New religions called 'most vulnerable'
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___AUSTIN--New religions are the faith communities most threatened by repression, an international authority on the sociology of religion said.
___"The kinds of religion most at risk are the alternative, new religious movements," said Eileen Barker, professor of sociology at the London School of Economics.
___She presented "International Perspectives on Religious Liberty" at the annual statewide conference of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission.
___New religious movements tend to be vulnerable, Barker said, because:
___ They are relatively small in number.
___ They are often multi-national or foreign and therefore different than the majority population.
___ There is widespread ignorance and willful distortion regarding their teachings.
___ They often are characterized by "first generation enthusiasms."
___Governments sometimes seek to control these new faith movements through registration, making legal registration contingent upon length of stay in a country or upon the number of adherents claimed by the religion. This has been evidenced in Europe after the collapse of communism and the dismantling of the Soviet Union, she observed.
___In addition to the formal repression of new religious movements by governments and state churches, they also are subject to campaigns of misinformation and defamation by the established culture, Barker noted.
___The media often reinforce that perception by portraying all new sects in light of extreme cases such as the Jonestown mass suicide or the Branch Davidian standoff at Mount Carmel, she said.
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