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In the United States of America there are many different types of religions to be found. In this essay we examine four different types of these religions: reactive movements, accomodationist movements, spiritual movements, and import religions. These four types of religions are not only found in America, but have followers all over the world, and enjoy their own various levels of popularity.
The first category that we look at are the “Reactive Movements”, or religious movements that are based on social or political stress. An example of this type of religion is the Ghost Dance movement that began in the American Indian culture during the 1880’s. This movement began in response to the displacement and removal of the American Indian from their lands, to being forced into reservations, and the resulting
substandard living conditions that came with life on the reservations.
A Paiute shaman, known as Wovoka claimed to have had a vision of the second coming of Christ, along with a warning about the evils that the white man was bringing. This new movement taught that the suffering of the Indians was brought upon themselves for their sins and that an apocalypse was coming. After the earth was recreated, the Indians would be the sole survivors, and the lands and the animals would be restored as the Indians had previously known before the arrival of the white man. Salvation for the Indian would only occur after they had cleansed themselves of the white man’s ways. Believers in this new faith were encouraged to meditate, pray, chant, to often ritually cleanse themselves, and participate in the “Ghost Dance”, something white observers had described as indecent and demoralizing. As the fear of an Indian rebellion occurred to the white man, the government stepped in to make this new movement illegal. (3 The second category, “Accommodationist Movements”, are new religions that come from traditions that already have a long established and developed to suit a new cultural context. An example of this type of movement is Christian Science. This religion was created by Mary Baker Eddy after she had experienced a cure to an ailment of hers while reading about the faith healing of Jesus in the Bible. She then researched the Bible more in depth to record her beliefs in what later became her book, “Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures”. Christian Scientists still place great importance upon the Bible and the resurrection of Jesus as Christians do. The important difference between Christian Science and regular Christianity, is Eddy’s belief that matter does not exist, that creation is perfect, that sin, sickness, and death do not exist unless we put belief into them. Therefore, Christian Scientists believe that they can overcome any illness by faith alone, usually refusing modern medical treatment, yet the Church still leaves it up to the individual to decide for themselves whether or not they should pursue modern medicine. Other significant features of Christian Science is that: God is referred to as “Father-Mother”, that the teachings of Christian Science are equivalent to the Holy Spirit, that the use of the word trinity implies polytheism and therefore rejects this usage, that salvation is the triumph over sin, sickness, and death, and that heaven and hell are states of mind.
The Christian Science Church does not have an ordained clergy, is administrated through a six member Board of Directors, read from both the Bible and Ms. Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and do not practice the sacraments of the Christian Church. (2).
In “Spirit Movements”, the third category that we examine, is the belief that the participants in its movement are able to connect to beings in the spiritual realm, for example, ghosts, ancestors, angels, spirits, etc.
An example of this kind of movement is Scientology. Scientology is system of practices and beliefs that started in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard (1). It was based upon a self help system that he named “Dianetics”. Dianetics was a psychological method that Mr. Hubbard created in what he hoped would disable the “reactive mind” and the negative influences this reactive mind has on us during our lifetimes.
According to L. Ron Hubbard, a person is composed of three components: the body, the mind, and what he refers to as the thetan.The body includes the organ of the brain, but the mind is a separate entity from the brain. For Hubbard, the purpose of the brain is like a switchboard of a communications system, designed only to carry messages within the body.
The mind itself "consists essentially of pictures" (1). To Hubbard, the mind is like a catalog and record of all of one’s life experiences and mental phenomena.
The thetan, or what Hubbard considered to be the soul, which Scientology says “is the true essence of a human being” (1). Hubbard created the term “thetan”, based on the Greek letter theta, from his belief that the word “soul” had been confused by having too many different interpretations.
According to Scientology, a thetan is “the person himself, not his body or hismname or the physical universe, his mind or anything else. It is that which is aware of being aware; the identity which IS the individual. One does not have a thetan, something one keeps somewhere apart from oneself; he is a thetan” (1).
The thetan exists independent of the both the body and the mind. According to Scientology, a thetan can exit the body yet still maintain control of the body by a process called exteriorization. Through this experience of exteriorization a person learns to not identify themself as their body. An individual who is able to successfully exteriorize himself is known as an Operating Thetan or OT.
In the doctrine of Scientology, “Xenu is a galactic ruler who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs” (1). The souls of these people then became clustered together and attached to the bodies of the people living at that time. These stories are referred to in the doctrine of Scientology as "Incident II" or "The Wall of Fire," and the terrific
memories attached to them are referred to as the "R6 implant." This Xenu story is symbolized by a volcano in the doctrine of Scientology. In 1967, L. Ron Hubbard told in this story, called Operating Thetan Level III, that R6 was “calculated to kill (by pneumonia etc) anyone who attempts to solve it" (1).
Much of the criticism of the Church of Scientology focuses on the story of Xenu. The Church of Scientology now avoids referring to Xenu in it’s public statements. The Church of Scientology now expends much effort to keep the story out of the public spotlight and pursues legal action against anyone who attempts to use the Xenu story publicly.
Critics of the Church of Scientology claim that this story, if true, is a matter of public interest and should be shared. Instead the practioner has to pay the church a great deal of money before one can attain the level of Operating Thetan Level III, as is the current practice.
The religion of Scientology does not contain any official doctrine about the afterlife. However, Scientology claims that during the practice of what they call “auditing”, or the church’s version of spiritual counseling, that “a person often recalls memories of past lives and that Scientology ascribes to the idea of being born again into another body” (1).
The fourth type of religion are “Import religions are those that demonstrate the transcultural nature of many new religious movements as they are new to one country but are established religions elsewhere” (pg. 430). An example of this type of religion is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON. It was started in 1965 by “His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada”, upon his arrival to America. Prabhupada was 70 years old when he arrived to America, and after moving to San Francisco he gained a popular following, especially after the Beatle George Harrison became interested in this movement.
The Hare Krishna’s, as they are more popularly known, have their beliefs rooted in the Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad-Gita, along with the teachings of Prabhubpada himself. They believe that we live in the “age of Kali”, an age of evil, and the only means to salvation is by finding “Krishna-consciousness”. The way to this consciousness is through moral life and the chant of “Hare Krishna”. The ISKCON movement believes in devoting oneself to Krishna who is a manifestation of Vishnu, the supreme God in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Even though Krishna is one of many gods in the Hindu pantheon, Hare Krishna’s consider themselves monotheistic.
There are two types of Hare Krishna’s, the congregational members, or laypeople, and the temple based, or full members. The “congregational members” try to attain Krishna consciousness while living normal lives. The temple based members reside in temples and are expected to live the live of an ascetic by not eating meat, not gambling, and abstaining from both intoxicants and sex except for procreation.
The Hare Krishna’s are most famous for their chant which they are expected to chant daily, for sixteen rounds of a rosary consisting of 108 beads, or 1,728 times a day.
The typical dress of the Hare Krishna follower is white or saffron robes for the male, and a sari for the female which can be any color. (4).
We see in the above examples only a few of the various flavors of religions to be found in the United States. There are many varieties and type of religions for the typical American to explore to see what suits them best. In America today, there are so many choices of religions to follow, that there is probably a perfect religion for everyone to find.
Works Cited:
Ellwood, Robert S., McGraw, Barbara A. Many Peoples, Many Faiths Pearson Education, 2009
(1). http://www.religionfacts.com/scientology/index.htm
(2) http://www.religionfacts.com/a-z-religion-index/christian_science.htm
(3) http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/woundedknee/WKghost.html
(4) http://www.religionfacts.com/a-z-religion-index/hare-krishna-iskcon.htm
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