No description available.

The present study explored a minority oppositional religious culture, which continued practicing despite overt hostilities to their practices. The qualitative research project utilized interviews and observations of the Gardnerian Wiccans in Broward County, Florida. The narrative data were transcribed, coded, and categorized into three themes related to the following research questions: Why would individuals create a secretive religion? Given they had to practice in secret, what about this religion had people seeking out information and joining Covens? What would keep this group together despite opposition from dominant culture? As a microcosm for religious conflict in society, the study showed differences in the culture’s religious paradigm structure as a major factor for religious conflict.

No description available.

This thesis explores thirty-two individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Such groups have often been labelled as cults and accused of ??brainwashing?? their followers. The conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing has been influential within the helping professions, including psychology, counselling and social work. However, this conceptualisation is not supported by empirical research on cults, or what have become known as New Religious Movements (NRMs). The research problem which this thesis addresses therefore is: ??If a brainwashing model of affiliation does not give an adequate explanation for cult/NRM involvement how else might it be understood??? A primary objective of this study was to inform the helping professions, in particular social work. A secondary objective was to add to knowledge about Siddha Yoga Practice in Australia, which no other study had addressed, and thereby to add to the growing understanding of NRMs in Australia. The study applied a qualitative research framework, informed by grounded theory, ethnography and phenomenology and used a purposive sampling technique. Materials were collected by semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observations and field notes, and analysed with the assistance of NVivo data analysis computer software. This study found that the conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing fails to account for the variety of individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Moreover, the findings highlight that involvement in regard to attraction, affiliation and disenchantment is not helpfully understood by adopting a ??brainwashing?? model and could be better understood through the lens of the sociology of religion, including studies of the experiences of those in mainstream religions. One implication of the findings for social work and other helping professions is that existing approaches to interpersonal helping could be used with individuals who seek assistance after leaving a NRM. For social work, this thesis also adds to the growing knowledge of the diverse religious orientations in the wider community. Such knowledge can enhance social work education, practice and theory in relation to social work??s diverse client population.

This thesis explores thirty-two individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Such groups have often been labelled as cults and accused of ??brainwashing?? their followers. The conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing has been influential within the helping professions, including psychology, counselling and social work. However, this conceptualisation is not supported by empirical research on cults, or what have become known as New Religious Movements (NRMs). The research problem which this thesis addresses therefore is: ??If a brainwashing model of affiliation does not give an adequate explanation for cult/NRM involvement how else might it be understood??? A primary objective of this study was to inform the helping professions, in particular social work. A secondary objective was to add to knowledge about Siddha Yoga Practice in Australia, which no other study had addressed, and thereby to add to the growing understanding of NRMs in Australia. The study applied a qualitative research framework, informed by grounded theory, ethnography and phenomenology and used a purposive sampling technique. Materials were collected by semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observations and field notes, and analysed with the assistance of NVivo data analysis computer software. This study found that the conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing fails to account for the variety of individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Moreover, the findings highlight that involvement in regard to attraction, affiliation and disenchantment is not helpfully understood by adopting a ??brainwashing?? model and could be better understood through the lens of the sociology of religion, including studies of the experiences of those in mainstream religions. One implication of the findings for social work and other helping professions is that existing approaches to interpersonal helping could be used with individuals who seek assistance after leaving a NRM. For social work, this thesis also adds to the growing knowledge of the diverse religious orientations in the wider community. Such knowledge can enhance social work education, practice and theory in relation to social work??s diverse client population.

The study of alternative religious movements (ARMs) encompasses a wide range of groups, from Fundamentalist Mormons to Scientologists to Jehovah’s Witnesses. There is, however, little research, and almost none of it from a therapeutic perspective, on the experiences of children who are raised in these groups. This leads me to wonder about the stories of women who are raised in and then exit ARMs and how these stories might inform the work of helping professionals. This thesis provides a narrative analysis of memoirs written by women who were raised in and then left alternative religions. Through the lens of deconstruction and post-structuralist feminism, it considers the ways in which women who have left ARMs narrate their experiences and how their stories might inform practice. Findings indicate that the women experienced a life marked by a pervasive sense of difference (though not always expressed in a negative sense). Long periods of managing doubt, dissonance, and disenchantment resulted in exhaustion. In the context of an expanding world and motivated by relationships with those outside their religious groups, they experienced deconversion and, eventually, disaffiliated. Disaffiliation was experienced both as frightening and liberating, resulting in the need to construct new identities and sites of belonging outside their religious groups. I have displayed these findings in the form of a model of religious deconversion and disaffiliation. This research may help child and youth care workers, therapists, social workers, and other helpers develop wise practices when working with those who have been raised in ARMs. / Graduate / 2022-04-14

No description available.

