Research Discussion

1. Select a less well known "new" or "alternative" religious movement to research and discuss OTHER than those given to you in the assigned readings. There is a comprehensive list at this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_new_religious_movements or feel free to identify one on your own. Maybe you have a community in your neighborhood or know of someone who is involved in something you think is out of the ordinary. 2. Research your choice on the Internet and/or use online resources. Look for information from internal sources; that is, what the community has to say for itself, and also from external sources, that is, what the outside world has to say about the community. 3. Use what you've learned to briefly describe this new or alternative religious group using Stein's introduction as a guide for setting the contrast to more mainstream religions in America. Explain how this group dissents from one or more mainstream American religious traditions in a way that earns it the title of "alternative" or "new" and what kind of response this religion has evoked in the American public (minimum 300 words) The chapter case studies that you chose to read from Stein and Neusner's textbook should give you good examples of the way these new or alternative groups were described and explained vis-a-vis mainstream American religion. You might ask how and why Herberg chose to treat these groups given their long history and their place in the American religious landscape by the time he wrote his book in the 1950s. World Religions in America Author: Neusner ISBN: 9780664233204 In World Religions in America: • Dell Chant, "World Religions Made in the U.S.A.: Apocalyptic Communities—Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses," pp. 233-250. Read about one of these two classic NRMs • Danny L. Jorgensen, "Nature Religions: American Neopaganism and Witchcraft," pp. 313-331 Protestant-Catholic-Jew: An Essay in American Religious Sociology Author: Herberg ISBN: 9780226327341 Selections from Stephen J. Stein, Communities of Dissent: A History of Alternative Religions in America: • "Introduction" • Chapter Seven, "Twentieth-Century Sects and Cults" Binder-Communities of Dissent _Stein2002_.pdf