What causes people to join New Religious Movements?

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I read it, i don’t really agree. I mean i think it reeks of western ideas, which is not a criticism - it just is what it is. You could argue that whatever man holdest highest in his life is his God. In that sense, the likes of richard dawkins are more religious than half this forum.

I picked China deliberately because it’s the perfect counter example. It’s massive, it’s the least religious country in the world: Redirect Notice and i know it well.

This is a long term trend and goes back into the imperial times, predating the prohibitions on religion by the communists. Buddhism and Islam are tiny in China, Confucianism is not a religion - it’s a philosophy. You have to understand that not everyone cares about logic! In the west, we love logic and Catholicism is one of the most logical religions going (e.g. beliefs documented, hierarchical and explained). But many eastern countries don’t give a flip about logic, what we call “logic”, they called “western logic” which gives you a clue. If you told then they were doing something that wasn’t logical then they’d probably ask you whether that meant it wasn’t working. If it was working then they wouldnt care it wasn’t logical. Now they love our scientific ideas because that kind of thinking is a disaster for science. But when it comes to art and spirituality then they think we are crazy to apply logic and to be honest, they are right in many ways.
 
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First of, thanks for the reply @stupidisasstupiddoes I hadn’t been faced with this perspective before [although I know the argument]. We are however deviating the thread from OP, although this subject runs parallel and intersects sometimes.

This lead me to further research and first thing I find is:“Chinese folk religion” or “Han folk religion” which I have not studied yet knew about intuitively due to the historical “veneration of ancestors” polemic with Catholics. Appears 73% Chinese believers follow this in some way.

en.wikipedia.org

Chinese folk religion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Then, for now, I’ll say I take “The Guardian” with a pinch of salt at times, and will have to find other sources for facts and stats. I don’t believe, outright, their statement that only 7% of Chinese believe in god, or 13% of Japanese for that matter. The 30% seems plausible for secularized western European countries, but I’ll caution many people return to the faith in their latter years (so data should be collected as the relationship with faith over lifetime). I also don’t believe the 30% claim for Germany. I do however believe 27% for Check and 16% for Estonia due to "Iron Curtain"history, same for Albania where religious where persecuted and jailed for decades.

I know Confucianism is taken as “a philosophy”, but I was surprised to find deity in certain flavors of Buddhism and even Shintoism [Against what many say that Buddhism doesn’t have a god]. So, I can’t for now comment on their metaphysics and in how far their practical disposition may constitute forms of sanctity or mercy…
 
Ohhh, and I have asked many friends if they believed in God and they said NO the first and second time [their first answer to a survey].

After a few months I asked a third time, and they said: YES…Then came the question of defining God and the role of religion…So, people do “in their inner self” believe and are taken to question over time.

What happens is that secularization of State and School imposes inconspicuously that one shouldn’t comment on religion. It all starts in the class room with the teachers themselves ignorant of theology imposing the rule to avoid raising debates on religion - since most kids are indoctrinated, one way ore the other, at home and any debate would be taken back and forth leading to the parents being questioned about their own beliefs. [No few forces in Europe imposed secularization over the last few centuries and this is a practical unmentioned ubiquitous result.]
 
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Because they lack Skeptical Intellect or Pessimistic Intellect in my honest for God opinion.

When the Angel yelled out Intelligence, I don’t know what they heard, but they declined to jump in that line to receive some.
 
