List of new religious movements

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Contents 1 A 2 B 3 C 4 D 5 E 6 F 7 G 8 H 9 I 10 J 11 K 12 L 13 M 14 N 15 O 16 P 17 Q 18 R 19 S 20 T 21 U 22 V 23 W 24 Z 25 References

For an alternative list of new religious movements see List of religions: New religious movements.

This List of new religious movements (NRMs) lists groups that either identify themselves as religious, ethical or spiritual organizations or are generally seen as such by religious scholars, which are not recognized as standard denominations, churches, or religious bodies. This list reflects the fact that there is no generally agreed upon scholarly definition of religion.

The definitions of "new" vary greatly. Some authors such as Eileen Barker and David V. Barret, see as new movements those originating or appearing in a new context after World War II, others define as "new" movements originating after the Bahá'í Faith (mid 19th century) or even everything originating after Sikhism (17th century).

Notes:

• Groups that appeared before the end of WWII will be marked as such;
• Some movements are listed by the name of their founder, because the public identifies the founder with the movement, or because the movement has yet to be named, or because the name is unknown;
• Known defunct new religious movements are designated as such.
• Parody religions are excluded

[edit] A

• A Course in Miracles (ACIM)
• Aaronic Order
• Adidam (The Way of the Heart) founded by Adi Da Samraj, born Franklin Albert Jones, also called Bubba Free John, Da Free John, and Da Love-Ananda
• Aetherius Society
• The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem
• Alcoholics Anonymous - Listed for being a movement with religious overtones, but rarely seen as a religion itself. Started in the 1930s
• Aleph, formerly known as Aum Shinrikyo.
• Ananda Marga Yoga Society
• Andrew Cohen (founder of group variously called Friends of Andrew Cohen Everywhere, "evolutionary enlightenment" or "EnlightenNext")
• Ant hill kids-A group led by Roch Theriault, he is now serving life in prison for murder.(Likely defunct, but some of his "wives" remain devoted)
• Antoinism Founder Louis-Joseph Antoine died in 1912
• Apostles of Infinite Love, Conclavist Catholics, but on modernist ideas.
• Assemblies of God(Before US entry in World War I, new in many places)

[edit] B

• Bahá'í Faith
• Bala Sai Baba (founder)
• Alice Bailey founder of Arcane Society in 1923
• Beachy Amish - Amish group that separated from the Old Order Amish in 1927.
• The Body of Christ (defunct)(Extinct Attleboro group)
• Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University-Formed in 1937.
• Branch Davidians (defunct)
• Branhamism founded by William Branham
• Brownsville Revival - Not a religion per se, but a kind of movement.
• Bruderhof - Founded 1920

