Changes

<center>For lessons on the related [[topic]] of '''''[[Cults]]''''', follow [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Cults '''''this link'''''].</center>

<center>For lessons on the related [[topic]] of '''''[[Cults]]''''', follow [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Cults '''''this link'''''].</center>

<center>For lessons on the related topic of '''''[[Social movements]]''''',  follow [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Social_Movements '''''this link'''''].</center>

<center>For lessons on the related topic of '''''[[Social movements]]''''',  follow [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Social_Movements '''''this link'''''].</center>

==History of the term==

==History of the term==

As a field of [[intellectual|scholarly]] endeavor, the study of New Religions emerged in Japan in the wake of the explosion of religious innovation following the [[Second World War]]. Even the name new religions is a direct translation of "shinshukyo", which Japanese [[sociologist]]s coined to refer to this [[phenomenon]]. The term was adopted in turn by Western scholars as an alternative to the older term [[cult]], which acquired a pejorative connotation during the 1970s, and was subsequently used indiscriminately by lay critics to disparage faiths whose doctrines they saw as unusual or heretical.[2] A number of scholars, especially in the [[sociology of religion]], use "new religious movement" to describe non-mainstream religions, while others use the term for benign alternative religions and reserve "cult" for groups - whether religious, psychotherapeutic, political or commercial - they believe to be extremely manipulative and exploitative.[3]

As a field of [[intellectual|scholarly]] endeavor, the study of New Religions emerged in Japan in the wake of the explosion of religious innovation following the [[Second World War]]. Even the name new religions is a direct translation of "shinshukyo", which Japanese [[sociologist]]s coined to refer to this [[phenomenon]]. The term was adopted in turn by Western scholars as an alternative to the older term [[cult]], which acquired a pejorative connotation during the 1970s, and was subsequently used indiscriminately by lay critics to disparage faiths whose doctrines they saw as unusual or heretical.[2] A number of scholars, especially in the [[sociology of religion]], use "new religious movement" to describe non-mainstream religions, while others use the term for benign alternative religions and reserve "cult" for groups - whether religious, psychotherapeutic, political or commercial - they believe to be extremely manipulative and exploitative.[3]