 2. Stimulation of national consciousness. 3. The yearning for the comfort of the world. 4. Reaction of the original religion. 5. The expectation of bliss in the afterlife. 6. Inventions of religious genius. These views are generally put forward from a personal point of view. Although they mention the relationship with the social structure, they obviously cannot explain the phenomenon of the rise of new religious movements in Taiwan in the past two decades. Qu Haiyuan (1989) believed that: 1. Social changes have increased people's new sense of uncertainty. 2. Social mobility has caused some people to break away from the scope of the old religion, and the new religion has gained a large number of potential converts. 3. The general low level of public awareness has contributed to the rise of spiritual religions, such as private shrines. 4. The diversity and convenience of current communication tools are conducive to the spread of emerging religions. 5. A policy of respecting religious freedom is conducive to the development of emerging religions. 6. Many emerging religions have strong social movements.

The second point, in the research of Lin Benxuan (1998), also found a similar finding, that is, geographic mobility caused the people to break away from the constraints of the original folk beliefs (popular religion), on the one hand, it caused the loss of the folk belief population, on the other hand On the other hand, these people are potential believers of an institutionalized religion (either institutionalized Buddhism or institutionalized emerging religious orders). Such research has found that it is largely different from the statement that "existing religions cannot meet people's religious needs". In addition, the policy of religious freedom is also closely related to the emergence and survival of new religious movements. (Chio 1986/1993) In recent years, Qu (2002) tried to propose a more complex structure to explain the structural factors of the rise of emerging religions (phenomena). Qu pointed out that after the lifting of the martial law, within ten years after 1989, the number of religious social groups increased by 10.52 times, which can be said to be the result of liberalization. But liberalization, which provides opportunities for religious groups to legally register, is not the only factor. In addition to retaining the concept of uncertainty and expanding it to include structural uncertainty, it also touches on the relationship between scientific knowledge and alternative knowledge, as well as the cultural roots of mystical experience.

As far as religious sociologists are concerned, emerging religious movements reflect social changes, as well as changes in the relationship between religion and society. In the United States, although the right to religious freedom is guaranteed, there are still various "anti-cult movements" in society, especially after the tragedy of "People's Temple". (Melton 1999) These anti-worship groups have attacked emerging religious movements through the construction of “brainwash” discourses,9 and even the use of kidnapping. (Barker 1995: 17-23, 101-110) Different societies will adopt different attitudes and ways of treating new religious movements, which are related to the cultural environment and legal structure of different countries (Beckford, quoted in Saliba 1995: 128; Beckford 1985) , but also reflects the openness and tolerance of this society. However, in different countries, the discussion of charges against emerging religious movements is different, and the same emerging religious movement is accused differently in different societies. (Lin Benxuan 1996; Barker 1999: 29) At present, there is no such anti-emerging religious movement organization in Taiwan, but the emerging religious movements have also been incorrectly reported and misunderstood, such as the early Yiguandao and the Unification Church, of which political factors are included.

The way a society treats emerging religious movements reflects, in addition to its degree of openness and tolerance, its most vulnerable links. For example, the weakest link in Taiwan in the 1940s and 1950s was politics, so the official ban on Yiguandao used the argument that Yiguandao had "political motives" to strengthen the legitimacy of its ban. The same goes for the oppression of the Unification Church, where the most anti-communist religious group is said to be pro-communist in Taiwan. Not only that, in the age of sexual taboos, sexual morality was also a useful accusation. Yiguandao and the Unification Church were once accused of "nudity worship" and "crossbreeding and blood separation" respectively. (Lin Benxuan 1990; Lin Benxuan 1996)

8. Conclusion

Since the 1960s, Western academic circles have started the study of "emerging religious movements", which has had a significant impact on the development of the sociology of religion. New religions have appeared in Taiwan since the Second World War. In the early days, a small number of scholars conducted sporadic research on Xinxing. However, a series of religious incidents broke out in the 1985th year of the Republic of China, which made Taiwanese society begin to face up to the emerging religions, and the academic circles have also officially launched a study of new religions. A systematic and comprehensive study of emerging religions.

The terms "emerging religions" and "emerging religious movements" are often used interchangeably. Western societies and academic circles also use other terms to refer to the emerging religious movements we are talking about here. The use of it by the sociological community is also more in line with the basic position of the sociology of religion not to judge the value and belief/theology of the research object. In terms of time, space, and religious connotation, it is true that what kind of religious group is regarded as a new religion or a new religious movement is still controversial, but the sociologists of religion generally call the new religious movement, which usually refers to the new religious movement after the Second World War. A religious group that emerged, or has only since developed.

From the point of view of history, organization, and the composition of believers, there will always be new religious groups in human society, and the emergence of these new religious groups is the so-called "religious movement". At least as far as the history of the West is concerned, there have been several relatively important religious movements, and the religious movements that appeared in European and American societies in the second half of the twentieth century are called "new religious movements". New religious movements are translated into emerging religious movements in Chinese, which mainly refer to the new religious groups that appeared in Taiwan after the Second World War, but more important are the religious groups that have appeared in Taiwan or have begun to show influence in the past two decades. . Whether these new religious groups can be called "new 'religions'" or "emerging 'religions'" remains controversial, whether in the West or in Taiwan. In addition, most of the religious groups involved do not like to be called "emerging religions" because this term may have a negative connotation, although religious sociologists do not hold a negative attitude when using this term.