[edit] C

• Calvary Chapel
• Campus Crusade for Christ - An Evangelical organization or movement, but not a particular denomination.
• Cao Dai-Dates from 1926
• Catholic Mariavite Church-Dates from 1935, origins in 1906
• Celestial Church of Christ
• Channeling (mediumistic) related: Cao Dai, Church Universal and Triumphant, Faithists of Kosmon, Urantia, and possibly a few others.
• Charismatic movement - A multi-denominational movement that includes Catholics, Protestants, and possibly others. Many to most charismatics claim descent from ecstatic or mystical elements of Christianity dating back to the second century.
• Chen Tao (The Right Way)
• Children of God
• Christadelphians' Central fellowship (Dates from roughly 1957, but the Christadelphians as a named group began during the US Civil War. See article)
• Christian and Missionary Alliance(Began around 1887 as an organization, but did not and was not deemed a denomination of its own until 1965.)
• Christian Coalition - A movement of Christians rather than a specific Christian denomination.
• Christian Community
• Christian Identity
• Christian Reconstructionism - A new movement of Christian Fundamentalist thought, but not precisely a denomination.
• Christian Science (founder died in 1910)
• Maria Devi Christos-Headed a Russian group influenced by Great White Brotherhood thought.
• Church of All Worlds - Began as a fictional religion in the book Stranger in a Strange Land but currently claims 2,000+ members and tax-exempt status as an actual religious group named for the fictional one.
• Church of cognizance-Registered in 1994 in Arizona and founded by Danuel Quaintance.[1]
• Church of the Creator-Founded by Dr. Grace Marama.
• The Church of God for All Nations
• Church of God, House of Prayer-Founded 1939 and incorporated in 1966.
• Church of God International - Name for two separate denominations, both of them apparently dating from after World War II. One is a recent splinter of the Worldwide Church of God. The other is from the Philippines.
• Church of God with Signs Following(founded in 1910 and the main snake handling church.(Original Pentecostal Church of God has a belief in picking up poisonous snakes they find in nature as a test of faith, but does not bring snakes to service)
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism related NRMs: Aaronic Order, Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Church of Jesus Christ in Zion(defunct), several Mormon fundamentalism groups, True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, New Covenant Church of God(created by Mormons, but since 1992 it has deemed Mormonism to be false), Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jeffrey Lundgren's group, and some consider all Mormonism to be an NRM.
• Church of the Last Testament - New Russian movement founded by Sergei Torop
• Church of the Lord (Aladura) - African Initiated Church with Pentecostal aspects. Started in the 1920s
• Church of Satan
• Church of Scientology - Claims to be the fastest growing church, established 1954
• Church of World Messianity - Japanese Shinshūkyō dating from 1926 or 1935
• Church Universal and Triumphant affiliated with The Summit Lighthouse
• Concerned Christians
• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen
• Creativity Movement-White supremacist NRM.

[edit] D

• Destiny Church, New Zealand
• Dievturība founded 1925
• Direct Worship of the Actual God founded 1984
• Discordianism
• Divine Light Mission
• Divine Science - Before 1918

[edit] E

• Eckankar
• Efraim Movement
• Elan Vital
• Endeavor Academy founded by Charles Buell Anderson
• Esoteric Hitlerism-A primarily post-World War II branch of Nazi mysticism

[edit] F

• Falun Gong (Members of Falun Gong do NOT consider themselves to be a religion)
• The Family International-More popularly known as the Children of God.
• Faradian Islam (African-American social/religious movement based on teaching elements from W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, Nation of Islam, and The Nation of Gods and Earths).
• Federation of Damanhur-Neo-Pagan/New age community.
• Fellowship of Isis
• Fellowship of Reason - Non-profit "ethical community" of non-theists
• Findhorn Foundation
• Fourth Way Probably before World War II, based on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff
• Freedomites (Founded in 1902)
• Friends of the Western Buddhist Order
• Fundamentalist Christianity (Before the Treaty of Versailles and possibly before 1900 see Niagara Bible Conference)
• Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - Before World War II and has had persistent legal problems due to its practice of polygamy.

[edit] G

• Germanic Neopaganism
• Gnostic Institute of Anthropology
• God's Army - A Para-military group that had religious aspects.
• The Great Story
• Growing in Grace - founded by Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda

[edit] H

• Hare Krishnas
• Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO) founded by Yogi Bhajan
• Heaven's Gate (cult) (defunct) (members committed suicide)
• Hoa Hao - Before World War II
• Holy Spirit Movement - (defunct)
• Ho No Hana - (possibly defunct)(Leader is in prison for fraud)
• House of David - Founded 1902
• House of Yahweh
• Humanistic Judaism
• Huna

[edit] I

• I AM Movement
• Iglesia ni Cristo 1914 founding, but included because its new to many of the nations where it exists.
• I-Kuan Tao - Before World War II
• International Church of the Foursquare Gospel - Founded in 1927
• International Churches of Christ
• International Peace Mission Movement, founded by Father Divine in the 1930s.
• Ior Bock (founder)

[edit] J

• Jesus Army - Evangelical Christian church, also called Jesus Fellowship Church or New Creation Christian Community
• Jesus Movement
• Jesus People USA
• Jeung San Do - Before World War II, possibly before World War I
• Jon Frum Movement - Formed during, or slightly before, World War II and also arose in relation to it.
• Jonestown (defunct) (members committed suicide)
• Judeo-Paganism

