Stefano Pace, Università Commerciale
Luigi Bocconi, Milan, Italy
Abstract
A religious organization should communicate
trustworthiness by attempting correctly to interpret
its message and by recruiting new members. Modern communication
involves new means of communication like the Internet,
which has become an important medium capable of spreading
a complex message to a large audience. Religious movements
are a growing social and organizational force that employ
modern communication methods and criteria. This paper
addresses the convergence of religious communication
and the Internet, by focusing on trust, a fundamental
element of any type of communication, especially of a
religious kind. Two main drivers can elicit trust: capabilities
(the skill to realize what is promised) and benevolence
(the lack of any opportunistic or egoistic goal). This
paper employs the content analysis method to analyze
the biographies of religious leaders posted on the their
official web-sites, in order to verify the existence
of these two trust drivers, i.e., leader’s capabilities
and benevolence. The results demonstrate the different stress
placed on each.
Introduction
[1] Modern communication comprises new means of communication
and fields. For example, the Internet has become an important
tool capable of spreading a complex message to a large audience.
Moreover, religious movements are a growing social force
that employs modern communication criteria. This article
deals with the convergence between religious communication
and the Internet, by focusing on trust, a fundamental element
for any type of social and commercial communication.
[2] Although sociologists and anthropologists among others
have studied religion, this topic is not particularly relevant
to communication studies. Marketing, which involves communication
issues, deals with religion in other contexts, like the
influence religion exercises on consumer behaviour and decision-making
processes (Delener 1990, 1994; Hirschman 1982; Wilkes et
al. 1986). However the communication of religious ideas
is not dealt with since it is not linked to consumption.
[3] In any case, religious communication is an interesting
issue from the macro-perspective since:
-
Religious movements are increasingly aware of modern
communication styles and apply them. Therefore, the
study of religious communication can enlarge the knowledge
of other kinds of communication.
-
Since religious forces are one of the most relevant
drivers of social structure and change, scholars of
communication should also try to understand this topic.
[4] This paper is organized in the
following way. The first section illustrates the features
and relevance of Internet communication by religious
movements. The second section introduces the distinction
between New Religious Movements (NRMs) and other religious
movements in order to assess the specific communication
needs of the NRMs, i.e., the central role of the NRMs’ leaders. The third section
is devoted to the concept of trust in communication and
its main drivers: the abilities and benevolence of the trustee
(the religious leader). The last sections illustrate the
research method adopted, i.e., content analysis of the leaders’ biographies,
as well as the findings of the empirical research and discussion.
The Internet as a Means of Religious
Communication
[5] The Internet has become a very
powerful means of communication through which not only
information, but emotions and empathy, are exchanged,
and where socialization occurs. Following a purely information
stage, when people surfed the ’net
just to seek information, today people go online to seek
other people, to socialize within virtual communities, thus
adding a social dimension that may be considered even more
relevant than the informational one (Micelli 2000; Rheingold
1993). Once a cold medium, he Internet has become
a hot medium, in the sense that emotions and feelings can
be experienced and communicated online. Therefore, even
religious communication, which is an intense emotional experience,
is at home in this new medium. Religious movements were
pioneers in adopting new media to spread their beliefs and
thoughts. This also true of the Internet. Since religious
communication deals with abstract concepts, involves profound
sentiments and can have specific and difficult goals such
as converting people, it differs radically from business
communication. At the same time, it can be studied as a
benchmark in order to obtain insights for other types of
communication and to explore the potential of web-based
communication. Religious communication via the web is quite
lively and can elicit strong reactions. So strong that some
religious websites has been forced to close their forums
and chat rooms due to the excessive fighting that sometimes
emerged among the participants (Helland 2002, 295). The
religious communication via the web can be so intense that
it often takes on forms of blessing, virtual prayers and
pilgrimage (MacWilliams 2002).1
[6] Religious communication online
is not a marginal phenomenon, but a considerable part
of the navigation of many cyber-surfers: “The
act of searching for spiritual material on-line has also
been done by more Americans than have traded stocks or bonds
or mutual funds on-line, or done on-line banking, or participated
in on-line auctions, or used Internet-based dating services,
or placed phone calls on-line” (PEW 2001, cited in
Helland 2002, 300). Chryssides confirms that “some
net surfers are using the Net to find varieties of religion
that may fulfill their spiritual needs” (Chryssides
1996, 1). Table 1 shows the most prolific newsgroups of
the Usenet system, in terms of postings (Kinney 1995). The
religious newsgroups are the most active communities. Religion
is firmly rooted in the ’net (Karaflogka 2002), both
in the form of a personal quest and an “offer” of
religious doctrines. This online phenomenon is not simply
a category of some search engine’s sub-directory,
but a purposeful and rich means largely used by religious
groups to convert subjects, promote their doctrines and
explain their ideals (Helland 2002).
