Susan Palmer, Charlotte Hardman; Children in New Religions

"As new and alternative religions become standard fixtures in society, understanding their children becomes an important key to understanding their future. This wonderfully rich, panoramic book provides that key." - Timothy Miller, professor of religious studies, University of Kansas. -- Timothy Miller

"What happens to a new religious movement of 'born again converts' when it has to cope with its 'born into' children? What happens to the kids as they grow up? This important book provides a unique and long-awaited opportunity to learn about the second-generation membership of a wide range of alternative religions." - Eileen Barker, FBA, professor of sociology, London School of Economics. -- Eileen Barker

The late 1960s and early 1970s constituted a remarkable period for spiritual experimentation and for the proliferation of new religious groups. Now the children born into these religions have come of age. While their parents made the decision as adults to embrace alternative religious practices, the children have been raised with a very different orientation toward the larger society. While they take their religious communities for granted, many of these children gaze with curiosity at the surrounding secular world which their parents, not they, chose to reject.

The contributors to this volume examine children from many different alternative religious movements worldwide, including The Family, Hare Krishna, Wiccans, and Pagans, Messianic Communities, and the Rajneesh (Osho) Movement. The essays explore two general questions: 1) What impact does the presence of children have on a new religion's lifestyle and chance of surviving into the future? 2) Is child abuse more likely to occur in unconventional religions, or are children born into them, the 'new' religions have grown up and have become an important and rapidly changing social force that we cannot reasonably dismiss or wisely ignore.

SUSAN PALMER is a professor in the Department of Religion at Dawson College in Montreal.

Hardman is a lecturer of religion at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

 

Product Details