WEBVTT - How Do New Religions Take Root?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vocal bomb here if, as Karl Mark suggested, religion

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<v Speaker 1>is the opium of the people. We live on a

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<v Speaker 1>planet where nobody needs to walk too far down the

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<v Speaker 1>street to get drugs. Each year, hundreds of new religious

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<v Speaker 1>movements are born. They're all over the place if you

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<v Speaker 1>know where to look. Never mind that only a tiny

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<v Speaker 1>fraction of them will survive. There's more where they came from.

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<v Speaker 1>So who starts new religions and why Starting a new

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<v Speaker 1>religion is actually a lot like rolling out a new

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<v Speaker 1>social media app. Hundreds of these things appear out of

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<v Speaker 1>thin air every year, created by go getters with some

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<v Speaker 1>entrepreneurial spirit, egoism, creativity, ambition, and flair for presenting an idea.

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<v Speaker 1>But dumb luck and good timing play a part two.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes an idea comes along that speaks to people's needs

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<v Speaker 1>and concerns at a particular moment in history. When this happens,

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<v Speaker 1>some buzzes generated, people get curious, and maybe, just maybe,

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<v Speaker 1>the whole thing blows up and we end up with

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<v Speaker 1>snapchat or scientology. Religious scholars avoid the word cult when

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<v Speaker 1>describing new religious movements because the term is so Latin

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<v Speaker 1>with value judgments, but every new religious sect or spiritual

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<v Speaker 1>movement essentially begins the same way as a cult. We

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<v Speaker 1>spoke with Reza Aslan, a religious scholar and author of

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<v Speaker 1>best selling books about the beginnings of both Islam and Christianity.

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<v Speaker 1>They said, the big joke in religion is that cult

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<v Speaker 1>plus time equals religion. Christianity was a cult for hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>of years before it became the official religion of the

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<v Speaker 1>Roman Empire. To this day, there are Americans who call

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<v Speaker 1>Mormonism occult in spite of the fact that it's one

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<v Speaker 1>of the most thriving religions in the world. The truth is,

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<v Speaker 1>at some point, most of the world's great religions were

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<v Speaker 1>what most people would call cults, started by upstarts like

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<v Speaker 1>Jesus or Muhammad or Buddha. We also spoke with Lauren Dawson,

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<v Speaker 1>a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the

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<v Speaker 1>University of Waterloo and author of Comprehending Cults, The Sociology

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<v Speaker 1>of New Aigious Movements. Dawson pointed out that while many

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<v Speaker 1>of these motivational leaders have the drive to start a

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<v Speaker 1>new spiritual group, precious few have the wherewithal to manage

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<v Speaker 1>it through the awkward early stages without mismanaging finances, alienating

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<v Speaker 1>their followers, or otherwise letting their egos get the better

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<v Speaker 1>of them. Dawson said cults have a bad reputation because

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<v Speaker 1>corruption is pretty common within these groups, but in many cases,

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<v Speaker 1>these charismatic leaders are really trying to help people. Research

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<v Speaker 1>shows in many of these new religious movements, people adherents

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<v Speaker 1>are successfully overcoming drug or alcohol addiction, family problems, et cetera,

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<v Speaker 1>because the religions really do provide new, stabilizing influences in

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<v Speaker 1>their lives. There are so so many religions out there.

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<v Speaker 1>There are hundreds of offshoots of Tibetan Buddhism, different forms

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<v Speaker 1>of Mormonism, Ufo religions, and countless reconceived notions of every

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<v Speaker 1>form of Christianity that you can think of. One Christian

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<v Speaker 1>sect might follow a preacher who believes in the polygamous marriage,

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<v Speaker 1>while another might have very specific rules on to baptize somebody.

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<v Speaker 1>You name it, it's available. According to Dawson, reliable estimates

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<v Speaker 1>put the number of officially recognized religions currently operating in

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<v Speaker 1>the United States around two thousand, five hundred the US

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<v Speaker 1>is a very religious society compared to Europe or Canada,

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<v Speaker 1>which each currently has only a few dozen new religions.