Table 1: Usenet Newgroups activity (Source: Kinney, 1995)
Rank |
No
of postings |
Name of group |
1 |
3580 |
alt.atheism |
2 |
3267 |
alt.religion.scientology |
3 |
2877 |
talk.origins |
4 |
2728 |
alt.pagan |
5 |
2222 |
alt.philosophy.objectivism |
6 |
1935 |
alt.religion.mormon |
7 |
1880 |
Talk.religion.misc |
8 |
1784 |
alt.astrology |
9 |
1781 |
sci.psychology |
10 |
1540 |
Misc.health.alternative |
11 |
998 |
Soc.religion.christian |
12 |
903 |
Soc.religion.christian.bible-study |
13 |
847 |
Alt.paranet.ufo |
14 |
751 |
Alt.magick |
15 |
726 |
Talk.philosophy.misc |
16 |
702 |
Alt.religion.islam |
17 |
641 |
Talk.religion.buddhism |
18 |
637 |
Alt.satanism |
19 |
632 |
alt.folklore.herbs |
20 |
566 |
Alt.dreams |
[7] Nearly every religious movement,
large or small, has its own website and the “official pages project how
its leaders perceive a religion or a religious institution
and how they transmit this perception” (Karaflogka
2002, 281). Webpages can be the first and only contact between
the movement and public or prospective converts. Therefore,
the way in which leaders are depicted and described is the
purest way to know how they wish to be considered and how
they solicit trust.
[8] An extreme example of the central
role played by web communication in the strategy of a
NRM is the group known as “Heaven’s Gate.” In 1997, 39 group
members who lived in a Santa Fe (California) mansion
committed mass suicide. The few surviving members (who lived
far from the Santa Fe headquarters) and some sympathizers
kept a mirror of the group’s website active in order
to keep the memory of their beliefs alive. That website
is the only trace that remains of their religious belief.
This illustrates how this group was forcibly transformed
into a virtual presence, due to the deaths of its members.
There are, however, other examples of religious phenomena,
such as "Partenia" (see http://www.partenia.org/eng/),
which have emerged and profess their beliefs exclusively
online (Karaflogka 2002, 285).
[9] Religious movements employ different
communication tools on the ’net and take advantage of the opportunities
it offers: from the supply of doctrinal material (both downloadable
free documents and through e-commerce) to the communication
of some “websites [that] invite queries from individuals
surfers with the offer of a personal response” (Chryssides,
1996, 2), employing a two-way interaction with the site’s
visitor.
Leader's Centrality in NRMs
[10] The concept of New Religious Movement is not clearly
and univocally defined in the literature. The great differences
among the religious groups, the variety of beliefs and origins,
and the cult/anti-cult debate, make reaching a single common
definition difficult. After a review of the main definition
criteria used in the literature, Chryssides (1997) suggests
defining a religious movement an NRM when it has the following
features:
-
Recent. Chryssides intentionally does not specify
a date or an era like other scholars (Barker 1989).
New and old are categories that one can intuitively
and correctly apply without reference to a specific
date. For instance, one can say when a model of a
product becomes old and another is new, even though
there is no clear timeline.
-
Outside the mainstream.
This does not signify that a NRM is “heretical,” but
that it is different from established religions
in terms of theology and doctrine.
-
Attraction of new converts from indigenous culture.
