What are modern religions?

K

katherinefarmer

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I am curious - What are modern religions? Can anyone give me a list?
 
Mormons fairly recent...New Thought...a little more...Rastafarians even closer...

Pastafarians...Trekkies...Moonies...Scientology... all quite new...
 
shunyadragon said:
. . . because it is simply a variation of Buddhism still following the basic tenants of Buddhism, of which there are many.
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Well, if we simply followed the self-understanding of Won Buddhists, we would say it's a new religion. The founder of Won Buddhism awakened "without the help of any teacher," showing there was a break from Korean Buddhism in his time (Pye, 18). Contrast this with other Buddhist sects that emphasize the importance of a teacher. He regarded his teaching as the closest to the founder of Buddhism. That's why it was later called Won (Perfect) Buddhism after his death. Here's a second reason Won Buddhism is considered a new religion: it emerged after the establishment of non-Buddhist religions (such as Christianity) in South Korea. This had an influence on Won Buddhism. For example, Won Buddhists discarded the South Korean Buddhist practice of placing statues in places of worship (Baker, 3-4). Furthermore, there are core teachings in Won Buddhism not found in Buddhism: their understanding of Kaebyok (which deals with the transformation of society through science and technology and the need to match it with spiritual progress) isn't in traditional Buddhism, they say the world should work together through cooperation rather than competition (and perhaps this is one reason why interfaith dialogue is so important in Won Buddhism), a different approach to human suffering than traditional Buddhism, and more (5, 9). Anyway, those are three arguments made for classifying Won Buddhism as a new religion.

To say Won Buddhism is "simply a variation of Buddhism" oversimplifies this religion.

Works Cited
Baker, Don. "Korea's Won Buddhism: Is it Really a New Religion?" https://web.archive.org/web/20140428221745/http://www.cesnur.org/2011/dan-baker.pdf
Pye, Michael. “Won Buddhism as a Korean New Religion.” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions. 2002, Vol. 49.2, 131–141. Print.
 
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katherinefarmer said:
I am curious - What are modern religions? Can anyone give me a list?
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ACIM (a course in miracle) is very new (Written from 1965 to 1972), it is non-dualistic but mixes Jesus and the Holy spirit into the mix, which was a telltale for me to avoid. The book (acim) has some amazingly powerful writing, but putting the whole thing into context not enough for me to be a convert....it is a borrowed concept from Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism...
 
I always considered ACIM to be a course one took, and upon completion set aside. Many people I know meet regularly and keep going back through the lessons time and time again. It is this behavior I think makes it into a religion rather than the bridge I believe it was intended to be.
 
Nasruddin said:
I always considered ACIM to be a course one took, and upon completion set aside. Many people I know meet regularly and keep going back through the lessons time and time again. It is this behavior I think makes it into a religion rather than the bridge I believe it was intended to be.
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I think you got it...
As for me I'd guess I just do not like regurgitated stuff for us dumb western folk (who could not possibly understand the intricacies and nuances of those fancy Eastern religions) with their fancy Sanskrit words....
 
katherinefarmer said:
I am curious - What are modern religions? Can anyone give me a list?
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You may be interested in RadhaSoami/SantMat which originated in the 19th century.
Briefly, they call their Guru 'Perfect Master' who they belive is God in human form(GIHF).
Their paths is one of satsang(listening/giving spiritual discourse), service(to the GIHF) and meditation(techniques for looking within to have the experience of Shabd(similar to the 'Word' in Christianity and other belief systems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radha_Soami
 
GuruZero said:
I think you got it...
As for me I'd guess I just do not like regurgitated stuff for us dumb western folk (who could not possibly understand the intricacies and nuances of those fancy Eastern religions) with their fancy Sanskrit words....
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Yes, I agree. I'm sensitive to bullshit and phonies as well. I think Western people do need some help unlearning some things, and by whatever means that happens at least it happens. People are showing signs of awakening, but you have to look closely, there aren't that many. As you know, awakening sometimes happens all at once and sometimes it seems to happen bit by bit. Many of us were taught to see ourselves as somehow separate from each other and the universe itself. Almost as if we were somehow in opposition to it by nature, thus the concept of guilt came into being. So many things to unlearn!
 
I know this is an old thread but I'm new to the forum. I don't think I saw anyone mention Mormonism, which is a 19th century innovation and different enough from Christianity (due to having additional new scriptures and incredibly different doctrines) to be a new religion (Newer denominations of Christianity like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventists, which are 19th century innovations also, are not as radically different from classical Christianity so I don't know if they would count as new religions) Christian Science and other New Thought groups like Unity are different enough from classical Christianity to be new religions. Bahai was a19th century innovation. But there's also Scientology, Wicca, Eckankar, Moonies, Falung Gong, The Nation of Islam (different from classical Islam) the Rasti, Santeria (19th century) Voudou (18th century I believe but there are older roots) various Pagan movements, various so called Satanic cults, New Age movements,and probably so many I once knew and forgot and many others I have probably never heard of.
 
Thanks for extending that list.

A belated welcome to the forums, btw!

It would be nice if you told us a little about yourself, on the "Introductions" sub-forum:

Introductions

New? Feel free to introduce yourself and meet the other members here. :)
www.interfaith.org www.interfaith.org

And we have a Code of Conduct, mentioning it on general principles, give it a read.
 
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