Roy Wallis (1974) developed this distinction between sects and cults. Where sects are exclusive, closed, tightly knit organizations, cults are more loosely organized and open to the outside world. Cults are more individualistic in that they allow individual members to decide what they will or will not accept. While sect members usually believe in a God who is external to human beings, many cults emphasize the ‘power’, ‘divinity’ and real self which is said to reside within individuals. A main aim of cults is to help people experience their ‘inner power’.
A sect is a small religious group that has broken off from a larger group. For example, a sect can be formed from the breaking off from a large, well established religious group, like a denomination.
Unlike churches, the attitude of sects to the outside worlds is highly exclusive – they erect strong boundaries between themselves and the wider society and exclude people considered ‘unworthy’. Gaining membership is not a right but has to be earned by personal merit. There is a clear distinction between members and non members. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Christadelphians and the Amish are examples of sects. Sects lack a complete hierarchy and depend on the special, god given talents of their members. There is little use of ritual, and worship is usually spontaneous and expressive. Both churches and sects claim that they have a monopoly of the truth and that they are the only true religion. Sects often look forward to an act of great significance – for example, the second coming of Jesus, the anticipation of the battle of Armageddon between good (God) and bad (Satan’s) forces. They are often encouraged to think of themselves as ‘special’ with salvation reserved for them alone, while non-believers are rejected. Sects are generally critical of wider society and expect members to stand apart from it. Contact with non-members is generally discouraged except in an attempt to convert them. Sects demand high standards of behavior from their members and high levels of commitment. Much of the member’s spare time is spent in sectarian activities –f or example, in Bible study, trying to gain converts, or socialization with other sect members. However if members fail to meet the sect’s high standards, they may be punished or even expelled.
Sects are connected to the lower classes and to oppositional groups in society. Max Weber said that religious sects offer those members of society who have failed to achieve either status or reward, an explanation of their under-privileged position. As well as explaining failure, sects may offer an opportunity to achieve either in a ‘new’ life on earth or in an afterlife.
Bryan Wilson said sect recruitment is class-based under certain circumstances. For example, Methodism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries gain support primarily from the new industrial working class. Displaced from their rural roots, experiencing urbanization and the rigours of the industrial factory system, the new working class suffered severe social dislocation. Methodism – with certain sect like qualities in its early form – offered support and security in those chaotic times. Wilson is careful to note that economic and social contexts play an important role on determining how close the relationship is between social class and sect recruitment.
Wallis said sects are not a homogenous group. He identifies three categories of New Religious Movements based on their relationship to the secular world. ‘World-rejecting’ sects may attract support from those who have experienced some form of ‘relative deprivation’. It has been argued that this kind of sect mainly appeals to those who reject the material life for the spiritual. It may well be the case that ‘world-rejecting’ sects have some appeal to young people to young people who, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, were experiencing more freedom and fewer responsibilities tan before. ‘World affirming; sects may attract members from middle class backgrounds as they often place an emphasis on using sect membership as a way to achieve success in the secular world. Finally, ‘middle ground’ sects seem in some cases to offer a route back into society so recruits are by definition likely to be drawn from those currently in alternative, sometimes drug-related lifestyles.
Overall, it is obvious that cults and sects inevitably turn into denominations and churches. A sect is a small religious group that often forms a larger, well established religious group, known as a domination. The same often happens with cults.
