Assess the View That Cults and Sects Are Only Fringe Organisations That Are Inevitably Short Lived and of Little Influence in Contemporary Society Essay

It arse be argued that cults and sects atomic number 18 only fringe organisations that be inevitably scam lived and of little influence in contemporary society, besides some may have views to contrast this idea. A sect is an organization, which usually breaks run into from an established trust, which finds itself in disagreement with beliefs and values of wider society and refuses to tolerate the beliefs of others. Although the desire to be a process is voluntary, as oppose to being born into, like religion, sects atomic number 18 rejected by society and advance strong obligation and commitment by its members.A sect is an extremely narrow-minded organisation, which is often direct by a charismatic leader. Whereas, in contrast, a cult does not progress from a mainstream religion and does not reject or challenge societal norms. However, as tolerant of other beliefs as they are, they understood attract a prominent deal of negative press, for example brainwashing. Members i n a cult are usually more like customers than followers. An example of a cult is Heavens gate, which is a destructive day of reckoning cult, centered in California.There is a mass of supporting prove that cults and sects are short lived and unnoticeable to wider society. Nevertheless, it must be maintained that the matter is complex as there are many sects and cults, which see themselves differently.There is evidence to support this view of a short-lived nature of sects. This is imputable to many reasons. demesne rejecting sects, due to their nature and succeeding societal rejection and stigma of bad press, must be able to via media with society and becoming a denomination and therefore cease to be a sect, if this is not through with(p) then the sect will die out. There is withal an argument that sects cannot have a great deal of affect upon society over a long term period as they cannot stick up past the charismatic leaders lifetime and therefore sustain themselves over mo re than ane multiplication.The American theologian Niebuhr theorises that another reason for transience of sects is that they rarely live past the 1st generation because the 2nd generation usually lacks the belief of the 1st. In this way, theirmembership dwindles as the 2nd generation chooses to relegate the sect and hold other views in wider society.However Wilson disagrees with Neibuhrs view and says that he overates his case and chooses to not apply attention to groups who did preserve a distinct sectarian stance. Similarly, evidence proves to discredit the belief that a sect fails to live on past their leaders death. For example, The Mormons have continued for many generations and also the Amish- however this could be attributed to the protective isolation-like in which they live. There is also a possibility that the Moonies surviving is due to the leader preparing for his son to take over his position as the charismatic leader after his death, however this is yet to be se en.Cults have seen a large incline in their number recently and because they are more accepting of wider society and despite receiving bad press, offer a practical solution to bulks issues and wishes, have the appearance _or_ semblance less likely to die out due to refusal and disapproval. They are also financially rather stable, the church building of Scientology for example has an estimated income of over 200m per year. This is down to the consumer attitude of cults. There is also a mass of evidence for their splendour in society in a sense that audience cults have a mass food market of self help therapy there are many books available for example, tarot reading, crystals and reflexology regularly appear on the best seller list and often more room is devoted to these books rather than Christianity books themselves. The view that cults are fringe movements is less supported than that for sects.Sects very infrequently continue on as sects but cults such as scientology are not on ly prosperous but also have a massive celebrity following trend admired by the public for example Tom Cruise.There is also evidence that sects and cults can be of great influence to society though it is debatable as to whether or not that is possible today in a society as apparently secular as ours. Weber suggests in his Theodicy of Disprivilege that because they offer a solution to problems justification and explanation for life and its problems, to marginalisedgroups such as dropouts or ethnic minorities, world rejecting sects that offer position appeal to people. An example of this is Liberation Theology which was for the poorer people which had great influence upon the priorities of the Catholic Church in Latin America (though it has convey more conservative, it continues to symbolize human rights and democracy).Bruce argues that it is not a religion and is instead a shallow, meaningless thing. Due to the elements of superior it offers, the choice about which bits to belie ve and whether to take its readings into account, it does not require commitment. This he argues prevents it having religious status. Post Modernists see it as being spiritual shopping it is part of a consumerist culture. Despite not necessarily being a religion, there is lots of evidence to show that it has influenced society as a whole and, some sociologists would claim, aided secularisation. There is also evidence to show that it is unlikely to be particularly short lived as it fits in so well with our Capitalist, consumerist society and our individualistic values and is so profitable.Therefore, though there is strong evidence to show that sects and cults are fringe organisations, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that neither are short lived in themselves either through the Sectarian cycle or demand and supply (though sects tend to become denominations) and also to suggest that the influence of sects and cults on society is greater than expected though the influence of se cts and cults is exemplified by older examples and so one cannot be sure as to how successful they will be in todays society, except in regards to specific sects and cults.In conclusion, the view that cults, sects are fringe organisations that are inevitably short-lived and of little influence in modern-day society, is on the whole not all in all correct but has some strength in that the permanency of all is arguable as is their status as fringe organisations.