What causes people to join New Religious Movements?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jas84173
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jas84173

Guest
I did a paper on some in college and there’s many. Some are serious in belief, some seem almost like parodies of some sort. What draws people to these charismatic people who claim to have some revelation or truth and follow it? For example, Scientology, Raelism etc.
 
Because all humans have an innate desire to know the Truth.

But sometimes we don’t recognize the truth due to: hardness of heart, false profits, scandal, attachment to sin, weak formation, etc.
 
Last edited:
People have always thought there is something better (read, easier) than what they have before them.
 
Nine universal human needs and aspirations:
(1) the quest for belonging,
(2) the search for answers,
(3) the search for wholeness,
(4) the search for cultural identity,
(5) the need to be recognized,
(6) the search for transcendence,
(7) the need for spiritual guidance,
(8) the need for vision, and
(9) the need for participation and involvement.
 
Each of us has a “God shaped hole”.

Our hearts are restless until they rest in Christ.

Thing is, there are imitations out there to tempt us away from the truth and we are like magpies who follow shiny sparkly things.
 
Charismatic leaders
Feeling like they’re at loose ends
Religions that promise you secret knowledge that the average Joe Schmoe isn’t privy to
 
jas84173 said:
I did a paper on some in college and there’s many. Some are serious in belief, some seem almost like parodies of some sort. What draws people to these charismatic people who claim to have some revelation or truth and follow it? For example, Scientology, Raelism etc.
Click to expand...
Three things

1 PRIDE

2 a Lack of God’s grace ACCEPTED

3 Ignorance
 
I think a lot of the time the cults offer a sense of belonging. If someone has been lonely, dejected, unsuccessful, or frustrated in some other way, the welcoming nature of some cults can be very attractive.

No doubt there are other reasons as well - an inability to accept Christian doctrine, pride (“I can be my own god”), like minded people eg. rationalists - but I think the sense of being involved and welcomed is a large part of it.

And of course there’s exclusivity - we’ve got the Truth, and nobody else has. We’re the chosen elite, the elect, or whatever other term you might wish to employ.
 
adgloriam said:
Nine universal human needs and aspirations:

(1) the quest for belonging,

(2) the search for answers,

(3) the search for wholeness,

(4) the search for cultural identity,

(5) the need to be recognized,

(6) the search for transcendence,

(7) the need for spiritual guidance,

(8) the need for vision, and

(9) the need for participation and involvement.
Click to expand...
You could layer personality onto this, as defined by the “big 5 personality traits”. People with high orderliness, high withdrawal and high agreeableness are going to be more attracted to cults that offer certainty in their beliefs. That would give you a more nuanced view of why some people turn to scientology rather than Catholicism in their quest for belonging,
 
Sorry old chap, but I think you may be somewhat “off” on this one…I’ll give my simple view:

Two factors take precedence - and outweigh personality on this:
1º Human being searches for God, for divinity - by its human nature (first pages of CCC talk of this.)
2º Human being is a “social animal”, searches for others - regardless of personality for the most part.

Third possible factor, tied in weight with personality (perhaps still outweighing):
3º Cultural history and background. Those born and raised (and educated) in a faith have the necessary values acquired over time that would give them the cultural tools to criticize the “snake oil” most sects offer.

Look at the list again, searching for these 3 premises - You’ll find personality does layer in but at a less important level. The 3 premises outweigh personality and are more deeply tied into human nature itself than simply personality (since personality is also individual, and the first 2 premises traversal).
 
Last edited:
jas84173 said:
Some are serious in belief, some seem almost like parodies of some sort.
Click to expand...
All new religious movements are serious to the adherents. They sometimes may look silly to the uninitiated, but that doesn’t mean the faithful aren’t serious.
 
I think it’s human nature to be attracted to what seems new, dynamic and exciting rather than what seems old, stagnant and plodding.
 
adgloriam said:
Nine universal human needs and aspirations:
(1) the quest for belonging,
(2) the search for answers,
(3) the search for wholeness,
(4) the search for cultural identity,
(5) the need to be recognized,
(6) the search for transcendence,
(7) the need for spiritual guidance,
(8) the need for vision, and
(9) the need for participation and involvement.
Click to expand...
正在安全检测... The desire for economic prosperity. Catholicism does not offer that, but some other religions do-- after a fashion.
 
Ok so are you taking these quite literally then? What’s the evidence these are universal? China is a country of 1.3 billion people, i assure you that most people do not search for God and find the concept quite alien.
 
Last edited:
CCC 26-49

I would rather avoid, in a first moment, giving a direct answer to your counter example. Please take a few brief minutes to read the mentioned points in CCC 26-49 (I honestly think you will like it, and it may take some time to contemplate).

However, a first sketch to answering the counter example would be Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam in China - perhaps even the practice of traditional arts as a form of spirituality [narrowing the mentioned 1.3 billion]. You would have to factor in history -and the coercive prohibition religious liberty- with the Chinese government banning religion on a whole - and the catholic church in particular to this very day.

A witty counter-example to the counter-example would be asking if the Chinese didn’t like money during the more imposing days of the communist regime.
 
Last edited:
I imagine that loneliness plays a big part in joining new religious movements, and perhaps anger as well.
 
I think most people search it’s just people don’t always know what to search for or where to look
 
I think in western culture there are a lot of people who have that ‘something missing’ feeling and that all attempts in the world so far at finding that something has failed. They see many people they know who think they have found it in this or that established religion, but to them, unless said religious system has brought the world to the bliss they expect it to have, giving any one of them a serious try is futile. Futile because it hasn’t accomplished what they expect it to do so why even try. It’s just one of the many established failures that’s been around forever and still hasn’t changed the world … So they try new religious movements in the hope it will be the one that meets their lofty expectation. These kinds of people often fall hook line and sinker for recycled methods of spirituality that are experienced as a an ‘awakening’. They think their personal awakening and their new found community is the answer to the universe. So they go around with a sense that they are involved in a messianic movement that will change the world. For a while anyway… Unless they’re Tom Cruise.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top