New Religions and the New Zealand Census
Are Meaningful Generalizations About NRM Members Still Possible?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v2i2.179Keywords:
New Zealand, Census, Religious Denominations, Conversion, PaganismAbstract
From the very beginning of NRM studies, researchers were focused on understanding who joined new religions and why. By the 1980s, we had reached a consensus profile of young, educated converts who joined primarily via social networks. However, by the twenty-first century, the situation on the ground had changed, in part because of the rising age and greater diversity of recruits to alternative religions and in part because of changes resulting from changes such as the emergence of the Internet as a new environment for non-traditional religions. The present article examines data from the New Zealand census to demonstrate the point that the earlier profile of members of non-traditional reached in the 1970s and 1980s has been superseded, and, further, that it is no longer possible to discuss NRM members “in general,” as a class demographically distinct from members of other religious organizations.
References
Andersen, Peter B., and Rie wellendorf. 2009 “Community in Scientology and among Scientologists.” In Scientology, edited by James R. Lewis, 143–163. New York: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331493.003.0008
----- 2002 “Kilder til et ikke eksisterende fællesskab.” Chaos, Dansk-norskTtidsskrift for Religionshistoriske Studier 37: 9–20.
Barker, Eileen. 2010 “Twenty Years After: Ageing of and Ageing In the New Religions.” Twenty Years After: Secularization and desecularization in Central And Eastern Europe Conference, Brno, Czech Republic, 16–18 december.
----- 1984 The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Beckford, James A. 2003 Social Theory & Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Berger, Helen A. 2011 Email communication with author, 29 August.
Berger, Helen A. and douglas Ezzy. 2007 Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for Self. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Berger, Helen A., Evan A. Leach and Leigh S. Schaffer. 2003 Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans in the United States. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
Bromley, david G. 2009 “On the Significance of the Study of New Religious movements: Progress Toward Understanding the Formation of New Religions.” In Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by Peter C. Clarke, 723–741. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cowan, douglas E. 2004 Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet. Oxford, UK: Routledge.
Cusack, Carole m. 2010 Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Dawson, Lorne L. 2006 Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
----- 2003 “who Joins New Religions and why: Twenty Years of Research and what Have we Learned?” In Cults and New Religions: A Reader, edited by Lorne L. dawson, 116–130. Oxford: Blackwell.
----- 1998 Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements. Ontario, CA: Oxford University Press.
----- 1996 “who joins new religious movements and why: twenty years of research and what have we learned?” Studies in Religion 25(2): 141–161.
Dawson, Lorne L., and Douglas E. Cowan. 2004 Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet. New York: Routledge.
Gooren, Henri. 2010 Religious Conversion and Disaffiliation: Tracing Patterns of Change in Faith Practices. New York: Palgrave macmillan.
Johnston, Hannah E. and Peg Aloi, eds. 2007 The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Krogh, marilyn C., and Brooke Ashley Pillifant. 2004 “The House of Netjer: A New Religious Community Online.” In Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet, edited by Lorna L. dawson and douglas E. Cowan, 189–203. New York: Routledge.
Levine, Saul V. 1984 Radical Departures: Desperate Detours to Growing Up. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Lewis, James R. 2013 “The Youth Crisis model of Conversion: An Idea whose Time has Passed?” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions. Forthcoming.
----- 2012a “Conversion to Satanism.” In The Devil’s Party: Satanism in Modernity, edited by Jesper Aagaard Petersen and Per Faxneld. Oxford University Press. Forthcoming.
----- 2012b Cults: A Reference Guide. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing.
----- 2011 “The devil’s demographics: Changes in the Satanic milieu, 2001–2009.” Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 2(2), Forthcoming.
----- 2009 “The Growth of Scientology and the Stark model of Religious ‘Success.’” In Scientology, edited by James R. Lewis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331493.001.0001
----- 2007 “The Pagan Explosion.” In The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture, edited by Hannah E. Johnston and Peg Aloi, 13–23. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
----- 2004 “New Religion Adherents: An Overview of Anglophone Census and Survey data.” Marburg Journal of Religious Studies 9:1.
Lewis, James R., and Andreas Baumann. Forthcoming “Cracks in the Conversion Network Paradigm.” Currently under review.
Machalek, Richard, and David A. Snow. 1993 “Conversion to New Religious movements.” In Religion and the Social Order, Vol. 3: The Handbook on Cults and Sects in America, Part B. Edited by david G. Bromley and Jeffrey K. Hadden, 53–74. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Oleson, Ted, and James T. Richardson. 2007 “The Confluence of Research Traditions on Terrorism and Religion: A Social Psychological Examination.” Psicología Política 34: 39–55.
Rochford, Burke. 2007 Hare Krishna Transformed, New York: New York University Press.
