Religious social movement
A social movement is used to change something about the society. Various religious organizations have pioneered religious movements with a motive of promoting their values and ideas across the community. Religion has over the years been a source of motivation for people and organizations which promote social change. Religious movements help alter the society through influencing legislation, persuading politicians or mobilizing another social group to action against a societal injustice.
A religious social movement should have a coordinated action plan to ensure its continuity over time. Secondly, it should have a culture and a set of ideologies that define its principles. Lastly, it should be able to integrate successfully with the social environment. The first two characteristics help in motivating and mobilizing various members to support the movement while the last feature enables interaction between the movement and the society as a whole. These three points are essential to the success of the campaign.
Faith is used as a motivating factor for religious, social movement (Williams, 2004). Through faith, several activist gets the courage to do several activities that may result in breaking the law which may lead to a jail sentence. These activists believe that breaking the human law is justified if it seeks to protect the higher laws. Religious beliefs and ideas often indicate aspects in the world that are unjust and immoral hence activists use it to propel people towards a given objective. Use of biblical stories is often an important characteristic of religious activists as this help convince the population to keep moving on, in their fight against a given societal injustice.
Rituals in the form of rallies or membership meetings promote solidarity and emotional connection in religious movement organizations. It is evident that religious beliefs, symbols, stories and rituals play a significant role in promoting change and justifying a given religious movement goal. A religious congregation is a target location for various social activists as they use this platform to promote their ideologies and justify their call for the change.
Reference
Williams, R. H. (2004). The cultural contexts in collective action, Constraints, opportunities, and the typical life of social movements. The Blackwell companion to social movements, 91-115.
