Pseudoreligion

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Pseudoreligion (or pseudotheology) is a generally pejorative term applied to a non-mainstream belief system or philosophy which is functionally similar to religious practices, typically having a founder, principal text, liturgy and faith-based beliefs.[1] [2]

Belief systems such as Theosophy[3], corporate Kabbalism[4] and the Nation of Islam[5] have all been referred to as pseudoreligions, as have humanism and various New Age religions, as well as political ideologies such as Nazism[6], Marxist Communism[7]. Within the academic debate, ideologies that resemble religion are sometimes referred to as political religions.

While the more serious-minded participants in these groups may prefer to consider themselves part of a proper religion, or not part of a religion at all, the mainstream ascribes to them fringe status. Such groups as the Raëlian Church, Heaven's Gate, or Scientology, when seen as dangerous, exploitive, secretive, or closed, have been classified as pseudoreligious cults.

Others may begin as splinters or hold-overs from traditional religions based in Apocryphal or Pseudepigraphical writings not accepted within the originating religion. Examples of this include the various sects of Gnosticism.

Satirical or parody religions, such as Discordianism, Church of the SubGenius, or the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, have been viewed as pseudoreligions, particularly when members claim that their group is as real and/or as valid as other more widely accepted belief systems.

Professor James Carmine, chair of Carlow University's philosophy department, proposes a three-pronged test to distinguish "authentic" religions from pseudoreligions:

  1. Any religion lacking a guiding coherent theology is a pseudo-religion.
  2. Any religion entirely self referential is a pseudo-religion.
  3. Any religion whose only fruit is adherence to itself is a pseudo-religion.[8]

Applying this test, Carmine describes "third-wave feminism" and political correctness as "bad religions."

Other scholars of religion, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, are not inclined to view religious practices in terms of authenticity.[9] Examples of marginal movements with founding figures, liturgies and recently invented traditions that have been studied as legitimate social practices include various New Age movements[10], and millennaristic movements such as the Ghost Dance and south Pacific cargo cults.[11]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Biever, Bruce (1976). Religion, Culture and Values: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Motivational Factors in Native Irish and American Irish Catholicism. Arno Press, a New York Times Company, 165. 0405093195. 
  2. ^ Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (1993). The Need for a Sacred Science. SUNY Press, 61. 0791415171. 
  3. ^ Guenon, Rene (1921). Theosophy, a History of a Pseudo-Religion. 0900588799. 
  4. ^ Wenig, Gaby. "Q & A With Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz", The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 2003-11-07. "Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: There is no spirit in it, no message in it. This is part of a general term toward the esoteric that seems to be a' la mode for the time being, but it is not important on any real level. At best, it is shallow and unimportant. At worst, it may become slightly dangerous for Judaism and for the people who get involved in it. To get involved in any kind of pseudo-science or pseudo-religion is always slightly dangerous for the religion." 
  5. ^ McCloud, Sean (2004-03-01). "Monitoring the Marginal Masses", Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 1955-1993. UNC Press. 0807854964. “William Buckley's more conservative National Review dubbed the group a "pseudo-religion." Writing in Ebony, Hans J. Massaquoi concurred, calling the Nation of Islam a "quasi-religion."” 
  6. ^ Grunberger, Richard (1995). The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany 1933-1945. Da Capo Press, 72-75. 0306806606. 
  7. ^ "Revolutionary War, Guerillas and Communist Ideology", Army and CIA Training Manual, 1989, pp. 128. "Communism is "a kind of pseudo-religion, given that it has a founder, a mythology, a sacred book, a clergy, a place of pilgrimage and an inquisition. The founder is Marx; the mythology is communist theory; the sacred book is Das Kapital; the clergy are members of the Communist Party; the place of pilgrimage is Moscow; and the inquisition [by] the state (KGB) and others." 
  8. ^ Carmine, James (14 December 2005). Bad Religions and Good Religions. IntellectualConservative.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
  9. ^ Bowie, Fiona (2005). The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing Professional. 
  10. ^ MacDonald, Jeffery L. (December 1995). "Inventing Traditions for the New Age: A Case Study of the Earth Energy Tradition". Anthropology of Consciousness 6 (4): 31-45. doi:10.1525. 
  11. ^ Errington, Frederick (May 1974). "Indigenous Ideas of Order, Time, and Transition in a New Guinea Cargo Movement". American Ethnologist 1 (2): 255-267. doi:10.1525. 

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