----- 1985 Hare Krishna in America, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Siegler, Elijah. 2010 “‘Back to the Pristine’: Identity Formation and Legitimation in Contemporary American daoism.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 14(1): 45–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/nr.2010.14.1.45
Snow, david A., and Richard machalek. 1984 “The Sociology of Conversion.” Annual Review of Sociology 10: 167–190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.10.080184.001123
Snow, david A., Louis A. Zurcher, Jr. and Sheldon Ekland-Olson. 1980 “Social Networks and Social movements: A microstructural Approach to differential Recruitment.” American Sociological Review 45(5): 787–801. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2094895
Stark, Rodney, and william Sims Bainbridge. 1985 The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wallis, Roy. 1977 The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Study of Scientology. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wilson, Bryan, and Karel dobbelaere. 1994 A Time to Chant: The Soka Gakkai Buddhists in Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
----- 2002 “Kilder til et ikke eksisterende fællesskab.” Chaos, Dansk-norskTtidsskrift for Religionshistoriske Studier 37: 9–20.
Barker, Eileen. 2010 “Twenty Years After: Ageing of and Ageing In the New Religions.” Twenty Years After: Secularization and desecularization in Central And Eastern Europe Conference, Brno, Czech Republic, 16–18 december.
----- 1984 The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Beckford, James A. 2003 Social Theory & Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Berger, Helen A. 2011 Email communication with author, 29 August.
Berger, Helen A. and douglas Ezzy. 2007 Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for Self. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Berger, Helen A., Evan A. Leach and Leigh S. Schaffer. 2003 Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans in the United States. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
Bromley, david G. 2009 “On the Significance of the Study of New Religious movements: Progress Toward Understanding the Formation of New Religions.” In Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by Peter C. Clarke, 723–741. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cowan, douglas E. 2004 Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet. Oxford, UK: Routledge.
Cusack, Carole m. 2010 Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Dawson, Lorne L. 2006 Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
----- 2003 “who Joins New Religions and why: Twenty Years of Research and what Have we Learned?” In Cults and New Religions: A Reader, edited by Lorne L. dawson, 116–130. Oxford: Blackwell.
----- 1998 Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements. Ontario, CA: Oxford University Press.
----- 1996 “who joins new religious movements and why: twenty years of research and what have we learned?” Studies in Religion 25(2): 141–161.
Dawson, Lorne L., and Douglas E. Cowan. 2004 Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet. New York: Routledge.
Gooren, Henri. 2010 Religious Conversion and Disaffiliation: Tracing Patterns of Change in Faith Practices. New York: Palgrave macmillan.
Johnston, Hannah E. and Peg Aloi, eds. 2007 The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Krogh, marilyn C., and Brooke Ashley Pillifant. 2004 “The House of Netjer: A New Religious Community Online.” In Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet, edited by Lorna L. dawson and douglas E. Cowan, 189–203. New York: Routledge.
Levine, Saul V. 1984 Radical Departures: Desperate Detours to Growing Up. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Lewis, James R. 2013 “The Youth Crisis model of Conversion: An Idea whose Time has Passed?” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions. Forthcoming.
----- 2012a “Conversion to Satanism.” In The Devil’s Party: Satanism in Modernity, edited by Jesper Aagaard Petersen and Per Faxneld. Oxford University Press. Forthcoming.
----- 2012b Cults: A Reference Guide. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing.
----- 2011 “The devil’s demographics: Changes in the Satanic milieu, 2001–2009.” Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 2(2), Forthcoming.
----- 2009 “The Growth of Scientology and the Stark model of Religious ‘Success.’” In Scientology, edited by James R. Lewis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331493.001.0001
----- 2007 “The Pagan Explosion.” In The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture, edited by Hannah E. Johnston and Peg Aloi, 13–23. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
----- 2004 “New Religion Adherents: An Overview of Anglophone Census and Survey data.” Marburg Journal of Religious Studies 9:1.
Lewis, James R., and Andreas Baumann. Forthcoming “Cracks in the Conversion Network Paradigm.” Currently under review.
Machalek, Richard, and David A. Snow. 1993 “Conversion to New Religious movements.” In Religion and the Social Order, Vol. 3: The Handbook on Cults and Sects in America, Part B. Edited by david G. Bromley and Jeffrey K. Hadden, 53–74. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Oleson, Ted, and James T. Richardson. 2007 “The Confluence of Research Traditions on Terrorism and Religion: A Social Psychological Examination.” Psicología Política 34: 39–55.
Rochford, Burke. 2007 Hare Krishna Transformed, New York: New York University Press.
----- 1985 Hare Krishna in America, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Siegler, Elijah. 2010 “‘Back to the Pristine’: Identity Formation and Legitimation in Contemporary American daoism.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 14(1): 45–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/nr.2010.14.1.45
Snow, david A., and Richard machalek. 1984 “The Sociology of Conversion.” Annual Review of Sociology 10: 167–190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.10.080184.001123
Snow, david A., Louis A. Zurcher, Jr. and Sheldon Ekland-Olson. 1980 “Social Networks and Social movements: A microstructural Approach to differential Recruitment.” American Sociological Review 45(5): 787–801. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2094895
Stark, Rodney, and william Sims Bainbridge. 1985 The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wallis, Roy. 1977 The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Study of Scientology. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wilson, Bryan, and Karel dobbelaere. 1994 A Time to Chant: The Soka Gakkai Buddhists in Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Published
2011-12-31
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Lewis, J., & Baumann, A. (2011). New Religions and the New Zealand Census: Are Meaningful Generalizations About NRM Members Still Possible?. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 2(2), 179-200. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v2i2.179