I disagree. I cannot think that some truly believe a spaghetti monster created the world or that the world truly began last Thursday
 
adgloriam said:
This lead me to further research and first thing I find is:“Chinese folk religion” or “Han folk religion” which I have not studied yet knew about intuitively due to the historical “veneration of ancestors” polemic with Catholics. Appears 73% Chinese believers follow this in some way.
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To a certain extent we all have the capacity for religious belief because part of our evolution was needing to created shared values with non-kinship groups. So then we get into the semantics of what a religion is and what’s a religion and whats superstition or tradition. In my opinion and the opinion of my Chinese wife, Han folk religion is clearly the latter. When you say “73% Chinese believers follow this in some way” what that really means is that most Chinese people will light candles for and kneel to pictures of dead relatives, dead ancestor ‘worship’ is another staple of human evolution. But if you were to investigate why they did this (e.g. is there a God, a heaven, a hell etc) then i think the answers would not satisfy the definition of a religion. In that sense, these are not people seeking a God to submit their will to or learn about his law or his deeds. These are people showing respect to the dead and often, hoping for some good fortune in the future, because as you correctly identified - the Chinese love money!

I think you could reasonably argue that Han folk religion fulfills 4) the search for cultural identity and 9) the need for participation and involvement on your list, but a search for God - I do not find convincing.
 
The religion in China is so complex. Traditionally it is a blend of Taoism and Confucianism and Chinese Folk Religion. However now Buddhism also is incorporated and of course Christianity and Islam exist there as well.
 
i don’t think it’s complex, you’re talking about tiny tiny groups of people. Islam is almost exclusive to the uyghur ethnic minority which is in the most obscure province in China, literally as far away from Beijing as you can get. 92% of China is Han and you’d do seriously well to find a Han Muslim. Again, Confucianism is not a religion. Nor is Chinese Folk Religion a religion in any sense of being comparable to the abrahamic religions. I grant you Taoism is a religion but that’s not even 2% of the population.
 
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Really? I didn’t know that. I always thought Taoism was the majority. Confucianism isn’t a religion in many people’s eyes however it is usually listed in world religions. I suppose it depends on how you view what makes a religion. Certain schools of Buddhism are purely philosophical yet others deify the Buddha thus making it a religion. I have heard people say both aren’t religions but philosophical. I am on the fence as I don’t understand why if they weren’t are they listed as world religions. However if they are why would Platonism not have been considered a religion. It actually always kind of confused me.
 
I doubt they would have gotten much of a reception. Chinese culture is the oldest in the world, it predates Christ by thousands of years. i think they would have shrugged and said “well things are going fine, what do we need this for”
 
I think it’s accurate to say they are a philosophical culture and extremely rich in tradition. That’s why i find it so fascinating there, but in terms of people who naturally seek out a God in any sense of the word that we would recognise - no. I really encourage you to see for yourself, i guarantee what you find there will not be what you expected if your expectations are based on the news. You will be pleasantly surprised.
 
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Perhaps deep down inside they want a god/path to God more suited for their own tastes!

I just finished up a class on the Trinity, and the priest teaching it said “some people want an understanding of God that favors them” (their ways, likes, etc.)! They want a comfortable God/a non-demanding God/Santa-God.

Further he said, that we can never forget that the search for God is always damaged/hindered in some way by the effects of Original Sin (whether the person agrees with the concept of O.S. or not!).
 
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Some thoughts about SD that I was given…

It was described to me using the “pilot, air traffic control tower” metaphor…we are the pilot…we can only see what’s in our immediate viewport…we might be flying through rough air, with clouds, that restrict our vision, distort our sense of things. We need another perspective…someone who can see matters more objectively, perhaps from a wider and a bit of detached viewpoint…who is looking at the radar, clear eyed. And can point out trajectories, trends, obstacles, etc.

And then the description went on further…“but in the end…we are the pilot…we take the advice from the air traffic controller…but we own the problem…we own our safety/direction/outcome…we need to take responsibility, we need to make changes, hard choices, get action.”

I’ve always loved this description.

The other point is if we fail to be sincere with our director (the “air traffic controller”)…if we lie, if we don’t explain our motives or dress them up so that we seem better in their eyes…they can’t help us as much.

It would be like lying to the air traffic controller that “all my engines are working, and I have plenty of fuel!” when you’re running on one engine, on vapors!
 
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Prophetic Revelations that are attached to spiritual anointing attracts people like bees to honey
 
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