This thesis is a folkloristic examination of the religious beliefs and rituals associated with members of a religious movement known as Mission De L’Ésprit Saint. Mission De L’Ésprit Saint is a Quebecois religious denomination which believes that their founder was the physical incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and the movement strives to continue the teachings which were laid down during his lifetime. The major components of Mission theology and history, as well as an introductory consideration of their cosmology and worldview will be the major focus of this document, as well as a consideration of the role that Folklore has in understanding marginal religious movements.

ARAÚJO, Márcia Assunção. Itinerância no Ashram: alimentando corpo e alma na Brahma Kumaris. 2012. 285f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Sociologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2012. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-06-15T14:03:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_tese_maaraujo.pdf: 3318636 bytes, checksum: dc2e21ad4f7ac15aeac50ed200024ea2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-06-15T14:11:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_tese_maaraujo.pdf: 3318636 bytes, checksum: dc2e21ad4f7ac15aeac50ed200024ea2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-15T14:11:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_tese_maaraujo.pdf: 3318636 bytes, checksum: dc2e21ad4f7ac15aeac50ed200024ea2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / The present study inquires into cognitive and symbolic perceptions of individuals from the town of Fortaleza who adopt a vegetarian diet for religious motivations. They belong to a yoga line, in scope of the new religious movements. This study took place in the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University – BKWSU, in the aforementioned city, between the years 2007 and 2011, and used as methodological tools participant observation and semi-structured interviews with students and professors of this spiritual movement with a neo-hindu face. Initial interest was to understand foodrelated representations and practices, but as the research went on, the existence of a semantic confluence between religious sentiment and food became evident, both converging to the construction of a brahmin life regimen. So, food has its meaning widened and is considered here as a sign/metaphor to think the body and soul relationship, suggested by the behavior code – maryadas – of this spiritual movement. For the participants of this group, forms of thinking, feeling and seeing the world are the expression of a collective belonging, which is, at the same time, subjectified and resignified in terms of the self-improvement process and sacralisation of the world. / O presente estudo investigou as percepções cognitivas e simbólicas de indivíduos que adotam práticas alimentares vegetarianas por motivações religiosas, na cidade de Fortaleza, pertencentes a uma linha de yoga no âmbito dos novos movimentos religiosos. Este estudo teve como cenário a Universidade Espiritual Mundial Brahma Kumaris – BKWSU, na referida cidade, entre os anos de 2007 e 2011, e utilizou como recursos metodológicos a observação participante e entrevistas semiestruturadas com alunos e professores deste movimento espiritual de cariz neo-hindu. Inicialmente, interessava compreender as representações e as práticas relacionadas com a alimentação, mas ao longo da pesquisa ficou evidente a existência de uma confluência semântica entre o sentimento religioso e alimentação, ambos concorrendo para a construção de um regime de vida brahmin. Assim, o alimento tem seu sentido alargado e é tomado aqui como signo/metáfora para se pensar a relação corpo e alma sugerida pelo código de condutas – maryadas – deste movimento espiritual. As formas de pensar, sentir e ver o mundo dos participantes deste grupo são expressão de uma pertença coletiva que é, ao mesmo tempo, subjetivada e ressignificada em termos do processo de aperfeiçoamento de si e de sacralização do mundo.

Recent years have observed significant change in the landscape of American religious/spiritual environment and religious/spiritual groups called new religious movements (NRMs) have developed as an alternative for many individuals to engage in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices outside the traditional religions. It was unclear if participation in NRMs provide adherents with similar mental health benefits as participation in traditional religious groups, or whether there might be important differences. The current study examined the link between participation in NRMs and relevant social and psychological outcomes including mental health symptoms, emotional well-being, attachment style, and social relationships. I recruited participants from three groups: (1) NRMs, (2) traditional religious groups, and (3) no religious/spiritual identification. I explored group differences in five key areas of mental health and well-being: (1) mental health symptoms, (2) subjective well-being, (3) attachment, (4) social belonging, and (5) meaning in life. The overall results suggested that NRM participants showed relatively few differences compared to traditional religious participants in regard to the above psychological profile. NRM participants reported more differences compared to participants who were neither religious nor spiritual. In this regard, NRM involvement was associated with some positive outcomes, including positive emotional well-being and meaning in life, and some negative outcomes, including anxious adult attachment, low sense of belonging compared to non-religious individuals, and higher rates of depression. Limitations, suggestions for future research, and practical applications are discussed.