When asked directly about members allegiance, both ISCKON and the Jehovah's Witnesses gave a similar account of how members feel that if they follow the principles of the religion, then they have a moral sense of direction, it was argued that this sense of direction and purpose in an otherwise confusing modern world is what members most often cited as their reason for staying within the religion. The recruiting of new members differs slightly between the religions but both recruit by going out to meet people. The diferent approach to recruiting reflects the diferent position of these movements on the Wallis typology with the ISCKON people happy to go to music festivals and other entertainment events and the Jehovah's Witnesses prefering door to door evangelizing.
The ISCKON movement would tend to attract people that like music due to their recruiting at music events and as music plays such an important role in the arati ceremony, it seems the movement actively seeks people that will fit in with the practices of the movement. The Jehovahs Witnesses approach to recruitng is very different as they will attempt to knock on every door of a given area and therefore would seem to be aiming for everyone, however they tell people exactly what is expected and prohibited for a member so that only those willing to behave in accordance with the teachings of the movement are finally allowed to be a member, baptism is for this reason only taken by those who are absolutely sure of their commitment. The Jehovah's Witnesses take baptism seriously and only a minority of members become baptised.
Once a person is a member in these religions, they have a variety of ways in which they can show their allegiance. It is often talked about how N.R.M's take members money away, the anti cult organizations often make a point of this, however the contribution boxes in the Assembly Hall where described as being for voluntary donations only. The Jehovah's Witnesses encourage members to donate as much as they can to the movement but also conduct charitable work and so can gain money through the gift aid system. Jehovah's Witnesses also make money from selling literature from their own publishers. ISCKON ask that members donate money but go further than the Jehovah's Witnesses in that they ask that devotees consider giving their wealth to the organisation and gain benfit for themselves through the movements use of their money. ISCKON teach a form of communism in this respect, this is the assertion of many anti cult propoganda against N.R.M's but the practice of giving all of ones money to the movement is not forced on the devotees.
The approach of the movements in question to keep the allegiance of their members is not about one aspect of life, rather it is a aggregate effect of the practices that members have in common. Commitment to the movement in the case of the Jehovah's Witnesses must be total and unquestioning obedience and this in itself produces members who are more likely to stay alligned with the movement. Sharing personal wealth with the movement is encouraged but is the easyest form of allegiance. Social tabboos on behaviour such as smoking and drinking and sex is another way for Jehovah's Witnesses to feel an allegiance with the movement and as these are so strictly held then members who are not alligned with the movements teachings are filtered out resulting in the survival of only the most ardent followers in the movement. The Jehovah's Witnesses have a pro active, world renouncing approach to securing members allegiance, they remove unwanted members from the organisation which raises the question of how much fear is involved in members remaining Jehovah's Witnesses rather than as our informant suggested that members simply feel they have been given the right answers to lifes problems.
ISCKON also has more than one way of securing members allegiance but do it in a world accomodating manner, with no formal expulsion or discipline, all members are asked to do is follow the teachings if they want to. This approach is bound to attract a different kind of member to the Jehovah's Witnesses, additionaly the sections of society that the ISCKON members reach out to at festivals like Glastonbury is predominantly characterised by open minded people already interested in spirituality and the dancing and singing performed by the ISCKON movement would naturally appeal to the personal tastes of these people.
In conclusion, the ways that these religions secure the members allegiance begins in the selective recruting of the right sort of people for the movement, this is very important especially if there is no formal means of discipline as otherwise the movement would risk becoming inconsistent. Secondly once the members are in the movement they share bonds socially, economically and philosophcally with the movement as a whole. Fear of the consequences of not being a member is also a factor in some N.R.M's.
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Bibliography:
(not needed for quotes but useful reading on the subject)
BECKFORD, J. A. (1985) Cult controversies: the societal response to the new religious movements. London: Tavistock.
RAYMOND, F. (1991). In Search of Christian Freedom. Atlanta: Commentary Press.
KNOTT, K. (1986). My sweet Lord: The Hare Krishna movement. Wellingborough: Aquarian.
WILSON, B and CRESSWELL, J. (1999). New Religious Movements: Challenge and response. London: Routledge.