UFO religions are new religious movements that treat extraterrestrial intelligence and contact with such intelligences with primacy within their systems of belief. Although it is common to refer to these religions as […]
The Raelian Movement is often labeled a “UFO cult” because of the primacy is places upon extraterrestrials. However, it is more accurately described as a UFO (atheistic) religion (new religious movement) that […]
Jediism, or Jediknightism, is a religion that has been inspired by the Star Wars franchise. According to sociologist Adam Possamai, Jediism is a subset of popular religion that has emerged in consumer […]
So-called “cults” have attracted considerable attention from the legal profession, scholars across several disciplines, and the mass media (1). This entry will briefly examine these so-called cults, which, as we shall see, […]
Satanism is a social and/or political expression as well as a religious articulation. It can include a literal or symbolic worship of Satan, the enemy of the Judeo-Christian God, and its beliefs […]
Hare Krishna, also known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), is a new religious movement that emerged in New York City in 1965 after an Indian spiritual teacher, A. C. […]
Contemporary Druidism, also referred to as Neo-Druidism, is a religious expression that claims ties to the ancient Druids of Indo-European origin (1). Many Neo-Druids live in the west where interest in the […]
Rastafarianism is a new religious movement with its origin in 1930s Jamaica (1). According to scholar of religion Sheila Kitzinger, Rastafarianism begun as “a politico-religious protest cult which rejects Jamaican citizenship, claims […]
Mormonism is a religion that traces itself back to its founder Joseph Smith. Smith was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont, and grew up near Palmyra, New York. When he […]
Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) founded the Jehovah Witnesses movement from a Bible study group he later became the pastor of. He held to several beliefs that deviated from orthodox Christianity on […]
