Element contents
New Religious Movements and Science
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2023
Summary
This Element shows how New Religious Movements variously conceptualize science and provides readers with an overview of the scholarly conversation surrounding this phenomenon. The first section describes five movements that, in different ways, include relevant references to science in their doctrines: Dianetics/Scientology, the Raëlian Movement, Falun Gong, Stella Azzurra (an Italian Santo Daime group), and Bambini di Satana (an Italian Satanist group). The conceptualization of science within such movements is examined in reference to official beliefs conveyed by the writings and claims of their respective leaders, but ethnographic work among affiliates is included as well. The second section reconstructs academic contributions by scholars who identify notable trends in the conceptualization of science within new religious movements, or have developed typologies to describe that very understanding. The third section concludes the discussion of new religious movements and science by offering suggestions regarding novel directions that the study of their relationship may take.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009104203Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 18 May 2023
References
Ackerman, S. E. (2005). “Falun Dafa and the New Age Movement in Malaysia: Signs of Health, Symbols of Salvation.” Social Compass, 52(4): 495–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bainbridge, W. S. (1993). “New Religions, Science and Secularization.” Religion and the Social Order, 3A: 277–92.Google Scholar
Barbour, I. G. (2000). When Science Meets Religion. Enemies, Strangers, or Partners? San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco.Google Scholar
Barker, E. (2004). “Perspective: What Are We Studying? A Sociological Case for Keeping the ‘Nova’.” Nova Religio, 8(1): 88–102.Google Scholar
Barnard, G. W. (2014). “Entheogens in a Religious Context: The Case of the Santo Daime Religious Tradition.” Zygon, 49(3): 666–84.Google Scholar
Battaglia, D. (2007). “Where Do We Find Our Monsters?” In Edwards, J., Harvey, P. and Wade, P., eds., Anthropology and Science: Epistemologies in Practice. London: Routledge, pp. 153–69.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2014). “What We Talk about When We Talk about iʿjāz.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, 4(1): 38–45. https://social-epistemology.com/2014/12/15/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-i%CA%BFjaz-stefano-bigliardi/.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2015a). “New Religious Movements and Science: Raël’s Progressive Patronizing Parasitism.” Zygon, 50(1): 64–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2015b). “Il fascino sfacciato del Raelismo. Conversazione con l’ex raeliano Jiro Kambe.” Query, 21: 27–32. www.cicap.org/n/articolo.php?id=276127.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2015c). “What Would Ron Choose from the Islamic Basket? Notes on Scientology’s Construction of Islam.” Temenos, 51(1): 95–121.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2016). “New Religious Movements, Technology, and Science: The Conceptualization of the E-Meter in Scientology Teachings.” Zygon, 51(3): 661–83.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2017). “Earth as Battlefield and Mission: Knowledge, Technology and Power in L. R. Hubbard’s Late Novels.” In Raine, S. & Kent, S., eds., Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, pp. 53–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2018). “Santo Daime Narratives in Italy: Walter Menozzi, Stella Azzurra, and the Conceptualization of Ayahuasca and Science.” Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 9: 190–219.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2019). “‘You Don’t Want to Have That Kind of Thought in Your Mind’: Li Hongzhi, Aliens, and Science.” In Lewis, J. & Chao, H., eds., Enlightened Martyrdom: The Hidden Side of Falun Gong. Sheffield: Equinox, pp. 162–96.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2020). “Stella Azzurra.” World Religions and Spirituality Project. https://wrldrels.org/2020/06/25/stella-azzurra/.Google Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2021). “Children of Satan (Bambini di Satana).” World Religions and Spirituality Project. https://wrldrels.org/2021/10/28/children-of-satan-bambini-di-satana-2/.Google Scholar
Blainey, M. G. (2021). Christ Returns from the Jungle: Ayahuasca Religion as Mystical Healing. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Boynton, P. (2013). “Challenging Clitoraid.” In Jolly, S., Cornwall, A. & Hawkins, K., eds., Women, Sexuality and the Political Power of Pleasure. London: Zed Books, pp. 229–50.Google Scholar
Bromley, D. G. (2004). “Perspective: Wither New Religions Studies? Defining and Shaping a New Area of Study.” Nova Religio, 8(2): 83–97.Google Scholar
Burt, A. (2023). Hare Krishna in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CESNUR. (2021). “I Bambini di Satana.” In Introvigne, M. & Zoccatelli, P. L., eds., Le religioni in Italia. https://cesnur.com/il-satanismo/i-bambini-di-satana/.Google Scholar
