World Religions, Sixth EditionWarren Matthews

Chapter Eleven:

New Forms of Older ReligionsThis multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:• any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;• preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;• any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Baha´i

Baha´i is an independent religion that promotes worldwide unity

God sent a continuing stream of prophets into the world

Jewish prophets, Jesus, and Muhammad

Now, the Bab and Baha´u´llah

Baha´i seeks one world at peace

Divisions of nation, race, and gender must disappear so

people of the earth may become as one

Baha´i

Centered in Haifa, Israel

Founded by the Bab

Vision of Imam Husayn

Executed in Iran

Followed by Baha´u´llah

Exiled from Iran

Admitted to being the prophet foretold by the Bab

Wrote the holy books for Baha´i

Baha'i later led by son and grandson of Baha´u´llah

Baha´i

The Baha´i year has nineteen months of nineteen days each

The number nineteen represents Baha´i’s initial disciples

Nine holy days

Baha´i has no clergy, and worshipers meet in private homes

Of its seven Houses of Worship around the world, the United

States’ site is located in Wilmette, Illinois

The Baha´i have urged world peace, writing to members of the UN

and other global leaders

Baha’i Believer from Thailand in Her Region’s Traditional Costume

Cao Dai

Founded by Ngo Van Chieu in 1919

Very much Vietnamese in character

Has temples with chanting

Uses images of saints (including many westerner and Asian)

Has a high leader

Has followed many Vietnamese into exile and is practiced by

refugees abroad

Exists in Vietnamese American communities

Worshippers inside Cao Dai Great Temple in Tay Ninh, Vietnam

Church of Satan

Founded by Anton Szandor LaVey on April 30, 1966

An offshoot is the Temple of Set (1995)

Not devil worship, not dependent upon Christianity

Satan is one's self and selfishness

The highest source of power

Humans are not spiritual but carnal

Church of Scientology

L. Ron Hubbard founded the Church of Scientology

Famous as a science fiction writer

Based on his Original Thesis in 1948 and later his book,

Dianetics

Theology

Souls (thetans) are very early part of creation

Souls are trapped in this universe

They may be assisted in escaping

Practice

Auditing assists in “clearing” a soul

Very financially successful organization

Druids

A neopagan movement reconstructing the past

Druids did not keep written records

Most ideas are taken from relatively recent folklore

Appear to have kept three orders of people

Bards – maintained the traditions and sacred truths

Ovates – understood the mysteries of death and rebirth, divining

the future, and conversing with ancestors

Druids – were teachers, judges, and authorities on worship and

ceremonies

Druids

Druidic calendar focuses on the solar and lunar cycles

Solstices and equinoxes are times of celebration

Rituals are held in ancestral circle spaces (such as Stonehenge)

Druids connect to the universe through rites of intensification

They have male and female deities

They focus on nature as a god

They believe that life should be lived to the fullest

They believe in life after death, likely with rest before

reincarnation

Druid Ceremony for Summer Solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England

Falun Gong

China has exercise groups that evolved out of chi, yin-yang, and the

five phases

In 1992, Li Hongzhi began to emphasize spiritual exercises as

well

Presently he is in exile in the United States

Li Hongzhi denies that Falun Gong is a religion

Government of China has suppressed Falun Gong

However, there appears to be a strong group continuing to

practice Falun Gong

Falun Gong

Falun Gong

The Falun, located in the lower abdomen, properly eliminates

harmful influences in the body

Emphasizes Zhen-Shan-Ren – Confucian truthfulness, Daoist

benevolence, and Buddhist forbearance

One seeks to conduct oneself with these virtues and to become

enlightened with the truths of human life

Focus is upon individual development rather than a group

process

Orishas in the New World – Candomblé, Santería, and Vodun

Development of the Yoruba religion by slaves in the New World into

three beliefs with many similarities:

Candomblé, in Brazil

Sacrifices (such as roosters), spirit offerings (candles,

flowers), and nature worship

Spirit possession leads some devotees to impersonate deities

as they dance to sounds of drums

Incorporates some Roman Catholic practices (saints and

cross)

Orishas

Santería, in Cuba

Emphasizes spirit possession in orichas

Vodun (Voodoo), in Haiti

Vodun – a spirit or god that may protect or afflict people

Loa – a vodun who can possess a person

Leaders assist people in contacting the vodun

Contact with one’s vodun can be either positive or

negative

Rastafarian

Ras Tafari was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia in 1930

Many Africans looked to Ethiopia as the only independent African

nation at the time

As blacks in Jamaica looked for respect in the world, Ras Tafari

became the symbol of hope for the future

Rastafarians look to a future with black prestige reestablished

They wear their hair in dreadlocks (uncombed “braids”)

They look to personally improve themselves and other blacks

Theosophical Society

Organized in Vermont in 1875

Today has branches in India and the U.S.

All the great Masters arrived at the unified Ancient Wisdom

Tries to unite the wisdom of the ancients

Teaches that the ego is alienated from the higher order of spirit

But stresses that through reincarnation and education humans can

reach their spiritual destinies

The Unification Church/ Family Federation

Founded by Reverend Sun Myung Moon from Korea

Received vision on his 16th birthday

Began his church in 1954, reformed in 1996

God has a plan for families

Jesus failed to be able to perfect families, since Jesus did not

marry or father children

Moon and his wife are the new True Parents

Church has a strong business presence

Mass weddings are a visible activity

Unification Church Mass Wedding Ceremony near Seoul, Korea

Wicca

Wicca participants are often called “witches”

Not the devil worshipers of medieval times

Wiccans often emphasize the moon (as female)

Sometimes as the triumvirate (maiden, matron, crone)

Sometimes as Diana, the Roman goddess

They usually consider nature to be a goddess, and may call on her in

various aspects

Covens of ten to fifteen members perform their rituals in a nine-foot

circle