TYPES OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION

Many types of religious organizations exist in modern societies. Sociologists usually group them
according to their size and influence. Categorized this way, three types of religious organizations
exist: church, sect, and cult (Emerson, Monahan, & Mirola, 2011).Emerson, M. O., Monahan, S.
C., & Mirola, W. A. (2011). Religion matters: What sociology teaches us about religion in our
world. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. A church further has two subtypes: the ecclesia
and denomination. We first discuss the largest and most influential of the types of religious
organization, the ecclesia, and work our way down to the smallest and least influential, the cult.

Church: The Ecclesia and Denomination

A church is a large, bureaucratically organized religious organization that is closely integrated

into the larger society. Two types of church organizations exist. The first is the ecclesia, a large,
bureaucratic religious organization that is a formal part of the state and has most or all of a
state’s citizens as its members. As such, the ecclesia is the national or state religion. People
ordinarily do not join an ecclesia; instead they automatically become members when they are
born. A few ecclesiae exist in the world today, including Islam in Saudi Arabia and some other
Middle Eastern nations, the Catholic Church in Spain, the Lutheran Church in Sweden, and the
Anglican Church in England.

As should be clear, in an ecclesiastic society there may be little separation of church and state,
because the ecclesia and the state are so intertwined. In some ecclesiastic societies, such as those
in the Middle East, religious leaders rule the state or have much influence over it, while in others,
such as Sweden and England, they have little or no influence. In general the close ties that
ecclesiae have to the state help ensure they will support state policies and practices. For this
reason, ecclesiae often help the state solidify its control over the populace.

The second type of church organization is the denomination, a large, bureaucratic religious
organization that is closely integrated into the larger society but is not a formal part of the state.
In modern pluralistic nations, several denominations coexist. Most people are members of a
specific denomination because their parents were members. They are born into a denomination
and generally consider themselves members of it the rest of their lives, whether or not they
actively practice their faith, unless they convert to another denomination or abandon religion
altogether.
Sect

A sect is a relatively small religious organization that is not closely integrated into the larger
society and that often conflicts with at least some of its norms and values. The Amish, who live
in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and many other states, are perhaps the most well-known example of a
sect in the United States today.

A sect is a relatively small religious organization that is not closely integrated into the larger
society and that often conflicts with at least some of its norms and values. Typically a sect has
broken away from a larger denomination in an effort to restore what members of the sect regard
as the original views of the denomination. Because sects are relatively small, they usually lack
the bureaucracy of denominations and ecclesiae and often also lack clergy who have received
official training. Their worship services can be intensely emotional experiences, often more so
than those typical of many denominations, where worship tends to be more formal and
restrained. Members of many sects typically proselytize and try to recruit new members into the
sect. If a sect succeeds in attracting many new members, it gradually grows, becomes more
bureaucratic, and, ironically, eventually evolves into a denomination. Many of today’s Protestant
denominations began as sects, as did the Mennonites, Quakers, and other groups. The Amish in
the United States are perhaps the most well-known example of a current sect.

Cult

A cult is a small religious organization that is at great odds with the norms and values of the
larger society. Cults are similar to sects but differ in at least three respects. First, they generally
have not broken away from a larger denomination and instead originate outside the mainstream
religious tradition. Second, they are often secretive and do not proselytize as much. Third, they
are at least somewhat more likely than sects to rely on charismatic leadership based on the
extraordinary personal qualities of the cult’s leader.

Although the term cult today raises negative images of crazy, violent, small groups of people, it
is important to keep in mind that major world religions, including Christianity, Islam, and
Judaism, and denominations such as the Mormons all began as cults. Research challenges several
popular beliefs about cults, including the ideas that they brainwash people into joining them and
that their members are mentally ill. In a study of the Unification Church (Moonies), Eileen
Barker (1984)Barker, E. (1984). The making of a Moonie: Choice or brainwashing. New York,
NY: Oxford University Press. found no more signs of mental illness among people who joined
the Moonies than in those who did not. She also found no evidence that people who joined the
Moonies had been brainwashed into doing so.
Another image of cults is that they are violent. In fact, most are not violent. However, some cults
have committed violence in the recent past. In 1995 the Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) cult in
Japan killed 10 people and injured thousands more when it released bombs of deadly nerve gas
in several Tokyo subway lines (Strasser & Post, 1995).Strasser, S., & Post, T. (1995, April 3). A
cloud of terror—and suspicion. Newsweek 36–41. Two years earlier, the Branch Davidian cult
engaged in an armed standoff with federal agents in Waco, Texas. When the agents attacked its
compound, a fire broke out and killed 80 members of the cult, including 19 children; the origin
of the fire remains unknown (Tabor & Gallagher, 1995).Tabor, J. D., & Gallagher, E. V. (1995).
Why Waco? Cults and the battle for religious freedom in America. Berkeley: University of
California Press. A few cults have also committed mass suicide. In another example from the
1990s, more than three dozen members of the Heaven’s Gate cult killed themselves in California
in March 1997 in an effort to communicate with aliens from outer space (Hoffman & Burke,
1997).Hoffman, B., & Burke, K. (1997). Heaven’s Gate: Cult suicide in San Diego. New York,
NY: Harper Paperbacks. Some two decades earlier, more than 900 members of the People’s
Temple cult killed themselves in Guyana under orders from the cult’s leader, Jim Jones (Stoen,
1997).Stoen, T. (1997, April 7). The most horrible night of my life.