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<v Speaker 1>Africa also seems to be a hotbed of new religiosity.

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<v Speaker 1>Dawson said Africa was the last place to be penetrated

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<v Speaker 1>by European religion, and primarily by Islam and Christianity. There

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<v Speaker 1>have been loads of conversions away from native practice just

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<v Speaker 1>in the past one hundred years. As so often happens,

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<v Speaker 1>when people convert, they usually combine their beliefs with some

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<v Speaker 1>elements of Catholicism. In the case of Africa, this has

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<v Speaker 1>been in the midst of economic upheaval, new diseases, and

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of disruption. It's ripe for new profits to

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<v Speaker 1>show up and say I've got the new truth. We're

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<v Speaker 1>all going to be okay. This is not to say

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<v Speaker 1>these new religions are okay with the establishment, though. One

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<v Speaker 1>back to the land spiritual movement on the island of

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<v Speaker 1>Borneo called Mila Abraham was in the news in seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>because its leader was jailed for blasphemy in Indonesia for

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<v Speaker 1>claiming to be the actual son of God. The movement

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<v Speaker 1>has over fifty thousand followers, and the Indonesian government is

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<v Speaker 1>not happy about it. The country recognizes six different religions,

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<v Speaker 1>and Mila Abraham is not one of them. If a

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<v Speaker 1>new spiritual movement makes it out of the awkward beginning stages,

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<v Speaker 1>if enough people are committed to giving their time and

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<v Speaker 1>money to the cause, it needs to develop institutionalized control.

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<v Speaker 1>A rigid hierarchy, and clear cut guidelines about the difference

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<v Speaker 1>between correct and incorrect beliefs tend to attract true believers

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<v Speaker 1>and keep out the freeloaders of people who take advantage

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<v Speaker 1>of the essential do gooderishness of a religion without being

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<v Speaker 1>invested in helping it succeed. The Church of Scientology is

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<v Speaker 1>a good example of a new, very successful religion that

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<v Speaker 1>did a great job in its mid twentieth century beginnings

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<v Speaker 1>of laying down some clear cut guidelines for the levels

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<v Speaker 1>of commitment expected of its believers. In return, Scientology promised

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<v Speaker 1>a new powerful identity, a better type of salvation than

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<v Speaker 1>anyone else was offering, as well as prosperity and luck.

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<v Speaker 1>But as the religion has grown, something new and one

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<v Speaker 1>percent expected happened. The followers of Scientology have begun to

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<v Speaker 1>want to define the religion for themselves. Aslan said, for

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<v Speaker 1>the first time, scientology is having to confront sex scientologists

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<v Speaker 1>breaking off from the Church, but not the religion. They're

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<v Speaker 1>seizing for themselves, the power to define scientology for themselves.

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<v Speaker 1>The Church says they aren't allowed to do this, but

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<v Speaker 1>that's the same argument every religious institution makes. That's what

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<v Speaker 1>the Vatican said when Luther nailed his theses to the

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<v Speaker 1>church door. Only we can define what isn't isn't Christian

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<v Speaker 1>and we know who on that argument. So all those

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<v Speaker 1>stricter religions are generally more successful. The five largest world religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism,

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<v Speaker 1>and Hinduism all have one thing in common. They've made

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<v Speaker 1>themselves strong enough to survive continual dissension over atodoxy and

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<v Speaker 1>evolve with the changing needs of their communities. Oslan gave

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<v Speaker 1>this for an example. In the US, both slave owners

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<v Speaker 1>and abolitionists used not only the same Bible to justify

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<v Speaker 1>their argument, they used the exact same verses. When that's

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<v Speaker 1>the kind of scripture that you have, you know it's

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<v Speaker 1>going to last. Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler clang. Visit our online story te

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