Summary
Pseudoreligion or pseudotheology is a pejorative for a non-mainstream belief-system or philosophy which is functionally similar to a religious movement, typically having a founder, principal text, liturgy and faith-based beliefs.[1][2]
Belief systems such as Christian Science[3] or Nation of Islam[4] have been referred to as pseudoreligions, as have various New Age religions, as well as political ideologies such as Nazism and Positive Christianity.[5]
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,[6] and millennaristic movements such as the Ghost Dance and South Pacific cargo cults.[7]
Difference with religion edit
Quasi-religions edit
In 1963, German-American philosopher Paul Tillich introduced a distinction between pseudo-religions and quasi-religions. He described pseudo-religions as movements which intentionally deceive adherents through their similarities with mainstream religions, while quasi-religions are non-religious movements which have unintended similarities to religions.[8]
See also edit
- Fictional religion
- Folk religion – Expressions of religion distinct from the official doctrines of organized religion
- Pseudophilosophy – Philosophical idea or system which does not meet an expected set of standards
- Pseudoscience – Unscientific claims wrongly presented as scientific
- Religion – Social-cultural system
References edit
- ^ Biever, Bruce (1976). Religion, Culture and Values: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Motivational Factors in Native Irish and American Irish Catholicism. Arno Press, a New York Times Company. p. 165. ISBN 0-405-09319-5.
- ^ Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (1993). The Need for a Sacred Science. SUNY Press. p. 61. ISBN 0-7914-1517-1.
- ^ Olston, Albert B. (1 February 2003). Facts and Fables of Christian Science. Kessinger Publishing. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-7661-2991-7. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
- ^ McCloud, Sean (1 March 2004). "Monitoring the Marginal Masses". Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 1955–1993. UNC Press. ISBN 0-8078-5496-4.
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."
- ^ Grunberger, Richard (1995). The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany 1933–1945. Da Capo Press. pp. 72–75. ISBN 0-306-80660-6.
- ^ MacDonald, Jeffery L. (December 1995). "Inventing Traditions for the New Age: A Case Study of the Earth Energy Tradition". Anthropology of Consciousness. 6 (4): 31–45. doi:10.1525/ac.1995.6.4.31.
- ^ Errington, Frederick (May 1974). "Indigenous Ideas of Order, Time, and Transition in a New Guinea Cargo Movement". American Ethnologist. 1 (2): 255–267. doi:10.1525/ae.1974.1.2.02a00030.
- ^
Tillich, Paul (1963). "Christianity and the Encounter of the World Religions". In Scharlemann, Robert P. (ed.). ReSchriften [Religious writings]. Hauptwerke. Vol. 5. Walter de Gruyter (published 1988). p. 293. ISBN 9780899253817. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
Sometimes, what I call quasi-religions are called pseudo-religions, but this is as imprecise as it is unfair. 'Pseudo' indicates an intended but deceptive similarity; 'quasi' indicates a genuine similarity, not intended, but based on points of identity, and this, certainly, is the situation in cases like Fascism and Communism, the most extreme examples of quasi-religions today.
External links edit
- "Pseudo-Science and Pseudo-Theology: (A) Cult and Occult"; Bube, Dr. Richard A., Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, Issue 29, March 1977.
- "Bad Religions and Good Religions"; Carmine, Professor James D, IntellectualConservative.com, 14 December 2005.