[edit] K

• Kabbalah Centre
• Kemetic Orthodoxy
• Kemetic reconstructionism
• Kenja
• Kerista
• Kimbanguism
• Kofuku no Kagaku, also known as The Institute for Research in Human Happiness

[edit] L

• Latter Rain Movement
• Left Hand Path religions(largely meaning Satanism)
• Liberal Catholic Church International-(1942 schism in movement from 1916)
• Lifespring - Status as a religion or movement disputed.
• Living Church of God - An offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God.
• Living Enrichment Center - (defunct) (closed due to financial scandal) A church, unclear if it was a defined movement.
• Lobsang Rampa aka Tuesday Lobsang Rampa aka Cyril Hoskin (founder)
• Local Church - 1920s China
• Lord's Resistance Army - northern Uganda (Acholiland)
• Lou de Palingboer (founder) - Based in the Netherlands but later moved to Agimont, Belgium, dwindling numbers of adherents and possibly extinct
• Lumpa Church

[edit] M

• Makuya
• Mariavite Church - 1906 or after
• Mata Amritanandamayi - Leader of a movement within Hinduism, but perhaps not founder of a religion per se.
• Meher Baba Groups, named for Meher Baba. (Sometimes called Babaism, but that can cause confusion with Bábís)
• Messianic versions of Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic Judaism - (controversial) some Chabad Hassidim reportedly believe that Menachem Schneerson is the Messiah; this may constitute a new strain of religion, although not necessarily a new religion.
• Messianic Israel Alliance - MIA - founded in 1999
• Messianic Judaism - Meaning the MJAA and UMJC organizations
• Metropolitan Community Church
• Mita Congregation - Founded circa 1940
• Moorish Science Temple of America - Founded in 1913
• Moral Rearmament - International organization with religious aims or multi-denominational movement.
• Mother Meera Founder of a movement within Hinduism
• Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness-MSIA started in 1968, became church in 1971
• Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (defunct) (members committed suicide)
• Mukyōkai - Somewhere between 1893 and 1930
• Mungiki

[edit] N

• Nation of Gods and Earths
• Nation of Islam - Before World War II originally, but reorganization in 1978. (Its article has NPOV disputes, but check it for explanation of dates.) (Possibly two incarnations, one defunct and the other a revival; leader died in 1975, new leader essentially renamed version 1 and merged it into mainstream Islam; Louis Farrakhan disagreed and founded version 2 in 1978.)
• Nation of Yahweh
• National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. - Founded in 1915.
• Neopaganism related - The following NRMs are Neopagan to some degree: Church of All Worlds, Dievturība, Germanic Neopaganism, Summum, Wicca
• New Acropolis
• New Age related - The following have New Age influences to varying degrees: A Course in Miracles, Andrew Cohen, Findhorn Foundation, Rajneesh, Transcendental Meditation
• New Thought related - The following NRMs have New Thought influences to varying degrees: Christian Science(disputed), Divine Science, Living Enrichment Center, Religious Science, Understanding Principles for Better Living Church, Unity Church
• Nuwaubians

[edit] O

• Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (founder)
• Oomoto - Founded back in 1892, but activities outside Japan mostly came in the 1920s
• Opus Dei
• Order of Saint Charbel
• Order of the Solar Temple

[edit] P

• Palmarian Catholic Church
• Pana Wave-Apocalyptic Shinshūkyō.
• Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
• Pentecostalism(present form 1901-1906)
• Peoples Temple (defunct)(founded Jonestown, members committed suicide)
• Philadelphia Church of God
• Process Church of the Final Judgment
• Promise Keepers-Religious movement, but not a religion.
• Providence - founded by fugitive Jung Myung Seok