Many scholars recognize the specific proselytizing
needs felt by NRMs. Due to the recent emergence of
many NRMs, new first generation members are particularly
needed.
Although Chryssides himself acknowledges that this is not
a totally clear-cut definition and is not the final word
on this topic, this definition is at least a coherent one
and it rules out subjective interpretations.
[11] Unlike more established religions
with other, more direct means of communication, such
as churches and ministers physically present in the territory,
the characteristics of NRMs make it extremely active
on the web since it is an alternative medium for their
doctrines and beliefs. NRMs
usually elicit controversy and conflicting views. Some NRMs
are the object of harsh criticism by anti-cult movements.
For NRMs the ’net is sometimes the only way to transmit
its message in an unmediated way. This particular feature
represents a valuable opportunity for scholarly analysis
of the methods of communication they employ.
[12] Believers theoretically may
embrace the doctrine of a religious movement or become
part of a religious
community because they are attracted by its members, and
not necessarily by the leader. In fact, sometimes the leader
is not even favourably judged by the minority groups within
the movement. There are cases of persons who leave a religious
group because they disagree with the leader, although fully
adhering to the doctrine. They often try to establish another
community somewhere else as a reformed group that holds
the “true” tenets of the religion. Instead,
the focus of an NRM is usually its leader, since most NRMs
are founded by a person (less frequently more than one)
who is the centre of devotion. Therefore, NRMs are
often leader-centered. An NRM is founded by a charismatic
leader who claims to have some divine or supernatural power
or knowledge and to have gained those powers through a long
period of self-study, including the discovery of sacred
texts or contacts with sages and gurus. More frequently,
these powers are claimed to be transmitted by a spiritual
entity through revelations.
[13] The above-mentioned characteristics
are confirmed by Barker (1989). In NRMs, “there is often a founder
or leader who wields charismatic authority—that is,
he (or sometimes she) will be unbound by tradition or rules,
but may be accorded by the followers the right to pronounce
on all aspects of their life—whom they marry, whether
or not they have children, what sort of work they should
do, what sort of clothes they should wear and food they
may eat, where they should live, perhaps even whether they
should live” (Barker 1989, 2). From the perspective
of the NRM, followers of the leader benefit from these powers. A
believer usually has to behave according to the doctrine
of the NRM and be close to the leader (not necessarily in
a physical sense, but spiritually) in order to obtain the
benefits of belonging to the religious community..
[14] In some cases, the real leader
is not the founder of the NRM. In such cases, the devotion
of the believer is either focused on a master who has
inherited the powers of the founder or devotion continues
to be expressed towards the founder, whose speeches and
scriptures are carefully kept and perpetuated. In any
case, since many NRMs are “new,” also
in a chronological sense, it is likely that the founder
is likely still to be alive.
[15] We can conclude that the communications of NRMs are
focused on their leaders. The way the leader is described
is important in understanding the rest of the religious
movement's doctrine.
Trust as an Element of Communication
[16] The central feature of online religious communications
is trust. In order to adhere to a religious movement, the
subject must trust their leader (variously called master,
father, guru, etc.). How do religious leaders communicate
trustworthiness? This is the main question this paper attempts
to answer and this could provide new insights into the different
types of online communications.
Trust Construction and
its Role in Communication
[17] Trust is a complex and multifaceted
construct that has been studied in various disciplinary
fields, from psychology (Rotter 1967) to social psychology
(Deutsch 1958) to sociology (Giddens 1990) to economics
(Dasgupta 1988). In fact, there are so many different
definitions of trust that each scholar seems to have
his/her own subjective opinion (McKnight and Chervany
1996). Trust can be defined as the expectation that the
trustee (in this case, the religious leader) will behave
in a way that is beneficial to the trustor (the believer)
even in the presence of risk. In the definition of trust,
risk comes from the fact that the trustor cannot control
the behaviour of the trustee.
