Children in New Religions
Contested Duties of Care
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v1i2.183Keywords:
New Religious Movements, Sect, Children, Education, HealthAbstract
New religious movements (NRMs) often have a marginal position in society, for a variety of reasons. This is generally accepted within diverse democracies as long as the groups consist of law-abiding consenting adults. But once children are involved the social dynamics are likely to change as a result of contested duties of care. Parents have a right to raise their children within their religion, while state authorities have a responsibility towards minors within their jurisdiction. This article highlights some of the main concerns about children in NRMs, focusing on teachings and practices relating to health and education within movements that chose relative seclusion.
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Asser, S.M. and R. Swan. 2000 “Child Fatalities from Religion-Motivated Neglect.” Cultic Studies Journal 17: 1–14.
Barker, E. 1995 “The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must be Joking!” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34(3): 287–310. doi:10.2307/1386880
Beckford, J.A. 1985 Cult Controversies: The Societal Response to the New Religious Movements. London, Tavistock.
1983 “Talking of Apostasy, or Telling Tales and ‘Telling’ Tales.” Accounts and Action: Surrey Conferences on Sociological Theory and Method, edited by G.N. Gilbert and P. Abell, 77–97. London: Gower.
Bird, F. 1979 “The Pursuit of Innocence: New Religious Movements and Moral Accountability.” Sociological Analysis 40(4): 335–346. doi:10.2307/3709962
Campbell, Colin. 1972 “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization.” A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain 5: 119–136.
Coney, J. 1999 “Growing up As Mother’s Children: Socializing a Second Generation in Sahaja Yoga.” In Children in New Religions, edited by S.J. Palmer and C.E. Hardman, 108–123. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
1999 Sahaja Yoga: Socializing Processes in a South Asian New Religious Movement. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.
Engardio, J.P. and T. Shephard. 2007 Knocking. Independent Lens, PBS.
Gelberg, S.J., Ed. 1983 Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna: Five Distinguished Scholars on the Krishna Movement in the West. New York: Grove Press.
Goswami, J. 1984 Srila Prabhupada on Guru-Kula. Los Angeles, CA: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Gunn, T.J. 2003 “The Complexity of Religion and the Definition of ‘Religion’ in International Law.” Harvard Human Rights Journal 16: 189–215.
Hickey, K.S. and L. Lyckholm. 2004 “Child Welfare versus Parental Autonomy: Medical Ethics, the Law, and Faith-Based Healing.” Theoretical Medicine 25: 265–276. doi:10.1007/s11017-004-3137-7
Hostetler, J.A. 1993 Amish Society. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Hughes, R.A. 2004-5 “The Death of Children by Faith-Based Medical Neglect.” Journal of Law and Religion 20(1): 247–265.
Johnson, D. 2009 Trials for Parents who Chose Faith Over Medicine. New York Times, January 21, 2009, page A23 (New York edition).
Kraybill, D.B. 1989 The Riddle of Amish Culture. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Lofland, J. and J.T. Richardson. 1984 Religious Movement Organisations: Elemental Forms and Dynamics. In Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, vol. 7. edited by L. Kriesberg, 29–51. Greenwich, CN: JAI Press.
Marr, D. 2009 “Leave Sect and Kiss Your Children Goodbye.” The Age. July 12. http:// www.theage.com.au/national/leave-sect-and-kiss-your-children-goodbye- 20090711-dgrq.html
Merrick, J.C. 2003 “Spiritual Healing, Sick Kids and the Law: Inequities in the American Healthcare System.” American Journal of Law and Medicine 29: 269–299.
Muster, N.J. 2004 “Authoritarian Culture and Child Abuse in ISKCON.” Cultic Studies Review 3(1): 1–27.
Oved, Y. 1996 The Witness of the Brothers: A History of the Bruderhof. New Brunswick, Transaction.
Palmer, S. 1994 “Heaven’s Children: The Children of God’s Second Generation.” In Sex, Slander, and Salvation: Investigating The Family/Children of God, edited by J. Lewis, 1–26. Stanford CA, Center for Academic Publication.
Palmer, S.J. and C.E. Hardman, eds. 1999 Children in New Religions. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Pardon, B. n.d. “The Body:” Descent from Benign Bible Study to Destructive Cult. Lakeville, MA: New England Institute of Religious Research (NEIIR).
Petrie, A. 2001 “Home Education in Europe and the Implementation of Changes to the Law.” International Review of Education 47(5): 477–500. doi:10.1023/A:1012260228356
Petrie, A., G. Windras, et al. 1999 “The Prevalence of Home Education in England: A Feasibility Study.” Report to the Department of Education and Employment. London.
Puttick, E. 1999 Osho Ko Hsuan School: Educating the “New Child.” In Children in New Religions, edited by S.J. Palmer and C.E. Hardman, 88–107. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Raghunatha. 1990 “Children of the Ashram.” Retrieved 10/8/2007, from http://surrealist. org/gurukula/timeline/children.html.
Rochford, E.B. 1995 Hare Krishna in America: Growth, Decline, and Accommodation. In America’s Alternative Religions, edited by T. Miller, 215–222. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
Rochford, E.B. and J. Heinlein. 1998 “Child Abuse in the Hare Krishna Movement: 1971-1986.” ISKCON Communications Journal 6(1): 43–69.
van Eck Duymaer van Twist, A. 2008 Growing Up in Contemporary Sectarian Religious Movements: an Analysis of Segregated Socialisation. PhD thesis, Department of Sociology. London School of Economics.
Wallis, R. 1996 Three Types of New Religious Movements. In Cults in Context: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements, edited by L.L. Dawson, 39–69. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Whedon, S.W. 2009 “The Wisdom of Indigo Children: An Emphatic Restatement of the Value of American Children.” Nova Religio 12(3): 60–76. doi:10.1525/ nr.2009.12.3.60
Wilson, B. 1990 The Social Dimensions of Sectarianism: Sects and New Religious Movements in Contemporary Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Yang, F. 2006 “The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China.” The Sociological Quarter 47: 93–122. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.2006.00039.x
2007 Oligopoly Dynamics: Official Religions in China. In The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by J.A. Beckford and N.J. Demerath, 635–653. London: Sage.
Published
2011-01-12
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
van Eck Duymaer van Twist, A. (2011). Children in New Religions: Contested Duties of Care. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 1(2), 183-206. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v1i2.183