Sociologists of religion generally believe that the reasons for the emergence of new religious movements are closely related to social changes. With social changes and the development of the internal organization of new religious movements, the relationship between new religious movements and the larger society gradually changes. tensions may thus ease. Emerging religious movements have received attention and are closely related to the violent incidents of emerging religious movements, but not all emerging religious movements have violent incidents or have violent tendencies, and not all emerging religious movements have anti-social behaviors, more correct It is said that the emerging religious movements with anti-social behaviors are only a few of them. This is the basic attitude towards emerging religious movements.

As far as Taiwanese society is concerned, in the past 20 years, especially since the lifting of strict regulations, new religious groups have flourished. Although there have been "Song Qili's luminous photos to collect money" and "Miaotian's illegal construction of the Linggu Pagoda", it has not been compared with foreign countries. In comparison with incidents caused by emerging religious movements, emerging religious groups in Taiwan have so far not had serious anti-social behaviors. Even in official meetings, those groups that we call emerging religions or emerging religious movements can peacefully meet on the same occasion as representatives of existing religious groups, which is probably a rare sight in the world.

Notes:

1 On March 20, 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo sect headed by Shoko Asahara (real name "Matsumoto Chizuo") used sarin gas to attack passengers at Tokyo subway station in Japan, causing 12 deaths and 5,510 injuries.

2 In September of the 1985th year of the Republic of China, the "Zhongtai Chan Temple mass shaving scandal" broke out. Dozens of college girls disappeared after the Buddhist summer camp in the Zhongtai Chan Temple. The ordination of the Zhongtai Zen Monastery caused a lot of media coverage and a great shock to the society. Then, on October 10 of the same year, the "Song Qili Appearance Association" fraudulently happened again. In the Song Qili incident, Chen Jianglihua and Jiang Zheng, who claimed to have been defrauded by Song Qili, and others, accompanied by the then city councilor Qin Meifeng, held a press conference to report Song Qili (real name Song Qianlin) to collect money by publishing photos. Song Qili was subsequently detained and prosecuted. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in the first instance. On January 28, 1992, the High Court acquitted him on the grounds of freedom of religious belief. On October 19, the following week after the Song Qili incident broke out, the "Miaotian Zen Master Incident" broke out. A group of believers who claimed to be "Miaotian Zen Master" (real name Huang Mingliang) came forward to accuse Miaotian Zen Master of selling the "lotus seat" at a high price. "(Linggu Pagoda) to make money. In this incident, the Linggu Pagoda of the "Tianfo Avenue Courtyard" located in Xizhicheng, Taipei County (currently Xizhi City), was later found to be an illegal construction. The group founded by Zen Master Miaotian in this incident was originally registered as the Cultural and Educational Committee in charge of the Ministry of Education and was called "Initiative Zen Culture and Education Foundation of the Republic of China". A few years after the incident, the group was renamed "Taiwan Zen Buddhism Association" , a people's organization under the supervision of the Social Department of the Ministry of the Interior. Since these three incidents, Taiwanese media began to pay close attention to the issue of "emerging religions". Several TV stations have produced special programs on emerging religions, such as "Yiyantang" by FTV and "China Television News Magazine" by China Television. The Academia Sinica also planned a large-scale research project on "Emerging Religious Phenomenon and Related Issues" by Professor Qu Haiyuan shortly after, to conduct a planned census of emerging religious groups in Taiwan.

3 For example, the "traditional" Buddhist community in Taiwan often refers to themselves as "orthodox Buddhism," but many religious and sociological scholars do not use this term.

4 In terms of classification, these mainstream churches can also be called "sects", denomination, see the latter paragraph of this article.

5 A similar claim, and a more detailed process, was explored in H. Richard Niebuhr's The Social Sources of Denominationalism (1929). Cited in Starl and Bainbridge 1985:100-104.

6 In Japan's "Religious Legal Persons Act", the religious groups that apply for the establishment of religious legal persons are not subject to substantive examinations on their sacred aspects such as their teachings and scriptures, and only the information they provide is sufficient to prove that they are religious groups, and Formal recognition of the completeness of the religious legal person constitution proposed by them is called "certification", which is intended to reduce the state's interference in religious affairs. As for "single religious legal person", it refers to a religious legal person that is not under the jurisdiction of other religious legal persons, while "including religious legal persons" refers to those who are under the jurisdiction of other religious legal persons.

7 He once had a dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda, President of the Soka Gakkai International, and published a book. The Chinese translation of "The Role of Religion under Social Change" was published by Hong Kong Sanliao Bookstore.

8 Choi (1986/1993: 150) has a similar view on the reasons for the emergence of new religions in Korea.

9 In Occidentalism it is directed against the Unification Church (called "Unification Church" in Taiwan) founded by Pastor Moon Myung Sun of South Korea. Since those who attend the Unification Church are usually young people with good education and career prospects, and they seem to have "suddenly" embraced the Unification Church teachings when they come into contact with the Unification Church, parents and the media believe that these young people are "brainwashed" . There are many works on the refutation of brainwashing, Barker (1993) is very worthy of reference.