[18] The claim that believers “trust” the leader
might be considered a minimization of the believer’s
experience, since the correct expression could be that the
believer “have faith in” the leader. An individual
has faith when emotions play a relevant role and rationality
has no relevance in the decision-making process. Should
rationality be involved, trust would be the correct construct
to use. Trust can be positioned between faith and
confidence in a continuum that goes from the absence of
any rational evidence to believe (faith), the presence of
non-conclusive evidence (trust), to the logic or sensorial
evidence (confidence). Of the constructs mentioned, trust
is the only one that has both a rational and irrational
side. According to Luhmann (1979), trust begins when information
and rationality finish; it is a jump towards something not
perfectly known and not totally under control. However,
it also includes a rational side, since the boundary of
rationality must be reached before the jump into the “irrational” decision
to trust. Web communication involves a rational acquisition
of information and subsequently a choice that may not be
entirely rational. Since web-based communication by religious
movements regarding their leaders involves this type of
process, trust is at stake.
[19] Moreover, trust is solicited
during the initial contact with the religious movement,
when the future believer is first exposed to the leader’s
personality. Before fully embracing the religion, the
subject gets closer and closer to he movement through
the teachings of its leader. In this phase, trust plays
a central role. In order to overcome any possible doubts
of the prospective believer, the leader must be believable
and charismatic. S/he must be or seem to be trustworthy
and communicate a sense of trustworthiness. In that sense
trust, is a necessary condition for the emergence of
faith and it is a close proxy of faith.
[20] Trust presents peculiar problems
on the Internet. Online business activities were the
first to raise the issue of trust, since regular exchanges
of goods and money can only occur in a trustworthy environment.
The risk perceived on the Internet is manifold: functional
(not receiving what has been bought); financial (losing
money); physical (being harmed by the product); and social
(poor adaptability to the user’s social environment) (Cheskin 2000). The
frequent news regarding fraud or even more complex cyber-crimes
on the Internet provoke further anxiety. While Internet
security has reached high standards, what is relevant in
trust issues is the users’ perception of this security
. Therefore every element that makes Internet safer should
be communicated to the users so that they feel that the
environment is trustworthy. The online business environment
has devised safeguards and methods to solicit the consumer’s
trust (Cheskin Research, 2000):
-
Brands: known brands and brands that are also present
offline are more trustworthy than less reputable ones;
-
Technological sophistication: websites clearly created
by professionals, technically sound and fast are more
trustworthy;
-
Navigation: how easy is it to find what the user is
seeking;
-
Fulfillment: the process from order to delivery;
-
Presentation: overall layout of the site.
The above–mentioned points
are suitable for websites. The peer-to-peer systems of
exchange (like eBay, the well-known auction site) are
based on reputation systems where a sort of social control
and ranking of personal reputation protect the user from
fraud (Resnick et al. 2003).
[21] The business environment is constantly at the edge
of trust issues, but trust is also growing in relevance
for the social side of the web. Relationships that can be
established through the Web can be quite personal, deep
and intimate (Turkle 1997). Thus the risk of being betrayed
is even bigger than in a business setting where the risk
is only about money, not personal beliefs.
Drivers of Trust
[22] According to the current literature, trust is influenced
by two main drivers (Andaleeb 1992; Barber 1983):
[23] The trustor is concerned about
the capabilities of the trustee to accomplish what is
promised. It is this accomplishment which in the end
will determine the trustor’s benefits.
For example, one cannot trust a physician, even if a good
friend, if s/he lacks medical competence. In the same way,
the religious leader must possess (truly or in the believer’s
perception) the ascertained power to save, heal, help, support,
or empower the believer. It is this power which lies behind
the decision to join a religious community. This is the
capability side of the trust relationship.
[24] The second driver (benevolence) refers to the possibility
that the trustee, once trusted, will exploit the vulnerability
of the trustor. To trust another person is to make oneself
vulnerable to any opportunistic behaviour by the trustee.
For example, if I trust a fake financial advisor, he will
defraud me due to my ill-placed trust. It is theoretically
possible that less than honest people, posing as persons
illuminated by religion, would exploit the gullibility of
a person or the wishful thinking of a misguided seeker.
Thus, to elicit trust, a religious leader should communicate
lack of opportunism.
