Legitimating New Religions

James R. Lewis has written the first book to deal explicitly with the issue of how emerging religions legitimate themselves. He contends that a new religion has at least four different, though overlapping, areas where legitimacy is a concern: making converts, maintaining followers, shaping public opinion, and appeasing government authorities. The legitimacy that new religions seek in the public realm is primarily that of social acceptance. Mainstream society's acknowledgement of a religion as legitimate means recognizing its status as a genuine religion and thus recognizing its right to exist. Through a series of wide-ranging case studies Lewis explores the diversification of legitimation strategies of new religions as well the tactics that their critics use to de-legitimate such groups. Cases include the Movement for Spiritual Inner Awareness, Native American prophet religions, spiritualism, the Church of Christ-Scientist, Scientology, Church of Satan, Heaven's Gate, Unitarianism, Hindu reform movements, and Soka Gakkai, a new Buddhist sect.

Since many of the issues raised with respect to newer religions can be extended to the legitimation strategies deployed by established religions, this book sheds an intriguing new light on classic questions about the origin of all religions.

Lewis (U. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) first explores the methods by which new religions legitimate themselves to the larger society, with case studies of the Raelian Movement, Native American prophet religions, spiritualism, Scientology, the Church of Satan, Heaven's Gate, Unitarianism, and others. Then he looks at how repression of them is legitimated through atrocity tales, charges of insanity, cult stereotypes, and scholarship. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

Lewis (religious studies, Univ. of Wisconsin) wrote this book to fill a gap in the study of new religions, claiming that there has been no new analysis of the strategies used by these movements to legitimate themselves since the early 1960s. He divides these strategies into three groups: charismatic appeals, rational appeals, and appeals to tradition. In the first part of his book, Lewis elucidates each of these three strategies in the course of six case studies of new religious movements such as Native American prophet religions, Heaven's Gate, Scientology, and the Church of Satan. In the second part he examines strategies used to delegitimate new religions, such as atrocity tales and stereotyping. The tone of the book is academic and objective, but Lewis does show some interest in correcting the general anticult tenor of much of the work done in this general area. While the prose is clear, Lewis assumes a readership with some background in sociology and religious studies. This area of study deserves more attention, and Lewis's work is a valuable contribution. Recommended for academic libraries with religious studies collections.-Stephen Joseph, Butler Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Puttsburgh, PA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

James R. Lewis teaches at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and is author of The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects and New Religions. He has been interviewed by major media outlets including ABC's World News Tonight, the Los Angeles Times, NBC's Meet the Press, and the Washington Post.