Introduction
The following is a compare and contrast paper about different religion's primary organization and leadership styles. The paper discusses the similarities and differences among the church, sects, and cult- religious organizations. The church, sects, and cults are all religious and spiritual groups with different ways of leadership, membership and beliefs, making them immensely distinct societies.
Background of the Church
The church is a term coined from ecclesia, and it denotes the society that originated from the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament writers (Stark 117). The church has been and is a divine society that consists of a group of living men (not a mystical union of souls). In essence, the church consists of certain rules, executive leaders and ceremonial occasions just like other societies, but, it differs from other societies in that it is a supernatural society. A church consists of denominations such as the Catholic Church or the protestant churches. Examples of churches are the Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist churches.
Background of a sect
Sects refer to groups of people who protest away from various church- denominations to form new religious groups. In most cases, sect members believe that the parent denomination has moved away from the true religion, and they strive to move away from that denomination while keeping some of its beliefs in a refurbished manner. Sect members are usually made to believe that they are right in their beliefs and that those who do not believe in their doctrines are wrong. The earliest occurrences of cults can be traced back to the times of Torah in the Bible, whereby the Israelites formed a sect by praying through a sculptured calf as authorized by Aaron. Over the years, more and more cults have been formed. Example of a sect is a Roman Catholic church is called Santo Daime, whereby the members deviated from the Roman Catholic Church because they believed that self knowledge would only be achieved in a spiritual world (the members use a hallucinogen called ayahuasca to take them to the spiritual world (Sects And Drugs 49).
Background of a cult
A cult refers to a group of people who practice religious practices that can be said to be weird, abnormal and bizarre. Cults gained popularity back in the 17th century, and by 1930s, they had already gained so much interest among religious and sociological studies. For instance, anticult movements started in 1970s after cult members (from Family and People’s Temple) started to commit bizarre crimes in the name of religion and worship. Cults continue to emerge all over the world, and they seem to get so much impact on society. An example of a cult is the Mormon cult that was started in the year 1820 by Prophet Joseph Smith. The Mormons usually deny the deity of Jesus Christ as the truth, and they do not recognize Him as the Son of God (Worthy 34).
There are several similarities that can be seen in the church, sects and cults, since they are all religious groups. The members of the three groups believe in the spiritual aspects of the human nature or humanity (Bader 300). The church and sects have spiritual beliefs that they derive from the Bible such as prayers and issues of life after death. Also, cults do have a spiritual aspect of prayer just like the church and sects.
Sects and cults do have some similarities in their organization and diversity. Sects and cults are always newly created. For example, sects usually arise from parent denominations that have been in existence for long. The sect members usually branch from those known denominations and form new ones, while keeping some of the parent teachings and dropping others. Also, cults are usually newly formed since they did not exist in the early years.
Another similarity between cults and sects is that they both have few followers who are very committed to their beliefs. These members are usually attached to the teachings of their leaders, and it is usually extremely hard to convince the members otherwise. Sect members are usually few because they usually branch from a bigger denomination, and in most cases there is usually a small number of people who are able to defy from a denomination, citing religious developments in their church. Also, cult members are few and are fanatically committed to their beliefs. This makes them vulnerable to committing crimes and dangerous practices according to what they believe (Stark 117).
The leaders of sects and cults usually are authoritarian and supremely charismatic in nature. In sects and cults, there is always one leader who is exceptionally outstanding, possessing immense charisma and exceptional speaking skills such that he exerts influence among the members. One of such leaders is Shoko Asahara who led a cult known as Aum Shinirikyo, and he managed to attract members even in Russia. The people of Russia who had experienced wars and conflicts looked up to Asahara for spiritual nourishment in a bid to run away from their problems.
Another similarity between sects and cults is that in both cases, there exists a certain level of tension with the society. In the case of sects, the tension is derived from the fact that they usually deviate from those people who they feel are not following the original religious beliefs. Therefore, they feel strongly that those other people are wrong and thus, the tension persists. Members of the sects have extreme levels of tension with the surrounding society because they share little with them, and they feel that those people are wrong in their beliefs.
Differences
The first difference among the three groups is that they offer different types of authorities. The church has other sources of authority other than the highest leader of the church. The leaders do not coerce people to join the group; rather, they provide information about the church and allow the member to make a decision on whether to join or not (Stark 120). These highest authority forces are such as the Bible, the Law and other information derived from various sectors. Sects usually have authorities from the Bible, but they also observe the leadership of their leader more than the church. They conform to the original teachings of the parent denomination, meaning that they have higher authorities to emulate. The extremists when it comes to authority are the cults, where members believe that the leader has the sole authority. Cult leaders usually deceive their members intentionally about issues concerned with the group, whereby they deliberately make new members sign a contract to remain in that group forever.
Also, the differences between churches, cults and sects can be seen in the way the members take up some beliefs. A church allows members to have freedoms about issues to do with politics, marriage, family and mass media. Sects may have restricted freedoms amongst the members such that the members cannot be allowed to watch or read some materials that are thought to be secular, or the members may not marry a spouse outside the group. These restrictions are worse in cults where the members have limits to the type of information that they may access. The people that they used to relate with may be termed as sinners and evil- doers whom they should not associate with (Bader 289).
Also, differences can be seen in the manner in which the members and leaders develop financially, emotionally or otherwise. In churches, the members are encouraged to possess education and training in order to make them better nation builders. Churches, for example, Catholic churches, are known to sponsor schools and students alike. For example, there are many Catholic, Presbyterian and other church-schools all over the world. Some sects do not allow people to attain high levels of education in a bid to discourage them from ‘earthly possessions’. Cults do not participate in building better citizens in the society through education and training.
The church, sects, and cults differ in the way instruction is delivered to the members of the group. In a church, the instruction is offered in terms of a message, and the leader does not dictate whether the member has to take up what is said or not. The church encourages the use of reason or rational thinking among the members (Bader 292). Members are told to choose good or evil as a way of respecting peoples’ free will. In sects, there is usually an emphasis on what the members should do, and there is usually an element of brainwashing among the members. The cults are worse since the instructions are delivered through brainwashing techniques and thought reforms whereby the members are made to change their way of thinking and perception. This results in bizarre activities such as eating weird stuff or refusing to access healthcare.
Conclusion
The above paper has explained that church, sects and cults are all religious and spiritual groups with different ways of leadership, membership and beliefs, making them distinct societies. The paper has shown that though the three groups share a similarity of being spiritual groups, there are more similarities between sects and the cults. However, several differences can be noted in the way the leaders of the churches exercise authority, how members get the freedom to exercise various activities and the depth of the beliefs of the members and the leader.
Work Cited
Worthy, Jack B. The Mormon Cult : A Former Missionary Reveals The Secrets Of Mormon Mind Control. See Sharp Press, 2008. eBook Academic Collection Trial. Web. 25 May 2012.
Stark, Rodney, and William Sims Bainbridge. "Of Churches, Sects, And Cults: Preliminary Concepts For A Theory Of Religious Movements." Journal For The Scientific Study Of Religion 18.2 (1979): 117-131. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 May 2012.
"Sects And Drugs." New Statesman 135.4814 (2006): 48-49. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 25 May 2012.
Bader, Chris, and Alfred Demaris. "A Test Of The Stark-Bainbridge Theory Of Affiliation With Religious Cults And Sects." Journal For The Scientific Study Of Religion 35.3 (1996): 285-303. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 May 2012.
