Hugh B. Urban - New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America

New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements is a comprehensive and user-friendly book devoted to the study of alternative spiritual currents in modern America. The text has grown naturally out of my seventeen years of teaching at a major public university, where I have developed and regularly taught such courses as New Age and New Religious Movements, New Religious Movements in a Global Context, and Magic in the Modern World. Thus the book has a distinctly pedagogical focus, centered on key issues and controversies that I have found consistently work extremely well to provoke thoughtful discussion and debate among readers.

I should also say a few words about the approach of this book. For the most part, this book attempts to present these new religious movements in a clear, straightforward, and nonjargony way. For the sake of readability, notes and references will be kept to a minimum, although a list of suggestions for further reading will be included at the end of each chapter. While the book is informed by all of the existing scholarly literature and theoretical approaches to new religions, it seeks to avoid overburdening readers with dense language and long footnotes. Instead, theoretical questions are largely implicit in the body of each chapter and are allowed to emerge naturally out of readers own engagement with the material. In my experience, when readers engage issues such as the brainwashing debate that surrounds new religions such as Heavens Gate or Peoples Temple, they are usually able to generate the major theoretical approaches to the question on their own, without my having to tell them, Scholar X says blah blah blah about brainwashing. And once they have generated these interpretations on their own, readers can be directed toward relevant theoretical literature to help nuance and clarify their perspectives. For this reason, the book includes an appendix on theoretical and methodological approaches to new religions for readers who want to delve further into the academic discussions and debates in the study of new religions.

Many chapters include an interview with a contemporary member (or in some cases an ex-member) of each movement, along with suggestions for relevant films and sources for further reading. For those who are using this book in a university setting, there are also suggested classroom exercises and discussion questions.

A great many people have helped me with my work on new religions over the years and deserve my heartfelt thanks. These include colleagues and mentors such as David Bromley, Lorne Dawson, Cathy Gutierrez, Wouter Hanegraaff, Seth Josephson, Jeffrey Kripal, James Lewis, Bruce Lincoln, Thomas Maroukis, Rebecca Moore, Christopher Partridge, Arthur Versluis, and Catherine Wessinger; my editor, Reed Malcolm; and various members of spiritual communities who offered their time and insight, such as Larry Abdullah, Christopher Blythe, Tim Carter, Ivy Chevers, Mike Dangler, Jagannath Dasa, Mustafaa Islam, Nancy Many, Joseph Mauriello, Cindy Riggs, Carla Watson, and Don Webb.

ONE

Introduction

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The Rise of New Religions in Modern America

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Each fall, my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, hosts the Universal Life Expo, a huge convention for alternative spiritual and religious practices held at our local Veterans Memorial Hall. Since most central Ohioans come from a mainstream Christian or Jewish background, they are usually amazed to discover that right here, a few blocks from the Ohio Statehouse, we have one of the largest gatherings of New Age and alternative spirituality in the country. Featuring over 330 booths and vendors, the Expo describes itself as a metaphysical extravaganza offering herbs, crystals, jewelry, angels, musical instruments, wholesome food, incense, readings, wellness products, clothing, candles, art, healers, publications, spiritual fulfillment, and something for everybody, even your pets. The various groups and individuals present include both established religious traditions, such as a group of Tibetan monks who create a large sand mandala, and a vast array of newer spiritual arrivals, such as Spiritualists, Scientologists, channelers, Reiki therapists, psychics, crystal healers, and professional ghost-hunters. The interested visitor can consult with a Spiritualist medium, have a tarot card reading, receive a quick stress test from the Church of Scientology, have her or his aura photographed, purchase any of the thousands of crystals and other objects on display, and finally relax with a stop by the Cuddle Party. In many ways, the Expo is a microcosm of religious diversity and of the complex role of spirituality in the contemporary United States, where hundreds of new spiritual groups exist and compete alongside more established religions in a vibrant but at times chaotic marketplace of religious ideas, practices, goods, and services (figure 1.1).

FIGURE 1.1 Aura photography, Universal Life Expo, Columbus, Ohio, 2013. Photo by the author.

If most Americans are surprised to discover a massive New Age convention in downtown Columbus, they are typically even more astonished to know that the Midwest is also one of the largest hubs of neopagan activity in the United States, with dozens of Wiccan, Druid, and other groups. Just a few weeks after the Universal Life Expo is the neopagan holy day of Samhain (corresponding to Halloween and falling on the autumn equinox). Our own local Druid group, called ADF (r nDraocht Fin, or A Druid Fellowship), welcomes the public to attend its major holy days and always performs its major rituals in public spaces such as metro parks, where anyone is invited to attend (figure 1.2).