Wallis (1984) World-affirming groups
He identified 3 types of NRM:
These are usually individualistic and life-positive,
1. World-affirming and aim to release ‘human potential’.
2. World-accommodating
3. World-rejecting They tend to accept the world as it is but involve
techniques that enable the individual to participate more
effectively and gain more from their worldly experience.
They do not restrict the behaviour of their members.
Research shows the common demographic for world-affirming
groups is middle-aged and middle-class groups, often people
who are disillusioned with material values and in search of
new, more positive meanings.
These groups generally lack a church, ritual worship or strong
ethical systems.
Two examples of world-affirming groups are:
- The Church of Scientology
- Transcendental Meditation (TM)
Beliefs - New
Religious
Movements
World-rejecting groups
(NRMs)
These are commonly sects, in so far as they are always highly critical of
the outside world, demanding significant commitment from their
members.
In some ways, they are quite like conventional religions as:
World-accommodating groups - They require prayer
- They have strong ethical codes
- They require the study of key religious texts
This is more orthodox. They maintain some
connections with mainstream religion, but place They are exclusive, often share possessions and
a high value on inner religious life. seek to relegate members’ identities to that of the
greater whole (everyone else).
This could include spiritualists who claim to be able to contact the spirits They are typically millenarian; which essentially
of the dead; many spiritualists draw inspiration from faiths with a deep means they expect divine intervention to occur and a
mystical tradition, such as Sufism, the Kabbalah and Buddhism. massive change to take place in the world.
Such religions are usually concerned at both the state of the world and the state of the organised Two examples of world-rejecting groups are:
mainstream religions. They seek to establish older certainties and faith, while giving them a new vitality. - Moonies (The Unification Church)
- Members of Hare Krishna
He identified 3 types of NRM:
These are usually individualistic and life-positive,
1. World-affirming and aim to release ‘human potential’.
2. World-accommodating
3. World-rejecting They tend to accept the world as it is but involve
techniques that enable the individual to participate more
effectively and gain more from their worldly experience.
They do not restrict the behaviour of their members.
Research shows the common demographic for world-affirming
groups is middle-aged and middle-class groups, often people
who are disillusioned with material values and in search of
new, more positive meanings.
These groups generally lack a church, ritual worship or strong
ethical systems.
Two examples of world-affirming groups are:
- The Church of Scientology
- Transcendental Meditation (TM)
Beliefs - New
Religious
Movements
World-rejecting groups
(NRMs)
These are commonly sects, in so far as they are always highly critical of
the outside world, demanding significant commitment from their
members.
In some ways, they are quite like conventional religions as:
World-accommodating groups - They require prayer
- They have strong ethical codes
- They require the study of key religious texts
This is more orthodox. They maintain some
connections with mainstream religion, but place They are exclusive, often share possessions and
a high value on inner religious life. seek to relegate members’ identities to that of the
greater whole (everyone else).
This could include spiritualists who claim to be able to contact the spirits They are typically millenarian; which essentially
of the dead; many spiritualists draw inspiration from faiths with a deep means they expect divine intervention to occur and a
mystical tradition, such as Sufism, the Kabbalah and Buddhism. massive change to take place in the world.
Such religions are usually concerned at both the state of the world and the state of the organised Two examples of world-rejecting groups are:
mainstream religions. They seek to establish older certainties and faith, while giving them a new vitality. - Moonies (The Unification Church)
- Members of Hare Krishna
