cult/new religious movements

For progressives in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the wider Christian church and society at large, the vote was a thrilling victory after decades of struggle and setback. For conservatives, the vote signaled a decisive break with scripture and tradition and called the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of the this denomination into question. Almost one year later, we can take a step back to consider what happened in Minneapolis and to map some of the trajectories of this historic vote.

Is Lady Gaga (the self-proclaimed “fame monster” so well known for her enticing pop music, outrageous fashion, and elaborately staged spectacles) involved in a pseudo-religious conspiracy of global moment? The answer is “yes”—but not for the reasons that…

Can a religious text be lethal? The story of Abraham and Isaac, shared by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, has been used for centuries to glorify sacrifice—and it has never been our own story more than it is right now.

In this excerpt from Patience With God: Faith for People Who Don’t Like Religion (or Atheism), the son of influential evangelicals asks whether anyone who remains a “professional Christian” in the evangelical/fundamentalist world risks becoming an atheist and/or a liar.

Wealth creation guru James Arthur Ray is under investigation for criminal negligence in the deaths of two participants in a sweat lodge last week. Is this the inevitable result of outsider appropriation of a sacred ritual, or is the story more complex? Our writer, whose own tradition includes the sweat lodge ceremony, explains the nuances.

Dan Brown reimagined Christianity in The Da Vinci Code. In his new novel, America’s most influential pop philosopher takes on Freemasonry, having fun with the bizarre legends surrounding the movement, and exposing the layer of mystical thinking that underlies modern rationalism.

In the wake of a religious freedom victory, scholar Salvador Vidal-Ortiz discusses the concepts of “newborns,” “wives,” and the role of gays and lesbians in Santería.

A new book by veteran organizer Marshall Ganz tells the sometimes triumphant, sometimes cautionary tale of the rise and fall of Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement. While the story of the movement’s successes is well known, the reasons for its decline are more mysterious—until now.

In this 1908 retelling of the gospels, Jesus travels to India, Persia, and Greece, preaching of a “cord of love” that binds all humanity. What does The Aquarian Gospel have to teach us about Christianity, New Age religion, and the birth of the culture wars?

When the media labels a religious group a “cult,” it fans the flames of intolerance and can endanger the group’s most vulnerable members.