[25] We can conclude that power/capability and benevolence
are the two main drivers of trust. By communicating these
two dimensions, the trustee can gain trust from the trustor.
Propositions
[26] The main question this work poses is which of these
two drivers of trust (powers/capabilities and benevolence)
do NRMs prefer. Does the leader communicate honesty and
altruistic behavior or is stress put on powerful capabilities?
The choice to communicate capabilities without stressing
benevolence in using them could impair trust in a leader.
Similarly, a benevolent leader without particular power
may not be fully effective. Thus one can expect that both
the drivers will be communicated. But the large number of
existing NRMs may make NRMs focus on one driver alone, thus
acquiring initial trust that is completed when the believer
comes closer to the group.
[27] The following hypothesis is developed:
The NRMs’ leaders differentiate
their communication of trustworthiness. Some of them
stress only one driver of trust (capabilities or benevolence),
while others stress both.
Empirical Method
[28] The method applied is content analysis of written communications
regarding their leaders used by movement members. The official
biographies of the leaders published on the official webpages
of the movement have been analyzed. Specifically, the content
analysis applied is similar to the paradigmatic analysis
of texts (Berger 2000, 44) where the meaning is not built
up through the sequence of statements, but is extracted
by assigning them to different conceptual categories (powers
and benevolence). Content analysis is an appropriate tool
to study the intent of the communication sender. The units
of analysis are the statements included in the biographies.
[29] The religious groups studied were selected from the
list of 240 religious movements and compiled by the group
led by Prof. Jeffrey K. Hadden2 (University
of Virginia) and available online.3 Most
of these groups can be defined as NRMs and the database
provides a description of each movements and the links to
their official web-site (when it exists).
[30] A random sample of 42 groups
has been selected from the list. Since the biographies
are usually made up of hundreds of statements, the number
of units analyzed is quite large. Of the 42 movements,
21 do not mention an identifiable leader nor publish
an official biography and four movements have no website.
As regards the 17 movements with biographies, the content
of the leader’s biography as published
in the website has been analyzed. Every statement in the
biographical text has been codified whether referring to
the purported uncommon powers/capabilities of the leader
or to his/her benevolence. Every time a statement of a certain
driver appeared in the text, a point was given to that driver.
In this way, each driver obtained a “score.”4 The
term “statement” refers to the part of a text
appearing between two full-stops.
[31] The codification criteria used are the following:
-
Powers/capabilities: all the statements that show
uncommon, supernatural powers or capabilities possessed
by the leader.
-
Benevolence: all the statements that show a particular
sense of humanity, selflessness, generosity and love
for the destiny of other persons.
Some statements can refer to both dimensions. This occurs
when an uncommon power is said to be exercised for the benefit
of other people.5
[32] The type of codification chosen cannot be obtained
by an automated procedure or a simple count of how many
times a certain term occurs. In order to understand the
meaning of a statement and place it in the appropriate category,
each statement must actually be read and refer to the specific
context and language employed in the biographical text.
Although longer and possibly more subjective, this procedure
was selected in order to understand the real meaning of
every statement. That would be impossible with an automatic
count of single words.
[33] The main limitation of this
study springs from the question whether a content analysis
can correctly understand the profound meaning of a religious
text. One of the weaknesses of content analysis seems
to be its “dryness:” the
researcher must simply assign the units (here the statements)
to predefined categories without over-interpreting them.
However, this is also a strong point, since the subjectivity
of the researcher is restricted. Subjectivity can
be further restricted by adopting a cross-coding procedure
with different coders.
Findings
[34] The results of the content analysis are shown in Table
2.
