Pseudoreligion

"Pseudoreligion" (or pseudotheology) is a generally pejorative term applied to a non-mainstream belief system or philosophy which is functionally similar to religious practices, typically having a founder, principal text, liturgy and faith-based beliefs. [cite book
title=Religion, Culture and Values: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Motivational Factors in Native Irish and American Irish Catholicism
last=Biever
first=Bruce
publisher=Arno Press, a New York Times Company
year=1976
id=0405093195
pages=165
url=http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0405093195&id=HSpa5m6nb38C&dq=Pseudo-Religion] [cite book
title=The Need for a Sacred Science
last=Nasr
first=Seyyed Hossein
publisher=SUNY Press
pages=61
year=1993
url=http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0791415171&id=-eoJHUr0uIQC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=Pseudo-Religion&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=r0kPfuKWQ6V5_VNT8CHyAQXGA70#PPA61,M1
id=0791415171]

Belief systems such as Theosophy [cite book
title=Theosophy, a History of a Pseudo-Religion
url=http://books.google.com/books?btnG=Google+Search&as_isbn=0900588799
last=Guenon
first=Rene
year=1921
id=0900588799] , corporate Kabbalism [cite news
url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=11318
title=Q & A With Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
publisher=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
first=Gaby
last= Wenig
date=2003-11-07
quote=Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: There is no spirit in it, no message in it. This is part of a general term toward the esoteric that seems to be a' la mode for the time being, but it is not important on any real level. At best, it is shallow and unimportant. At worst, it may become slightly dangerous for Judaism and for the people who get involved in it. To get involved in any kind of pseudo-science or pseudo-religion is always slightly dangerous for the religion.] and the Nation of Islam [cite book
last = McCloud
first = Sean
title = Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 1955-1993
date= 2004-03-01
publisher = UNC Press
id = 0807854964
chapter = Monitoring the Marginal Masses
quote = William Buckley's more conservative "National Review" dubbed the group a "pseudo-religion." Writing in "Ebony", Hans J. Massaquoi concurred, calling the Nation of Islam a "quasi-religion."] have all been referred to as pseudoreligions, as have humanism and various New Age religions, as well as political ideologies such as Nazism [cite book
title=The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany 1933-1945
url=http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0306806606&id=poikX8ecYRwC&pg=RA1-PA72&lpg=RA1-PA72&dq=Pseudo-Religion&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=rXDUlzPjD84-4IHVYPPNphRp8Vo#PRA1-PA72,M1
last=Grunberger
first=Richard
publisher=Da Capo Press
year=1995
pages=72-75
id=0306806606] , Marxist Communism [cite news
title=Revolutionary War, Guerillas and Communist Ideology
quote=Communism is "a kind of pseudo-religion, given that it has a founder, a mythology, a sacred book, a clergy, a place of pilgrimage and an inquisition. The founder is Marx; the mythology is communist theory; the sacred book is Das Kapital; the clergy are members of the Communist Party; the place of pilgrimage is Moscow; and the inquisition [by] the state (KGB) and others.
date=1989
pages=128
publisher=Army and CIA Training Manual] . Within the academic debate, ideologies that resemble religion are sometimes referred to as political religions.

While the more serious-minded participants in these groups may prefer to consider themselves part of a proper religion, or not part of a religion at all, the mainstream ascribes to them fringe status. Such groups as the Raëlian Church, Heaven's Gate, or Scientology, when seen as dangerous, exploitive, secretive, or closed, have been classified as pseudoreligious cults.

Others may begin as splinters or hold-overs from traditional religions based in Apocryphal or Pseudepigraphical writings not accepted within the originating religion. Examples of this include the various sects of Gnosticism.

Satirical or parody religions, such as Discordianism, Church of the SubGenius, or the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, have been viewed as pseudoreligions, particularly when members claim that their group is as real and/or as valid as other more widely accepted belief systems.

Professor James Carmine, chair of Carlow University's philosophy department, proposes a three-pronged test to distinguish "authentic" religions from pseudoreligions::# Any religion lacking a guiding coherent theology is a pseudo-religion.:# Any religion entirely self referential is a pseudo-religion.:# Any religion whose only fruit is adherence to itself is a pseudo-religion. [cite web
url=http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4806.html
publisher=IntellectualConservative.com
last=Carmine
first=James
title=Bad Religions and Good Religions
date= 14 December 2005
accessdate=2006-12-30]

Applying this test, Carmine describes "third-wave feminism" and political correctness as "bad religions."

Other scholars of religion, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, are not inclined to view religious practices in terms of authenticity. [cite book
last = Bowie
first = Fiona
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction
publisher = Blackwell Publishing Professional
date= 2005
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ] Examples of marginal movements with founding figures, liturgies and recently invented traditions that have been studied as legitimate social practices include various New Age movements [cite journal
last = MacDonald
first = Jeffery L.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Inventing Traditions for the New Age: A Case Study of the Earth Energy Tradition
journal = Anthropology of Consciousness
volume = 6
issue = 4
pages = 31–45
publisher =
date= December 1995
url =
doi = 10.1525
id =
accessdate =
doi_brokendate = 2008-06-23] , and millennaristic movements such as the Ghost Dance and south Pacific cargo cults. [cite journal
last = Errington
first = Frederick
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Indigenous Ideas of Order, Time, and Transition in a New Guinea Cargo Movement
journal = American Ethnologist
volume = 1
issue = 2
pages = 255–267
publisher =
date= May 1974
url =
doi = 10.1525
id =
accessdate =
doi_brokendate = 2008-06-23]

ee also

* Folk religion
* Legitimacy of Scientology as a religion
* New religious movements
* Parody religion
* Pseudophilosophy
* Pseudoscience
* Superstition

References

External links

* [http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1977/JASA3-77Bube.html "Pseudo-Science and Pseudo-Theology: (A) Cult and Occult"] ; Bube, Dr. Richard A., "Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation", Issue 29, March 1977.
* [http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4806.html "Bad Religions and Good Religions"] ; Carmine, Professor James D, IntellectualConservative.com, 14 December 2005.