Scholars adopted the term new religious movements (NRMs) in order to avoid the pejorative connotations of the popularly used term cult. Although the word cult originally referred to an organized system of worship (and is still used in that sense by...

FAMILY, THE. The religious movement that calls itself "the Family" (though it has also been called the Children of God since its inception) began in the 1960s as the ministry of a particular family and the related musical evangelism...

A new religious movement or NRM is a term used to refer to a religious faith, or an ethical, spiritual or philosophical movement of recent origin that is not part of an established denomination, church, or religious body. The term NRM comprises a wide...

John A. Saliba, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995 (orig.: Perspectives on New Religious Movements [London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1995]). Pp. 240. $18.00, paper. Saliba's book is a significant contribution to conversations about this too-frequently-contentious subject, and the author attributes...

In recent years the politics of new religious movements (NRMs) has raised the issue of the shifting relationship between state and religion. In Southeast Asia this relationship has never been ignored or downplayed because the political authoritarianism of many governments comprises an important factor...

They see dead people on Spook Hill. They're walking around the grounds, sitting in the dining hall and in the pews at the abandoned church. Kids, heard by visitors but usually only seen by those trained to see into the spirit world, play outside the...

Sociologists that study religious organisations say that there are essentially four different types of organisations. They can be broadly grouped into four main types: - churches, sects, denominations and cults. The focus here is going to be the Church and the Sect.