World Religions › Modern
New religious movements
Wave from c. 1830 – today· Belief or practice· New movements & secular thought
Mostly agreed by scholarsMost historians agree; some details uncertain.
Scholars' neutral term for faiths founded in modern times, from the Latter-day Saints to Bahá'í, Cheondogyo and Soka Gakkai.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
From about 1830, new religions appeared in waves: in the religiously free United States (Latter-day Saints, Adventists, Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses), in Iran (Bahá'í), in Korea (Donghak, later the Unification Church) and in Japan (Tenrikyo, Soka Gakkai). Many claim fresh revelation or say they restore a lost original faith. Scholars adopted 'new religious movement' in the 1970s to avoid the loaded word 'cult'. Several now count millions of members.
Why it matters
They show religion still being born: some fade within a generation, others grow into global churches, much as Christianity and Islam once began as new movements.
Think of it like
Like startups in a crowded market: most close within years, a few become household names.
Sources and history
The movements' own scriptures and records, census data, and a large academic field (Eileen Barker, J. Gordon Melton and others) that studies how they recruit, grow and change.
Questions and debates
When a new religion stops being 'new', and how to address harmful groups without stigmatizing minority faiths, are still debated.
Inside this (6)
Connections (3)
▸Unification Church (Sun Myung Moon) is one of the New religious movementsHistorical record
The connection
In the 1970s the church was one of the most visible new religions in the West. Its intense recruiting of young adults fueled 'cult' fears, parental 'deprogramming' kidnappings and an anti-cult movement. Eileen Barker's study found most recruits who attended workshops never joined, challenging brainwashing claims.
When and where
US and Europe, 1970s–1980s; Eileen Barker in Britain; anti-cult groups and court cases over deprogramming.
Historical evidence
Barker's 'The Making of a Moonie' (1984), court rulings, and professional bodies' rejection of brainwashing testimony in the late 1980s.
Questions and debates
Whether 'cult' or 'new religious movement' is the fairer term remains debated; Japan's case over its fundraising revived the question after 2022.
▸Religious freedom and church–state separation allowed the rise of New religious movementsMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
With no national church or heresy laws, anyone in the United States could found a church, publish scripture and seek converts. This open 'religious marketplace' produced the Latter-day Saints, Adventists, Christian Science and Jehovah's Witnesses in the 1800s. After 1945, new guarantees of religious freedom let new faiths flourish in Japan and South Korea too.
When and where
The United States after 1791, especially upstate New York and New England, 1820s–70s; Japan after 1945, when so many appeared it was called the 'rush hour of the gods'.
How do we know?
Sociologists Roger Finke and Rodney Stark linked religious deregulation with religious growth; earlier, state churches routinely suppressed dissenting sects.
Questions and debates
Not all new faiths need freedom: Bahá'í and Donghak arose under persecution. Scholars debate how much open markets, versus social upheaval, drive new religions.
▸New Age spirituality grew out of New religious movementsMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
New Age inherited ideas from earlier new religions: Theosophy brought karma, reincarnation and 'ascended masters' to Westerners; New Thought taught mind-over-matter healing; Spiritualism practiced contact with spirits, ancestor of channeling. Alice Bailey popularized the phrase 'New Age'. Unlike most new religions, it has no founder, membership or creed.
When and where
Theosophical Society, New York, 1875; Alice Bailey's writings, 1920s–40s; Findhorn and Esalen, 1962.
How do we know?
Bailey's writings and historians such as Wouter Hanegraaff and J. Gordon Melton, who trace these lineages in detail.
Questions and debates
Whether New Age is a religion, a movement or a market is debated, and many practitioners reject the label entirely.