Chen, N. N. (2003). Breathing Spaces: Qigong, Psychiatry, and Healing in China. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Christensen, D. R. (2009). “Sources for the Study of Scientology: Presentations and Reflections.” In Lewis, J. R., ed., Scientology. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 411–31.Google Scholar
Church of Scientology International. (2022a). “What Is the E-Meter and How Does It Work?” www.scientology.org/faq/scientology-and-dianetics-auditing/what-is-the-emeter-and-how-does-it-work.html.Google Scholar
Church of Scientology International. (2022b). “Experts Conclude Scientology Is a True World Religion.” www.scientologyreligion.org/religious-expertises/.Google Scholar
Citizens’ Commission on Human Rights. (2006). Psychiatry: An Industry of Death. 108 minutes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg0TFkFDtyA&t=1027s.Google Scholar
Clarke, A. C. (2013) [1973]. Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Net, Clear Wisdom. (2001). “What Shanshan Saw in Other Dimensions (II).” April 18/May 2. www.pureinsight.org/node/308.Google Scholar
Cole‐Turner, R. (2014). “Entheogens, Mysticism, and Neuroscience.” Zygon, 49(3): 642–51.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. (1971). The Scandal of Scientology. Gainesville, FL: Tower. www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/cooper/sos.html.Google Scholar
Corydon, B. & Hubbard, L. Jr. R. (1987). L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman? Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart.Google Scholar
Dericquebourg, R. (2011). “Legitimizing Belief through the Authority of Science: The Case of the Church of Scientology.” In Lewis, J. R. and Hammer, O., eds., Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science. Leiden: Brill, pp. 741–62.Google Scholar
Dimitri, M. (1998). Il chiodo nel chiodo. Come ti inchiodo il cristiano. https://home666.tripod.com/chiodo1.html.Google Scholar
Dimitri, M. (2011). Intervista, Parte 4. MarcoHMCF. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pkW1yLNcEo.Google Scholar
Dimitri, M. (2018). Personal communication with author.Google Scholar
Dowell, W. (1999). “Interview with Li Hongzhi.” Time Magazine, May 10. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053761,00.html.Google Scholar
Dyrendal, A. (2011). “‘Oh No, It Isn’t.’ Sceptics and the Rhetorical Use of Science in Religion.” In Lewis, J. R. and Hammer, O., eds., Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science. Leiden: Brill, pp. 879–900.Google Scholar
Farley, H. (2011). “Falun Gong and Science: Origins, Pseudoscience and China’s Scientific Establishment.” In Lewis, J. R. & Hammer, O., eds., Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science. Leiden: Brill, pp. 141–63.Google Scholar
Farley, H. (2014). “Falun Gong: A Narrative of Pending Apocalypse, Shape-Shifting Aliens and Relentless Persecution.” In Lewis, J. R. & Petersen, J. A., eds., Controversial New Religions, 2nd ed., New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 241–56.Google Scholar
Glossary of Scientology & Dianetics Terms (2000–2015). www.whatisscientology.org/html/Part14/Chp50/pg1021.html.Google Scholar
Grünschloß, A. (2009). “Scientology: A ‘New Age’ Religion?” In Lewis, J. R., ed., Scientology. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 225–43.Google Scholar
Hammer, O. (2004) [2001]. Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Hanegraaff, W. J. (1998). New Age Religion and Western Culture. Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Helland, C. (2007). “The Raëlian Creation Myth and the Art of Cloning: Reality or Rhetoric?” In Tumminia, D. G., ed., Alien Worlds: Social and Religious Dimensions of the UFO Phenomenon. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, pp. 275–99.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1950a). “Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science.” Astounding Science Fiction, 45: 43–87.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1950b). Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. New York: Hermitage House.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1957). All About Radiation. London: The Hubbard Association of Scientologists International.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1961). “Personal Integrity.” Ability, 125. www.scientology.org/what-is-scientology/basic-principles-of-scientology/personal-integrity.html.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1965). “Keeping Scientology Working Series 1.” Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter of February 7.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1983) [1966]. The Book Introducing the E-Meter. Copenhagen: New Era Publications International.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1989) [1982]. Understanding the E-Meter. Copenhagen: New Era Publications International.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (2005) [1982]. Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000. Los Angeles: Galaxy Press.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (2006) [1961]. E-Meter Essentials. Copenhagen: New Era Publications International.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (2007a) [1952]. “Indoctrination in the Use of the E-Meter.” Lecture and auditing demonstration, March 8. Transcript in Scientology: Milestone One. Los Angeles: Golden Era Productions, pp. 186–238.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (2007b) [1952]. Scientology: A History of Man. A List and Description of the Principal Incidents to be Found in a Human Being. Copenhagen: New Era Publications International.Google Scholar
