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Consciousness movement, building
a mythology around the Emperor
Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, a country
that Rastafarians consider to be
Judah. Western influence in the
Pacific region also led to new
varieties of traditional folk religions,
known as the cargo cults.
Many other new religions have
emerged as specific to a particular
location. Sikhism, for example, is
associated with the Punjab region
of Pakistan and India; the religion
was founded as a reaction to the
hostility between Hindus and
Muslims in the area, and was
based on a peaceful, democratic
social foundation. The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
in its Book of Mormon provided a
specifically US addition to the
Christian Bible, with a mythology
of saints and angels among
the indigenous American people.
Other modern religions have been
established with the aim of uniting
all faiths, or at least recognizing
the validity of other beliefs and
embracing them in their own faith:
these, which include Baha’i, Cao Ðài,
and Unitarian Universalism, have
arisen in various areas of the world
where a variety of major faiths have
historically coexisted.Search for the spiritual
A quest for mystical enlightenment
produced the Hasidic movement in
Judaism, and Sufism in Islam, and
some Christian denominations
have become more charismatic in
recent years. Others in the West
have drifted away from religious
tradition: some to the past and
neopagan religions such as Wicca;
others to movements from the Eastsuch as ISKCON, Transcendental
Meditation, and Falun Gong; while
others, notably Scientology and
some modern Japanese religions,
have grown out of loosely science-
based beliefs. Many of these
new religions were founded by a
charismatic leader or prophet who
claimed divine revelation, and have
been dismissed as cults designed
for the glorification of their leaders.
Some such faiths have declined in
popularity, but others have gained
a strong following and an eventual
acceptance as new religious
movements in their own right.
Before dismissing them, it is as
well to remember that Christianity
was initially considered a cult
by the Romans and Jews, and
that Muhammad was driven out
of Mecca with his small group of
followers for his heretical beliefs. ■MODERN RELIGIONS
1930
1950 S
1952 1957 1965
1954 1961 1992
The Rastafari
movement begins
in Jamaica, after
Ras Tafari becomes
Emperor Haile
Selassie I of Ethiopia.One of a number of
neopagan religions,
Wicca is founded in
Britain after the repeal
of the Witchcraft Act.Based on L. Ron
Hubbard’s theories of
Dianetics, Scientology
is developed as a
religion in the US.Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi founds the
Transcendental
Meditation movement,
using traditional Hindu
meditation techniques.A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada
takes the Hindu
tradition of chanting
to the US, where he
founds ISKCON, the Hare
Krishna movement.Sun Myung Moon
establishes the
Unification Church
in Korea.The “non-creedal,
non-doctrinal” Unitarian
Universalist Association
is founded in the US.In China, Li Hongzhi
combines meditative
qigong practices with
Daoist and Buddhist
ideas in Falun Dafa,
also called Falun Gong.