Table 2: Results of the content analysis
Religious Movement
(Leader, Founder) |
SUPER
POWERS/ CAPABILITIES |
BENEVOLENCE |
TRUST DRIVER USED* |
International Church
of Four square Gospel (Aimee McPherson) |
1 |
14 |
Benevolence |
Ramtha
School of Enlightenment (Rathma – JZ) |
17 |
2 |
Power/Capabilities |
Maitreya (Benjamin Creme) |
7 |
4 |
|
Moral Re-Armament; Initiatives
for Change (Frank Buchman) |
4 |
8 |
|
Latter Rain Movement
(Oral Roberts) |
2 |
0 |
|
Moody Church (Dwight
L. Moody) |
1 |
5 |
Benevolence |
Sahajia Yoga (Shri Mataji
Firmala Devi) |
15 |
15 |
|
MSIA Movement of Spiritual
Inner Awareness (John-Roger) |
0 |
5 |
Benevolence |
Healthy, Happy, Holy
Organization -3HO (Yogi Bhajan) |
4 |
8 |
|
Swedenborgianism (Swedenborg) |
7 |
3 |
|
Local Church (Watchman
Nee) |
22 |
17 |
|
Aetherius Society (George
King) |
10 |
2 |
Power/Capabilities |
Unarius
Academy of Science (Ernest & Ruth Norman) |
22 |
10 |
Power/Capabilities |
I AM (Guy Ballard) |
12 |
0 |
Power/Capabilities |
Theosophy (H.P. Blavatsky) |
2 |
0 |
|
Nation of Islam (Elijah
Muhammad) |
0 |
4 |
Benevolence |
International Society
for Krishna Consciousness (Prabhupada) |
4 |
7 |
|
* Statistically significant at the 95% level assuming as
H0 an even binomial distribution.
[35] Before analyzing the findings
regarding the specific hypothesis, it is worth discussing
some general features that emerge from the websites and
biographies analyzed. The idea that religious movements
are predominantly present on the web is confirmed, since
only two of those listed in the database have no website.
The movements without an official website are usually
a constellation of movements without a central “portal” (Native American
religions, for instance) or movements that have ceased to
exist, at least as single organizations (for example, the “Holy
Order of Mans”). As regards movements that are present
on the web, their websites are usually complex, well designed,
constantly updated and sometimes they form a constellation
of websites that deal with all facets of the movement.
[36] As stated earlier, one of the central aspects to distinguish
NRMs within the religious movement scenario is the central
role of the founder or leader. However in almost half the
web-sites analyzed, there is no biography of the founder,
nor is the founder's role stressed or emphasized. This is
an interesting finding since the centrality of the leader
is stated in the literature on NRMs. That result may be
due to a number of factors:
-
A development and updating
of the doctrine taught by the leader. The group
frees itself from the founder’s
teachings or adjusts them.
-
Controversial issues surrounding the founder. The
movement tries to distance itself from the founder,
taking into consideration the less controversial aspects
of his/her teaching.
-
A sense of community according to which the founder
is primus inter pares who provides the initial
spark subsequently incorporated by the community that
is the real bearer of the tenets.
[37] The data show not only the leaders'
centrality in NRMs, but also the movements' tendency
towards quick changes (Barker 1999). These changes can
explain why sometimes the NRM founder is not emphasized
or why s/he is even forgotten in the official webpages.
Within few years, a movement can have many new adepts
who would challenge the original tenets and the founder’s
relevance. Moreover, the line that separates the followers
from the outside world (often seen as antagonistic) may
be softened over time. Thus the rigid founder’s doctrine
can be modified in order to accept more people from the
external society. Sometimes NRMs' detractors stress the
personal traits of the leader and her/his shortcomings.
By removing the leader from public attention, an NRM preserves
itself from such attacks.
[38] The powers of the leader usually have two types of
origins: a revelation and transmission from a divine entity
or the personal evolution of the leader. Benevolence is
usually expressed towards the human beings in general. Some
religious movements tend to focus on certain segments of
society.
[39] As regards the two drivers of
trust, if the biographies were evenly balanced between
powers and benevolence, the number of statements expressing
these two features would be approximately equal. Statistics
can help assess whether that is the case. In order to
explain the statistical method adopted, let us take one
biography as an example. The
biography of Aimee Semple McPherson (International Church
of Four Square Gospel) has one statement that refers to
supernatural powers and 14 statements that indicate benevolence.
Let us assume a zero-based hypothesis that the probability
of a statement of being either power-based or benevolence-based
would be even: 50%. Given this percentage, the above configuration
1 versus 14 would appear with a probability of less than
1/1.000. This probability is calculated through the binomial
distribution. We can conclude that the biography is significantly
unbalanced towards the benevolence communication.