Hummel, L. (2014). “By Its Fruits? Mystical and Visionary States of Consciousness Occasioned by Entheogens.” Zygon 49(3): 685–95.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (2010). I satanisti. Storia, riti e miti del satanismo. Milano: Sugarco Edizioni.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (2017). “Scientology: Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers – Fake News about Scientology Statistics.” CESNUR. www.cesnur.org/2017/scientology_numbers.htm.Google Scholar
Jacobsen, J. (2009). “The E-Meter Experts.” Infinite Complacency. http://infinitecomplacency.blogspot.com/2009/07/13-e-meter-experts_24.html.Google Scholar
Kambe, J. (2012). “Raëlism vs. Science: THE CLONE DILEMMA.” Raëlian “Truth.” https://raelian-truth.blogspot.com/2012/01/raelism-vs-science-clone-dilemma.html.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lerma, A. (1999). “The E-Meter Papers.” lermanet.com. www.lermanet.com/e-metershort.htm.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. (2003). Legitimating New Religions. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. (2011). “How Religions Appeal to the Authority of Science.” In Lewis, J. R. and Hammer, O., eds., Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science. Leiden: Brill, pp. 23–40.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. & Hammer, O. eds. (2011). Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Li, H. (1996). Zhuan Falun, Volume II. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/html/zfl2/zfl2.htm.Google Scholar
Li, H. (1997). “Fa Teaching Given in San Francisco” [April 6]. In Hongzhi, Li, (2014), Falun Buddha Fa. Fa Teachings in the United States, https://en.falundafa.org/eng/pdf/mgjf.pdf; pp. 22–35.Google Scholar
Li, H. (1998a). Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe [Frankfurt, May 30–31]. www.falundafa.org/book/eng/europe1998a.htm.Google Scholar
Li, H. (1998b). Teachings at the Conference in Singapore [August 22–23]. https://en.falundafa.org/eng/lectures/19980822L.html.Google Scholar
Li, H. (1998c). Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland [Geneva, September 4–5]. www.falundafa.org/book/eng/switzerland1998.htm.Google Scholar
Li, H. (1999). Teachings at the Conference in the Western U.S. [Los Angeles, February 21–22]. http://en.falundafa.org/eng/lectures/19990221L.html.Google Scholar
Li, H. (2001). Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa Conference [Ottawa, May 19]. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/pdf/daohang.pdf.; pp. 15–18.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Roberts, S. (2014). “FGM, Clitoraid and the Pleasure Hospital: US Sect the Raëlians’ Quest to ‘Restore’ Women Scarred by Female Genital Mutilation in Burkina Faso.” The Independent, March 16. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/fgm-clitoraid-and-the-pleasure-hospital-us-sect-the-ra-lians-quest-to-restore-women-scarred-by-9195795.html.Google Scholar
Machado, C. (2010). “Science, Fiction, and Religion: About Raël and Raëlian Possible Worlds.” In Aupers, S. and Houtman, D., eds., Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital. Leiden: Brill, pp. 187–204.Google Scholar
McKenna, T. (1993). True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradise. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco.Google Scholar
Melton, J. G. (2004). “Perspective: Toward a Definition of ‘New Religion’.” Nova Religio, 8(1): 73–87.Google Scholar
Menozzi, W. (2013) [2007]. Ayahuasca: La Liana degli Spiriti—Il sacramento magico-religioso dello sciamanismo amazzonico. Rome: Edizioni Spazio Interiore.Google Scholar
Menozzi, W. (2016). Personal communication with author.Google Scholar
Menozzi, W. (2020). Personal communication with author.Google Scholar
Meyer, M. (2013). “Currents, Fluids, and Forces: The Contribution of Esotericist Philosophy to the Development of Brazil’s Ayahuasca Religions.” Paper presented at the Psychedelic Science 2013 Conference. Oakland, CA, April 18–23.Google Scholar
Mickler, M. (2023). The Unification Church Movement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, R. (1987). Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. London: M. Joseph.Google Scholar
Ortega, T. (2014). “Jon Takes Apart the Scientology E-Meter.” The Underground Bunker. https://tonyortega.org/2014/02/01/jon-atack-takes-apart-the-scientology-emeter/.Google Scholar
Ownby, D. (2008). Falun Gong and the Future of China. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, D. A. (2007). Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, S. J. (2003). “From Healing to Protest: Conversion Patterns among the Practitioners of Falun Gong.” Nova Religio, 6(2): 348–64.Google Scholar
