Starting in November of 2016, a documentary series aired on the original network A&E where it continues to capture the attention of thousands of viewers in America. Scientology: The Aftermath, starring the well-known King of Queens and Dancing with the Stars actress Leah Remini and former senior executive of the church of Scientology International and Sea Organization Mike Rinder, aim to reveal the "truth" that hides behind the church of Scientology. The show interviews ex-practitioners who claim their lives have been deeply impacted by the church and who want to assist in revealing the shocking stories of abuse and harassment the church tries to keep secret. The goal of the show, in short, is to not only share the "real" face of Scientology to the public, but to also reach out and assist people who have been affected personally by the church; some have lost their family and friends while others have been followed or monitored by church members. A simple Google search on Scientology brings up multiple news headlines on the church being labeled as a "cult" and "criminal" while magazines in the lines of grocery stores display the downfall on the marriage of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes due to the intensity of the Church of Scientology. Yet Scientology isn’t alone in receiving negative attention from the media. Christian Science has been accused of depriving the ill of needed medical attention which has led to some members becoming severely ill and dying in some cases. Most of these cases are children that were deprived of needed medical assistance due to their parents' religious views. Religious Studies scholar, Mary Bednarowski, adds that due to these circumstances, Christian Science has long experienced harsh criticism. With families and anti-cult movements protesting in the streets, ads, books, and magazines displaying their opposition, and the media labeling these movements as "dangerous", why would people join and remain in these New Religious Movements? What is it that makes these religious movements alluring and what are their adherents benefiting from them?

From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, a minority conservative faction took over the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). This project seeks to answer the questions of how a fringe minority within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination could undertake such a feat and why they chose to do so. The framework through which this work analyzes these questions is one of competing worldviews that emerged within the SBC in response to decades of societal shifts and denominational transformations in the post-World War II era. To place the events of the Southern Baptist “crisis” within this framework, this study seeks to refute the prevailing notion put forth in earlier works that the takeover was an in-house event, driven purely by doctrinal disputes between conservative Southern Baptists and SBC leadership. Illustrating the differences between rhetoric and action on both sides of this intra-denominational conflict, this work seeks to provide perspective to the narrative of the Southern Baptist “crisis” by asserting that the worldviews guiding the opposing factions diverged not only on doctrine, but culture and politics as well. Placing the events of the “crisis” within the context of broader worldviews, this project highlights and examines the intertwined nature of religion, culture, and politics in modern American society.

The violence of Aum Shinrikyo has had four observable consequences for new religious movements in Japan: a change in posture by the Japanese government toward new religious movements, stricter laws and regulations regarding new religious movements and tighter enforcement of those laws, a growing skepticism by the media and scholars towards new religious movements, and increasing skepticism about new religions movements among community groups and the public at large. This study will show that the crimes of Aum Shinrikyo have created a shift in Japan's society resulting in a contraction of operational space available to Japan's new religious movements. For this study `operational space' refers to the sociopolitical boundaries in which a group can operate, in other words, a religion's freedom to believe, practice, organize, and conduct economic activities free from government restriction and undue influence by other individuals or groups. The proposed thesis will be illustrated by several case studies that look specifically at particular instances of contraction of operational space for Japanese new religious movements including Soka Gakkai, Hono-hana Sanpogyo, The Unification Church of Japan (Toitsu Kyokai) and Panawave Laboratory. Each case study will analyze how interactions between Japanese new religions movements and aspects or segments of Japanese society have changed due to a paradigm shift caused by the crimes of Aum. The thesis is supported by a theoretical framework that draws on theories of Japanese new religious movements and theories of religion and violence. The research builds upon this framework through in-depth study of writings by leaders of Japanese new religious movements (particularly the writings of Aum leader Asahara Shoko, Japanese and Western scholarship on new religious movements, as well as government documents, media reports, personal interviews and field observations to produce a unique analysis of the Post-Aum Era for Japan's new religious movements.

<p>The purpose of this study was to try to develop a better understanding of the process that being a member in a new religious movement might imply, and to find out how the identity of a defector changes from the time upon entering the movement, while they are within the movement and after leaving the movement. We also wanted to examine what kind of help and support would be needed around a defection. The study focuses on identity and our questions were: How does the defector describe him/herself and his/her identity before joining the new religious movement until the period after defecting? What demand for support and help may there be when defecting from new religious movement? The theoretical starting point was The Identity Theory, Structural Role Theory and KASAM. A qualitative method was used and four defectors from new religious movements were interviewed. The findings were that they described themselves as ”seekers” and ”lost” when they entered the movement and within the initial phase they repressed their personal identity whilst their social identity increased in strength. In due course, doubts began to arise and these continued to grow until the time of defection with mental instability as a result. The process led to the creation of a new selfidentity. Primarily support and help with strengthening the personal identity was needed. It would be advantageous if this support could be given by someone that had defected previously and with whom they could identify.</p>