[40] By applying that reasoning with
a 95% level of significance, the results are four biographies
that communicate benevolence, four that communicate capabilities
and the rest (9) that are evenly distributed between
these two drivers. The biographies that express benevolence
are those of the following religious leaders and their
movements (in parentheses): Aimee
McPherson (International Church of Four square Gospel),
Dwight L. Moody (Moody Church), John-Roger (MSIA Movement
of Spiritual Inner Awareness), Elijah Muhammad (Nation of
Islam).
[41] For instance, the biography
of John-Roger shows benevolence in passages like the
following: “John-Roger is an
educator in the broadest sense of the word, helping people
to become more aware of the Spirit in themselves and others
and to make the most out of their lives.”6 Here
the leader does not seem to possess supernatural powers.
According to this biography, the real power is inside people
and John-Roger would just help to retrieve it. The term "educator" is
low-key, referring to a role well known and common in society.
Aimee McPherson is described as a person who “performed
an extensive social ministry, providing hot meals for more
than 1.5 million people during the Great Depression.”7 She
is described as a person with great organizational skills
and unshakeable faith, not as a goddess on Earth.
[42] These movements’ tendency towards benevolence,
rather than power, may be explained with their religious
stance that never places humans above divinity. The human
being can be an earthly hand of the deity, but not a deity
in her/himself. This is understandable for the two Christian-based
movements (Aimee McPherson's movement and Moody’s
Church) and for the Nation of Islam. In these religious
traditions, human beings are God’s creatures, not
gods themselves. Any supernatural powers are conceded by
God and the movement is no exception. MSIA instead comes
from the New Age culture (although Jesus Christ is considered
by the movement as its true “head” [Introvigne
1998]). However, the first point of the MSIA’s doctrine
is that everything proceeds from God. Moreover according
to John-Roger’s doctrine, everyone has a spiritual
light within and the movement would just help to bring it
forward; no external power would be transmitted from outside
the believer. This internal perspective originates from
the self-help schools movement, the Western Christian metaphysical
tradition and the Eastern-oriented esoteric culture that
that John-Roger experienced before the MSIA’s foundation
(Introvigne 1998). Therefore, for MSIA too there is no need
of citing some supernatural powers as relevant for its doctrine.
[43] The biographies that emphasize
powers and capabilities of their founders are the following:
Ramtha—JZ (Ramtha
School of Enlightment), George King (Aetherius Society),
Ernest & Ruth Norman (Unarius Academy of Science), Guy
Ballard (I AM). The Aetherius Society and the Unarius Foundation
are both UFO-based groups. The founders combine millenarian
themes and technological culture. The four movements have
in common the “channeling” powers of their founders.
The founder or leader is conceived by these movements as
a representative or “channel” of some supernatural
entity. JZ Knight is a famous medium whose roots come from
the ’60s; according to the movement’s doctrine,
the spirit Ramtha communicates through JZ Knight. The case
is similar for Guy Ballard, whose biographical notes are
particularly vivid in their description of his encounter
with supernatural entities: “his body was filled with
what felt like a current of electricity flowing from his
head to his feet.”8
[44] In summary, half of the movements examined prefer to
concentrate on one driver of trust, while the other half
do not focus on a particular driver. The movements are thus
evenly distributed between the two communication strategies.
The difference between the two types of NRM resides in their
theology. When benevolence is stressed, the founder/leader
-
Is an intermediary of a superior divine love
-
Helps people to bring forward
a light that is already present, but “sleeping,” in
their inner soul. It is a sort of Socratic maieutic.
[45] When power is stressed, the leader/founder is considered
to be a channel of supernatural entities. The difference
between the two types of biographies and movements is not
clear-cut. It is interesting to notice that neither benevolence-based
nor power-based biographies depict the leaders as gods on
earth or as incarnations of gods. They are human beings,
endowed with a mission to accomplish (save their fellow
humans) and a power to accomplish this mission. They benevolently
intercede with deities or they channel them. Intercession
or channelling are similar aspects of religious experience.
