I been out of town giving a paper on the Fairfield meditating community at an academic conference for a group that studies groups like ours here in Fairfield and am now catching up on these recent threads… good considerations. Thanks, this one offered here is really an interesting site for the overview it gives: http://www.religioustolerance.org/cults.htm http://www.religioustolerance.org/cults.htm
..a ™ sect for some practitioners, a new religious movement with other practitioners and then seen as a cult for others playing the pejorative card. ... In 1998-MAY, the Associated Press decided to avoid the use of the word "cult" because it had acquired a pejorative aura; they have since given preference to the term "sect." I love the quip from Emily.mae: that those in the TM village believe TM is the best.... not clear that ultimately, "separation of church and state" would be smiled upon by the TM structure. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <emily.ma...@yahoo.com> wrote : And another correction: In this case, it would seem that the TM org and/or MMY followers would qualify as part of a "religious movement" with Melton. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <emily.mae50@...> wrote : About J. Gordon Melton's work as a cult apologist (according to this article): http://www.apologeticsindex.org/m06.html http://www.apologeticsindex.org/m06.html His views are that organizations such as Scientology, Children of God, Jonestown, etc. are not cults but rather "new religious movements" or in another interview I read with him personally "minority religions." In this case, it would seem that the TM org would qualify as a "religion" with Melton. As an aside, I think this is the basis for how the chanting pundits are allowed into the U.S.—under the category of "religious workers." FFL had a long discussion on this some time ago (when the the pundits organized a protest). ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <emily.mae50@...> wrote : Correction: The definition David Orme-Johnson has adopted from J. Gordon Melton (his own personal definition). ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <emily.mae50@...> wrote : From your link: The word “cult” has many meanings, but in recent decades it has often been used with a negative connotation to point out a group that others would like to see removed from society. This use of the term is expressed by the prominent religious scholar J. Gordon Melton: "My working definition of a cult is a group that you don't like, and I say that somewhat facetiously, but at the same time, in fact, that is my working definition of a cult. It is a group that somebody doesn't like. It is a derogatory term, and I have never seen it redeemed from the derogatory connotations that it picked up in the sociological literature in the 1930s." (1). Yes, in society today, mostly a pejorative term. The dictionary defines the word more objectively and comprehensively. Using David Orme-Johnson's definition of "It is a group that somebody doesn't like," the TM org could easily be called a cult by those who don't like it! So could so many other things, no? That definition is his own personal definition and not one supported by the dictionary. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote : http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/IndividualEffects/IsTMaCult/index.cfm http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/IndividualEffects/IsTMaCult/index.cfm