The purpose of this study was to try to develop a better understanding of the process that being a member in a new religious movement might imply, and to find out how the identity of a defector changes from the time upon entering the movement, while they are within the movement and after leaving the movement. We also wanted to examine what kind of help and support would be needed around a defection. The study focuses on identity and our questions were: How does the defector describe him/herself and his/her identity before joining the new religious movement until the period after defecting? What demand for support and help may there be when defecting from new religious movement? The theoretical starting point was The Identity Theory, Structural Role Theory and KASAM. A qualitative method was used and four defectors from new religious movements were interviewed. The findings were that they described themselves as ”seekers” and ”lost” when they entered the movement and within the initial phase they repressed their personal identity whilst their social identity increased in strength. In due course, doubts began to arise and these continued to grow until the time of defection with mental instability as a result. The process led to the creation of a new selfidentity. Primarily support and help with strengthening the personal identity was needed. It would be advantageous if this support could be given by someone that had defected previously and with whom they could identify.

Tārā is arguably the most popular goddess of the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. She is well known in her Green, White, and Twenty-one forms. However, the numerous red aspects of the divinity have long been overlooked in both popular and academic literature on the goddess. This thesis aims to redress this balance. This thesis presents the various manifestations of Red Tārā in the form of a survey of the literary and practice lineages of this goddess throughout Tibetan Buddhist history. The intention of the thesis is to examine individual forms of Red Tārā, excluding Kurukullā (who has received previous scholarly attention), in order to prove the hypothesis that not all Red Tārās are Kurukullā. The research has identified a preliminary historical order of Red Tārā lineages from the eleventh century works on Pītheśvarī and the Sa-skya-pa Red Tārās, through to the nineteenth and twentieth century forms of the goddess authored by the dGe-lugs-pas and A-paṃ gter-ston in the A-mdo region of Tibet. The red forms of Tārā are more 'worldly' than her Green or White incarnations, and the soteriological component of her worship is not always clear. Accordingly this allows a glimpse into the subjugating/ magnetising ritual process. The thesis comprises three sections. Section One provides a general introduction to Tārā and Kurukullā, followed by a survey of the literature pertaining to Red Tārā identified in the course of this research. Section Two takes four lineages of Red Tārā literature as its focus. Each chapter refers to an individual lineage: Pītheśvarī, Sa-skya-pa, the Twenty-one Tārās, and A-paṃ gter-ton's gter-ma cycle. Section Three deals with modern-day practice of the goddess in the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation and the Flaming Jewel Sangha. The thesis relies on translation of primary sources from the Tibetan language, participant observation, and New Religious Studies methodology, and covers a wide range of areas including subjugation rituals, iconography, body-maṇḍala rituals, the adoption of Buddhism in the West, and New Religious Movements. It adds to current knowledge in a variety of fields including ritual, goddess studies, the Tibetan pantheon and its iconography, and Buddhism in the West.

Around the world, religion takes many forms that vary greatly in practices, beliefs, and doctrine. In fact, defining the term "religion" is a difficult task in encompassing a multitude of faiths. In America, various cultural practices emulate the religious nature of various classic religions. Sport is a peculiar example that hold the interests of millions. However, the way sport is experienced as a fan differs greatly from the way sport is experienced as an athlete. I argue that to an athlete, sport functions as a placeholder for religion in modern-day America. By exploring various functions of religion, as defined by Winston King in the Encyclopedia of Religion (1959), it is clear that sport offers the same components as religion. However, as scholars such as Price and Chidester have found, sport does not function completely as a religion for fans. I finish with a discussion of why sport in the eyes of a fan fails to meet the requirements for sport acting as religion; using King's definition, it becomes clear that sport, for fans, fails to offer the same type of traditionalism and sacred experiences as found in religion, as well as the experience of sport for an athlete.

Sects as a Threat Sects are both a social and religious phenomenon in contemporary society. We often hear about religiously motivated violence. Therefore, the phrase Sects as a threat is not a very suprising term. Often, there appears a situation in which sects threaten not only their members but also the whole society. Based on that, it is important to characterize them and determine where religiously motivated violence or extremism could be seen. In the introduction of the theoretical work I mention the basic terminology, explain the nature of religion and differentiate the basic religious faiths. Next, the new religious movements follow. Related to that is the legislation of churches and religious societies, their registration, rights, obligations and the like. Followingly, the religious movements which could represent a potential threat or raised public awareness by their controversial affairs are described. Despite the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses are a registered church, the thesis includes also them. I have mentioned them because the majority of respondents believe that they actually are a sect. A similar situation is with Satanism. Even they have church associations. At the same time, there sometimes happen situations, when extremist groups refer to satanism, for example after an act of violence. This phenomenon appears in far more religious movements. The next step is to sketch the negative influences of new religious movements on both an individual and society as a whole. After that the term Sect is described in detail. This part contains information on the features of particular sects, psychical manipulation methods and the ways of recruiting new members. Nevertheless, even the characteristics of sect leaders is included. What we cannot forget is the prevention of affecting of these dangerous groups and also help for the sect members who want to escape them. In the last part of the theoretical work I concentrate on The Czech Republic as a state. I describe the attitude of the state to churches and religious societies. Next, I aim at the religion policy of the state and how different govermental and nongovermental organizations participate in the problem. The thesis also deals with the rate of participation of different governmental offices, such as Home office and Culture office and also with the rate of participation of Police. The main goal of the thesis is the evaluation of the activity and threats of religious groups active both in the area of The Czech Republic and foreign countries as well. I have also dealt with a statistic qantitative research strategy using the questionaire research in both non-professional and professional public. The questions were asked in the areas possibly threatened by sects and mainly concerned the security risks of The Czech Republic related to the activities of sects. Next, the statistic evaluation of differences between non-professional and professional public awareness of the issue followed. The thesis also dealt with the analysis of available literature sources on the issue of sects. The result of the research shows a considerable difference between non-professional and professional public awareness. The thesis could be possibly used as a summary of possible risks originating in sects and can also serve as a source of information of the problem of religious groups.