[46] MSIA is an interesting case
between intercession and channeling, between benevolence
and power: John-Roger’s
benevolence, as seen before, is the central theme in his
official biography. However, according to some, his personal
history outside the biography reveals that purportedly he
was possessed by an external spirit called John in whose
honour Roger Hinkins took the name John-Roger
(Introvigne 1998).
Conclusions
[47] The Internet has traditionally
been studied as a business opportunity, as a indefinitely
large database, and as a communication and socialization
tool. Still, some
surveys show that people often go online for religious purposes,
even for enlightenment.No wonder religion is present on
the web; the opposite (the lack on the internet of any reference
to religion) would be surprising. One can ask “But
isn’t most religion virtual in its orientation and
emphasis?” (Maxwell 2002, 343). Religion is similar
to the definition of virtual realms: another space, a different
place that does not exist in a physical sense, still existing
and interacting with the individual. The true enthusiasts
of cyberspace go even further; they compare the Internet
with the Heavenly City of the the Book of Revelation (Benedikt,
cited in MacWilliams 2002, 315-16). As a whole, Information
Technology seems to share some features with religious experience: “The
images on the screen may seem very real, but are the direct
reflection of an underlying and more fundamental reality
ultimately existing of digits and zeros: a parallel reality
which remains invisible to the common user” (Hanegraaff
2003, 370).
[48] As at the dawn of radio and
television, religious
movements today commonly use the Internet to spread their
teachings. In many cases, that use is quite professional,
in the sense that the power of the medium is well understood
and its potential is fully exploited. This paper aims to
shed some light on some of the communication mechanisms
in order to better understand the communication process
in itself and the ways in which a religious organization
can express its thoughts and tenets. Trust has become an
increasingly relevant issue for religious communication,
because trust is the first step towards a religious experience
in such a varied “offer” like those of NRMs.
For this reason, the two drivers of trust (benevolence and
power/capabilities) have been put at the centre of this
study. Further research can study in greater detail the
findings of this work, by, for instance, linking the results
to the religious and spiritual needs that the society at
large expresses over the years.
[49] This investigation of NRMs might be applied established
religions. But for old movements, the founder's/leader's
biography is part (and often the central part) of their
sacred scriptures. This would require some changes in the
method and its aims:
-
A theological interpretation should integrate content
analysis;
-
The sacred texts are usually quite complex, covering
many aspects of the founders/leaders, thus it would
be likely that both aspects of trust would emerge;
-
The length of the texts would be unlikely to provide
results with statistical significance, given the very
high number of statements;
-
The biography is often referred directly to the deity,
thus a leader/founder in the common meaning of the
term would be absent.
[50] Miracles and love: ultimately,
these are the two promises of religion. New religious
leaders interpret these two facets differently. But in
the end, these are different facets of the same phenomenon: “Ce qui fait qu'on ne croit
pas les vrais miracles, est le manque de charité” (Blaise
Pascal).
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Notes
1 An example is the
online rosary offered by some websites, like http://rosary.virtualave.net/.
At this site, the devotee can
follow and read the rosary,
pushing the button “Amen”, going from one prayer
to the next one. The “Amen” vocally expressed
is substituted by this “new economy” way of
interaction.
2 The research group
is currently headed by Prof. Douglas E. Cowan.
3 The list is available
at the address http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/.
4 Given the different
lengths of the documents, a relative measure can be computed
in order to compare the biographies.
5 Naturally, when benevolence
is considered the main theme of a biography, it is not implied
that other biographies and movements are not benevolent.
What is measured in this work is not the benevolence/malevolence
of movements, but the stress put in benevolence or power
intended as communication choices.
6 http://www.msia.org/msia.qry?ID=39 (October
2004).
7 http://www.foursquare.org/index.cfm?
cat=about&subcat=history&subsubcat=founder (October
2004).
8 http://www.lcrawfords-manymansions.com/Ascended%20Master%20Instruction/
Guy%20Ballard/Guy%20Ballard%202.htm (October
2004).
