According to what is at present the most common typology
among sociologists, religious groups are classified as
ecclesia,
denominations,
cults or
sects. Note that sociologists give these words precise
definitions which are different from how they are commonly
used. Note especially that the words 'cult' and 'sect' as
used by sociologists are free from prejudice, even though
the popular use of these words is often highly pejorative.
The below text deals only with one theory; work of
other authors needs to be included.
According to the theory of R. Stark & W. S. Bainbridge,
religions are systems of "compensators". Compensators are a
body of language and practices that compensate for some
physical lack or frustrated goal. They can be divided into
specific compensators (compensators for the failure to
achieve specific goals), and general compensators
(compensators for failure to achieve any goal).
It has been observed that social or politicial movements
that fail to achieve their goals will often transform into
religions. As it becomes clear that the goals of the
movement will not be achieved by natural means (at least
within their lifetimes), members of the movement will look
to the supernatural to achieve what cannot be achieved
naturally. The new religious beliefs are compensators for
the failure to achieve the original goals. Examples of this
include the counterculture movement in America: the early
counterculture movement was intent on changing society and
removing its injustice and boredom; but as members of the
movement proved unable to achieve these goals they turned to
Eastern and new religions as compensators.
The most general sociological theory of the formation of
religions so far is contained in R. Stark & W. S.
Bainbridge's book "Theory of Religion". This theory is
outlined roughly below:
Most religions start out their lives as cults or sects,
i.e. groups in high tension with the surrounding society.
Over time, they tend to either die out, or become more
established, mainstream and in less tension with society.
Cults are new groups with a new novel theology, while sects
are attempts to return mainstream religions to (what the
sect views as) their original purity. Mainstream established
groups are called denominations. The comments below about
cult formation apply equally well to sect formation.
There are four models of cult formation: the
Psychopathological Model, the Entrepreneurial Model, the
Social Model and the Normal Revelations model.
According to the Psychopathological Model, religions are
founded during a period of severe stress in the life of the
founder. The founder suffers from psychological problems,
which they resolve through the founding of the religion.
(The development of the religion is for them a form of
self-therapy, or self-medication.)
According to the Entrepreneurial Model, founders of
religions act like entrepreneurs, developing new products
(religions) to sell to consumers (to convert people to).
According to this model, most founders of new religions
already have experience in several religious groups before
they begin their own. They take ideas from the pre-existing
religions, and try to improve on them to make them more
popular.
The Social Model emphasises not the founder of the
religion, but rather the early religious group. According to
this model, religions are founded by means of social
implosions. Members of the religious group spend less and
less time with people outside the group, and more and more
time with each other within it. The level of affection and
emotional bonding between members of a group increases, and
their emotional bonds to members outside the group diminsh.
According to the social model, when a social implosion
occurs, the group will naturally develop a new theology and
rituals to accompany it.
The Normal Revelations model was added to the theory by
Stark in a latter work. According to the Normal Revelations
model, religions are founded when the founder interprets
ordinary natural phenomena as supernatural; for instance,
ascribing his or her own creativity in inventing the
religion to that of the deity.
Some religions are better described by one model than
another, though all apply to differing degrees to all
religions.
Once a cult or sect has been founded, the next problem
for the founder is to convert new members to it. Prime
candidates for religious conversion are those with an
openness to religion, but who do not belong or fit well in
any existing religious group. Those with no religion or no
interest in religion are difficult to convert, especially
since the cult and sect beliefs are so extreme by the
standards of the surrounding society. But those already
happy members of a religious group are difficult to convert
as well, since they have strong social links to their
pre-existing religion and are unlikely to want to sever them
in order to join a new one. The best candidates for
religious conversion are those who are members of or have
been associated with religious groups (thereby showing an
interest or openness to religion), yet exist on the fringe
of these groups, without strong social ties to prevent them
from joining a new group.
Potential converts vary in their level of social
connection. New religions best spread through pre-existing
friendship networks. Converts who are marginal with few
friends are easy to convert, but having few friends to
convert they cannot add much to the further growth of the
organization. Converts with a large social network are
harder to convert, since they tend to have more invested in
mainstream society; but once converted they yield many new
followers through their friendship network.
Cults initially can have quite high growth rates; but as
the social networks that initially feed them are exhausted,
their growth rate falls quickly. On the other hand, the
rate of growth is exponential (ignoring the limited
supply of potential converts): the more converts you have,
the more missionaries you can have out looking for new
converts. But nonetheless it can take a very long time for
religions to grow to a large size by natural growth. This
often leads to cult leaders giving up after several decades,
and withdrawing the cult from the world.
It is difficult for cults and sects to maintain their
initial enthusiasm for more than about a generation. As
children are born into the cult or sect, members begin to
demand a more stable life. When this happens, cults tend to
lose or de-emphasise many of their more radical beliefs, and
become more open to the surrounding society; they then
become denominations.
The goal or dream of most founders of religions is to
convert their entire society; but of the myriad religions
founded throughout history, few have been very successful.
Most of the world's religious market share is taken up by a
few religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism). It
is very difficult for a religion to grow to this size, and
depends more on the luck than the skill of the religion's
founder. Most of these religions (especially Christianity)
established themselves by penetrating the social network of
the society's elite. Once this network was penetrated, the
religion quickly controlled the elite of the society. The
religion of the common people took much longer to change
(sometimes centuries), but once the elite had changed their
religion the change of the whole society was inevitable.