Palmer, S. J. (2004). Aliens Adored: Raël’s UFO Religion. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, S. J. & Ownby, D. (2000). “Field Notes: Falun Dafa Practitioners: A Preliminary Research Report.” Nova Religio, 4(1): 133–37.Google Scholar
Paolinelli, P. (2007). “Esoterismo, sicurezza e comunicazione. Il caso dei Bambini di Satana.” La critica sociologica, 161: 38–85.Google Scholar
Partridge, C. (2004). “Alternative Spiritualities, New Religions, and the Reenchantment of the West.” In Lewis, J. R., ed., New Religious Movements. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 39–67.Google Scholar
Penny, B. (2003). “The Life and Times of Li Hongzhi: Falun Gong and Religious Biography.” The China Quarterly, 175: 643–71.Google Scholar
Peters, T. (2018). “Science and Religion: Ten Models of War, Truce, and Partnership.” Theology and Science, 16(1): 11–53.Google Scholar
Petersen, J. A. (2011). “‘We Demand Bedrock Knowledge’: Modern Satanism Between Secularized Esotericism and ‘Esotericized’ Secularism.” In Lewis, J. R. & Hammer, O., eds., Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science. Leiden: Brill, pp. 67–114.Google Scholar
Pigliucci, M. & Boudry, M. (2013). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Richards, W. A. (2015). Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experience. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Richter, J. (2012). “Traces of the Gods: Ancient Astronauts as a Vision of Our Future.” Numen, 59(2/3): 222–48.Google Scholar
Robbins, T. (2004). “Perspective. New Religions and Alternative Religions.” Nova Religio, 8(3): 104–11.Google Scholar
Rothstein, M. (2008). “Science and Religion in the New Religions.” In Lewis, J. R., ed., The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 99–118.Google Scholar
Sacco, L. (2011). “Is Falun Gong a Sect or a Religious Movement? A Comparative Approach.” Historia Religionum, 3: 65–76.Google Scholar
Santucci, J. A. (2008). “The Notion of Race in Theosophy.” Nova Religio, 11(3): 37–63.Google Scholar
Schafmeister, C. (undated). “Biophysics and the E-Meter.” www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/E-Meter/biophysics.html.Google Scholar
Scientology Spiritual Technology. (2014). Super Bowl Advertisement. 1.03 minutes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QavEOfgeOi4.Google Scholar
Sentes, B. & Palmer, S. J. (2000). “Presumed Immanent: The Raëlians, UFO Religions, and the Postmodern Condition.” Nova Religio, 4(1): 86–105.Google Scholar
Stenmark, M. (2004). How to Relate Science and Religion: A Multidimensional Model. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Stoczkowski, W. (1999). Des hommes, des dieux, et des extraterrestres. Ethnologie d’une croyance moderne. Paris: Flammarion.Google Scholar
Strickland, E. (2008). “Raëlians Rocket from Clones to Clitorises.” Wired, February 19. https://web.archive.org/web/20100213070438/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/hospital.Google Scholar
Thomas, A. (2021). Free Zone Scientology: Contesting the Boundaries of a New Religion. London: Bloomsbury.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urban, H. B. (2011). The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
USA Today. (2003). “With Friends Like These, Monsanto Needs no Enemies.” https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-08-06-raelians-biotech_x.htm.Google Scholar
Von Stuckrad, K. (2015). The Scientification of Religion: An Historical Study of Discursive Change 1800–2000. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Vorilhon, C. [Raël] (1974). Le livre qui dit la vérité. J’ai rencontré un extra-terrestre. Clermont-Ferrand: L’Edition du Message.Google Scholar
Vorilhon, C. [Raël] (1977a). Les extra-terrestres m’ont emmené sur leur planète. Le 2ème message qu’ils m’ont donné. Clermont-Ferrand: L’Edition du Message.Google Scholar
Vorilhon, C. [Raël] (1977b). Geniocracy: Government of the People, for the People, by the Geniuses. Translated by Wenner, Marcus & Ponty, Eva (2008). N.p.: Nova Distribution.Google Scholar
Vorilhon, C. [Raël] (2001). Yes to Human Cloning: Eternal Life Thanks to Science. Translated by Wenner, Marcus. Vaduz, Liechtenstein: The Raëlian Foundation.Google Scholar
Wallis, R. (1984). The Elementary Forms of the New Religious Life. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Westbrook, D. A. (2016). Personal communication with author.Google Scholar
Westbrook, D. A. (2017). “‘The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend’: Thomas Szasz, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, and Scientology’s Anti-Psychiatric Theology.” Nova Religio, 20(4): 37–61.Google Scholar
Westbrook, D. A. (2019). Among the Scientologists. History, Theology, and Praxis. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Westbrook, D. A. (2022a). L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Westbrook, D. A. (2022b). Personal communication with author.Google Scholar
Zeller, B. E. (2010). Prophets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Zeller, B. E. (2011). “New Religious Movements and Science.” Nova Religio, 14(4): 4–10.Google Scholar
Zeller, B. E. (2014). Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this element is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.
- 14
- Cited by