[edit] Q

• Quan Yin Method- A term coined by Suma Ching Hai

[edit] R

• Raëlism
• Rajneesh
• Ramtha's School of Enlightenment
• Rastafari movement Founded in 1930s, there's some ambiguity about the precise date.
• Redeemed Christian Church of God-An African Instituted Pentecostal church.
• Religious Science - Currently called United Church of Religious Science Founded in 1926
• Rissho Kosei Kai - 1938

[edit] S

• Sahaja Yoga
• Santo Daime - Possibly since 1930s, but not an international movement until 1990s
• Sathya Sai Baba (founder)
• Savitri Era - Of those who adore The Mother and Sri Aurobindo [2] [3].
• Scientific Pantheism - Religious organization of a specific kind of pantheism.
• Seicho-No-Ie Japanese new religion founded in 1930, but considered new by the standards of Japanese history.
• Sedevacantism related groups: Palmarian Catholic Church, Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, True Catholic Church, David Bawden, Order of Saint Charbel
• Self Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920
• Share International (Maitreya)
• Shinreikyo-Founded 1947
• Swami Shyam's Shyamspace aka International Meditation Institute
• Silva Mind Control (Silva Method)
• Soka Gakkai Founded in 1930, but considered new from a Japanese historical perspective.
• South China Church
• Spiritualism related: Antoinism, Cao Dai, and some non-NRM African traditional religions. (Overlap with Channeling as the two are related concepts)
• Sri Chinmoy (founder)
• Subud - Movement whose status as a religion itself is debated.
• Sukyo Mahikari
• Summum
• Swami Kriyananda founder of Ananda Church of Self Realization
• Swami Roberto-Founder of Anima Universale
• Synanon (defunct) (Leader arrested on various charges; tax abatement withdrawn; group dissipated)

[edit] T

• Temple of the People-(1898, in current location 1903)
• The Family, the new name of the Children of God
• The Forum
• The Way International (The Way, The Way Ministry): Religious organization/movement founded in 1942, status disputed.
• Theosophy related: Liberal Catholic Church, Temple of the People,
• Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship
• Transcendental Meditation (claims not to be a religion, considered by sociologists and religious studies scholars as such)
• True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days
• True Buddha School founded by Lu Sheng-yen
• True Catholic Church led by Lucian Pulvermacher
• The Twelve Tribes aka "Northeast Kingdom Community Church", "Church in Island Pond", & "The Communities"
• Two by Twos (Founded by 1904) (non-denominational)

[edit] U

• UFO related: Aetherius Society, Chen Tao (The Right Way), Heaven's Gate, Raelians, Unarius Academy of Science, Universe people
• Understanding Principles for Better Living Church- New Thought group founded by actress/singer Della Reese and Dr. Johnnie Colemon
• Unification Church
• United Church of God-An offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God
• United Submitters International-
• Unitarian Universalist - originated from the 1961 merger of Unitarianism and Universalism, two Protestant denominations dating to the 16th and 18th centuries, respectively; some current members don't consider themselves to be Christians.
• Universal Church of the Kingdom of God-Original Portuguese name is Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus. Founded in the 1970s this Brazilian Pentecostal group is mentioned as some claim it to be the most rapidly growing faiths/movements in the world.
• Universal Life - Founder Gabriele Wittek born 1933
• Universal Life Church
• Universal Sufism - Came together sometime between 1910 and 1926
• Urantia - Sometimes considered a religious text rather than a religion itself.

[edit] V

• Vale do Amanhecer
• Vedanta Society-(Founder died in 1902, gained legal status in 1909)
• Vineyard Movement - A movement, its status as a denomination is disputed.

[edit] W

• Westboro Baptist Church
• Wicca
• Willow Creek Community Church - Not a denomination, but a movement of sorts.
• Worldwide Church of God - Founded in the early 1930s

[edit] Z

• Zionist Churches-African Instituted Church movement.

[edit] References

• Barrett, D. V. The New Believers - A survey of sects, cults and alternative religions 2001 UK, Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35592-5
• Hadden, Jeffrey K. and Douglas Cowan The New Religious Movements Homepage @The University of Virginia [4]