1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain stuff, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,880 Speaker 1: Lauren vocal bomb here if, as Karl Mark suggested, religion 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: is the opium of the people. We live on a 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: planet where nobody needs to walk too far down the 5 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: street to get drugs. Each year, hundreds of new religious 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: movements are born. They're all over the place if you 7 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,080 Speaker 1: know where to look. Never mind that only a tiny 8 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: fraction of them will survive. There's more where they came from. 9 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: So who starts new religions and why Starting a new 10 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: religion is actually a lot like rolling out a new 11 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: social media app. Hundreds of these things appear out of 12 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: thin air every year, created by go getters with some 13 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: entrepreneurial spirit, egoism, creativity, ambition, and flair for presenting an idea. 14 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: But dumb luck and good timing play a part two. 15 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: Sometimes an idea comes along that speaks to people's needs 16 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: and concerns at a particular moment in history. When this happens, 17 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: some buzzes generated, people get curious, and maybe, just maybe, 18 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: the whole thing blows up and we end up with 19 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: snapchat or scientology. Religious scholars avoid the word cult when 20 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: describing new religious movements because the term is so Latin 21 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: with value judgments, but every new religious sect or spiritual 22 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: movement essentially begins the same way as a cult. We 23 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: spoke with Reza Aslan, a religious scholar and author of 24 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: best selling books about the beginnings of both Islam and Christianity. 25 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,759 Speaker 1: They said, the big joke in religion is that cult 26 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: plus time equals religion. Christianity was a cult for hundreds 27 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: of years before it became the official religion of the 28 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:36,759 Speaker 1: Roman Empire. To this day, there are Americans who call 29 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 1: Mormonism occult in spite of the fact that it's one 30 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: of the most thriving religions in the world. The truth is, 31 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: at some point, most of the world's great religions were 32 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: what most people would call cults, started by upstarts like 33 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: Jesus or Muhammad or Buddha. We also spoke with Lauren Dawson, 34 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the 35 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: University of Waterloo and author of Comprehending Cults, The Sociology 36 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: of New Aigious Movements. Dawson pointed out that while many 37 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: of these motivational leaders have the drive to start a 38 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: new spiritual group, precious few have the wherewithal to manage 39 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: it through the awkward early stages without mismanaging finances, alienating 40 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: their followers, or otherwise letting their egos get the better 41 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: of them. Dawson said cults have a bad reputation because 42 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: corruption is pretty common within these groups, but in many cases, 43 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: these charismatic leaders are really trying to help people. Research 44 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: shows in many of these new religious movements, people adherents 45 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: are successfully overcoming drug or alcohol addiction, family problems, et cetera, 46 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 1: because the religions really do provide new, stabilizing influences in 47 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: their lives. There are so so many religions out there. 48 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: There are hundreds of offshoots of Tibetan Buddhism, different forms 49 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,519 Speaker 1: of Mormonism, Ufo religions, and countless reconceived notions of every 50 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,639 Speaker 1: form of Christianity that you can think of. One Christian 51 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: sect might follow a preacher who believes in the polygamous marriage, 52 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: while another might have very specific rules on to baptize somebody. 53 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: You name it, it's available. According to Dawson, reliable estimates 54 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: put the number of officially recognized religions currently operating in 55 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 1: the United States around two thousand, five hundred the US 56 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: is a very religious society compared to Europe or Canada, 57 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: which each currently has only a few dozen new religions. 58 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: Africa also seems to be a hotbed of new religiosity. 59 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 1: Dawson said Africa was the last place to be penetrated 60 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: by European religion, and primarily by Islam and Christianity. There 61 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: have been loads of conversions away from native practice just 62 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: in the past one hundred years. As so often happens, 63 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: when people convert, they usually combine their beliefs with some 64 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: elements of Catholicism. In the case of Africa, this has 65 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: been in the midst of economic upheaval, new diseases, and 66 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: a lot of disruption. It's ripe for new profits to 67 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: show up and say I've got the new truth. We're 68 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: all going to be okay. This is not to say 69 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: these new religions are okay with the establishment, though. One 70 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: back to the land spiritual movement on the island of 71 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: Borneo called Mila Abraham was in the news in seventeen 72 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: because its leader was jailed for blasphemy in Indonesia for 73 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: claiming to be the actual son of God. The movement 74 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: has over fifty thousand followers, and the Indonesian government is 75 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: not happy about it. The country recognizes six different religions, 76 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: and Mila Abraham is not one of them. If a 77 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: new spiritual movement makes it out of the awkward beginning stages, 78 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: if enough people are committed to giving their time and 79 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: money to the cause, it needs to develop institutionalized control. 80 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: A rigid hierarchy, and clear cut guidelines about the difference 81 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: between correct and incorrect beliefs tend to attract true believers 82 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: and keep out the freeloaders of people who take advantage 83 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: of the essential do gooderishness of a religion without being 84 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: invested in helping it succeed. The Church of Scientology is 85 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: a good example of a new, very successful religion that 86 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: did a great job in its mid twentieth century beginnings 87 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: of laying down some clear cut guidelines for the levels 88 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: of commitment expected of its believers. In return, Scientology promised 89 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: a new powerful identity, a better type of salvation than 90 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: anyone else was offering, as well as prosperity and luck. 91 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: But as the religion has grown, something new and one 92 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: percent expected happened. The followers of Scientology have begun to 93 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: want to define the religion for themselves. Aslan said, for 94 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: the first time, scientology is having to confront sex scientologists 95 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: breaking off from the Church, but not the religion. They're 96 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: seizing for themselves, the power to define scientology for themselves. 97 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: The Church says they aren't allowed to do this, but 98 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: that's the same argument every religious institution makes. That's what 99 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: the Vatican said when Luther nailed his theses to the 100 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 1: church door. Only we can define what isn't isn't Christian 101 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: and we know who on that argument. So all those 102 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: stricter religions are generally more successful. The five largest world religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, 103 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 1: and Hinduism all have one thing in common. They've made 104 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: themselves strong enough to survive continual dissension over atodoxy and 105 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 1: evolve with the changing needs of their communities. Oslan gave 106 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: this for an example. In the US, both slave owners 107 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 1: and abolitionists used not only the same Bible to justify 108 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: their argument, they used the exact same verses. When that's 109 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: the kind of scripture that you have, you know it's 110 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: going to last. Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields 111 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler clang. 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