The problem of new religious movements is quite a current topic. Therefore, I have decided to write my thesis about this subject. The theoretical part contains the definitions of the basic terms, the characteristics of new religious movements, their catagories and characteristics of their victims, the context of new religious movements and the law, as well as the connection of religious groups and socially-pathologic phenomena. Each of the phenomena is attached to concrete examples of the social groups involved. Both qualitative and quantitative research was employed in the practical part. The methods that have been used to obtain this information were a survey and and interview, as well as the anaylsis of the data and content. One of the files for the survey was collected in the Klatovy Region, while the other was gathered from the people of the Ceske Budejovice Region. Thus, the acquired data were compared in order to reach the aim of the work. The two aims were set based upon the secondary data and one hypothesis was declared for each. The first aim, which was `to find out the public opinion on the problems of new religious movement{\crq}, was connected with the hypothesis `although the public is not sufficiently informed about the religious cults in the region, they are perceived as negative{\crq}. The other aim was to map the socially-pathological phenomena connected with the activity of the movements in these particular regions. Regarding that research, which was qualitative, the hypothesis was declared on the ground of the acquired data. Hypothesis No. 1 was verified. Based on an interview with local policemen, the other hypothesis was set: Although information about the socially-pathological phenomena connected with the activity of the movements reached the public, the Police of the Czech Republic do not have evidence of any crime of that character in the given regions. A booklet was put together, based upon the acquired information, giving the overall information about new religious movements, their characteristics and possible risks. In my opinion, the aim of my thesis was met. The research showed that the public awareness of new religious cults is rather low and the information is mostly distorted. The results of my work may serve as further insight into this problem and, threby it may become a stimulus to raise the state of awareness in this sphere.

This thesis provides a systematic comparison and analysis on violent and non-violent new religious movements. The purpose of using a meta-analysis as the methodological tool for this research project is that it offers a systematic presentation and synthesis of the characteristics and findings from academic studies that exist on each new religious movement. Of importance is that each study, from the fields of sociology, social psychology and religious studies offers differing truths about each of the NRMs as they each only examine certain characteristics. As these disciplines have a high level of theories, this project utilizes a “measure driven” approach, “in which iterative searches and new computerized search techniques are used to increase the range of publications found (and thus the range of possible analyses) and to traverse time and disciplinary boundaries” (Roelfs et al 2013: 75). This analysis pools together all existing facts to provide a larger estimate of the "unknown common truths" about each movement and provide a fuller picture of the movements and their leaders. By combining studies of new religious movements that are prone to violence with studies of new religious movements that remain peaceful, this meta-analysis will increase the sample size and the power to study effects that may lead to the answer: why do some new religious movements become violent. The general consensus among the research literature has distilled three salient aggregates associated with new religious groups that have become violent: a) each group possessed an apocalyptic worldview; b) each group maintained an organizational structure predicated on charismatic leadership and authority whereby a potent connection between the charismatic leader and devotee was forged; and c) each group established firm social boundaries demarcating the separation between the group and the wider social milieu resulting in social isolation. However, though these attributes were present in and common to all the groups that became violent, they continue to remain insufficient and fail to adequately illustrate why certain new religions become violent. The most notable cases of NRMs that have been mobilized to violence that are analyzed include: the Peoples' Temple, The Order of the Solar Temple, Aum Shinrikyo, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, the Branch Davidians, Rajneeshpuaram, The Church of the Lamb of God, Heaven's Gate and Scientology. These religious movements are compared and analyzed in relation to groups that have not become violent: the early Unification Church, Sikh Dharma/3HO, Chen Tao, Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT), and Concerned Christians. By analyzing fourteen individual movements that demonstrate the three central aggregates found specifically in violent movements, hopefully this meta-analysis has overcome the problem of small sample sizes, in order to better detect internal and external effects that can explain why some NRMs become violent.