The year 2000 brought to light the fear and fiction surrounding Y2K and the numerical millennium, but the return of Christ had yet to take place. "As the millennium approaches, self-styled messiahs like David Koresh and Marshall Applewhite have flourished, teaching impending doom with doctrines cobbled from Christianity, millennialism and even science fiction," (Washington Post Staff 1997).
A new date of spiritual revolution has now been set, embraced by many members of New Age millennial movements: 2012. The year 2012 has been selected because of its connection with the Mayan calendar, which is embraced by many New Age individuals. However, the generic New Age brands of millennialism often lack the presence of a charismatic prophet. The New Age movement is therefore qualitatively different from that of other millennial movements that draw more heavily on the presence of a leader who serves as a guide into the imaginary millennium.
Some New Age movements do have charismatic prophets, though. Elisabeth Claire Prophet can be categorized as a New Age millennial spiritual leader because of her embrace of Eastern spiritual traditions. J.Z. Knight and the Ramtha School of Enlightenment movement represent another instance of New Age charlatanry coupled with millennialism. The channeling of spiritual entities was all the rage in the 1970s; Jane Roberts channeled an entity called Seth but never became the kind of charismatic millennial leader that Elisabeth Claire Prophet was.
The evangelical branch of the Southern Baptist sect of Christianity can be classified as a millennial group, because of its conformity to the four main points: the presence of a charismatic leader; the mythos of persecution; the use of fear as a means of social control; and the proposition that individuals are spiritually impure and must be cleansed of all sin in time for the New Age. In the case of Southern Baptists, Jesus remains the charismatic leader. Dead or alive, Jesus retains a stranglehold over the minds of otherwise intelligent human beings. Jesus has in fact proven himself to be an even more effective leader when dead, given that the tremendous success of Christianity happened...
Cults In 1982 Ingrid D. wrote home to her mother, "I have joined a wonderful group of spiritually minded people and am living in an ashram. If you send me clothing, it should be orange, red, or burgundy." She had become a follower of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, an teacher from India, who developed new forms of active meditation aimed at overcoming repression, lowering inhibitions, and attaining enlightenment. Although he preached that
Cult Films Both Rosemary's Baby and I Walked with a Zombie are movies that have explicit elements of what we might more commonly think of as "horror" films. On the other hand, however, both rely so heavily on atmospheric tension and are so laden with strange ambiguity and "arty" moments that they seem to transcend the genre. Given the large following behind both movies as well, they are often just as
Sect -- in sociology and anthropology, the term sect refers to a group that forms inside another group and takes on some individual characteristics that are based on, but not completely, like the parent or other group. In religion, for instance, denominations may be considered sects. Other academic definitions of the term tend to look at a socio-cultural definition, in that what is it that the group, the sect, is
Even if this were a philosophical correction to the varying degrees of utilitarianism we have seen in the 20th century, the simple fact is that Constitution has never defined the job of the President in the way it has been exemplified in modern times. Even Barry Goldwater, seen as a Hawk and a warmonger, commenting on this type of presidential job description: "This is nothing less than the totalitarian
Cults and Establishments Regina M. Schwartz presents a radical, stimulating view on the meaning of monotheism. Its influence, according to the author, extends far beyond theological import. Monotheism informs cultural consciousness and greatly influences group identities. As such, religious beliefs can promote certain types of psychological, sociological, and political realities. In The Curse of Cain, Schwartz specifically focuses on the nature of Biblical monotheism as it has been expressed in the
Cults Indeed, it is very difficult to think of two traditions that could be more radically different than those as embodied by the movement of the Nation of Islam in America and the tradition of Vodou as it is practiced in Haiti and as variants of it are practiced in other areas as well. Indeed, the origins could not be more different than they are, for one thing, as Vodou stems
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