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GRADUATING FROM CULT TO RELIGION
Surviving and growing
Training Handout
Every religion begins as a cult but not all cults grow into religions
A religion is a social organisation, and the sociology of religion is about social organisation, not about the
beliefs
or rituals of its members, except in so much as they illustrate social
variables, or have functional and causal relationships.
A cult is small, and has both beliefs
and practises which are seen as deviant by the wider society. To
survive, therefore, it must have a social organisation designed with that
fact in mind. Leadership is usually based upon charisma, and it is
the power of that charisma which holds it together in the face of mainstream
hostility. What we ask is how it graduates to a
religion.
It must change its social organisation to accommodate changes from cult
to religion. As a religion, it will not be seen so much as a deviation
but as a mainstream organisation. Charisma is not based upon
smooth and peaceful succession. Leadership must then be recruited rationally
or bureaucratically through rules of succession rather than by the charisma
of individuals.
Increasing membership is a characteristic
of the graduation, but that by itself does not necessarily indicate changes
in social organisation. The beliefs and practices tend to be very
strict and rigidly dogmatic for it to survive as a cult but, to increase
its membership, the beliefs and practices must become more flexible and
tolerant. Membership requirements must loosen up. New charismatic
leaders will just produce new cults, not help a cult to graduate
to a religion.
Social organisation tends to be more
gemeinschaft
(viz. Tönnies) when it is a cult, and the personalities of the leaders
are very important, but as it grows to a religion, there must be more reliance
on organizational rules and regulations, more gesellschaft in its
social organisation. Solidarity (viz.
Durkheim)
of the organisation can be mechanical when it is a cult, but must convert
to organic solidarity when it graduates.
In religions, some leaders may be
very popular, but popularity is not the same as charisma. The Dali
Lama, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are or were
all very popular, but their popularity does not define and structure their
religions, as a charismatic leader defines a cult.
It is important to define how those
social characteristics helped it to graduate. Christianity was a
cult for several centuries after the time of
Joshua
(Jesus) if there even was such a historical person. Paul on the road
to Damascus was a charismatic leader. The Christians in the catacombs
of Rome were cult members. The political leader of the Roman Empire
helped Christianity to graduate, by the mere fact that he was so powerful
in the wider society. Sitharta was charismatic, and originated the
cult, but for the religion to survive, it had to develop mechanisms of
succession of leadership.
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