NXIVM, Religion and “Cults”: Resemblances and Parallels in the Hall of Mirrors
The European Association for the Study of Religion Conference, University College Cork, 27 June - 1 July.
8 Pages
1 File ▾
Keith Raniere, founder and focal point of NXIVM, was arrested by FBI agents in Mexico in 2018 and sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020. The charges included racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography possession, and other crimes. The question of whether NXIVM is a religion or a group that may be classified as “religious” arises because of the stereotype of new religious movements that emerged in the 1960s, which posited a charismatic leader (almost always male) who often predated sexually upon members. The archetypes of this type of leader include Jim Jones, who had sexual relationships with both male and female members of Peoples Temple, and David Berg (Moses David), the found of the Children of God/ The Family, whose group was accused of sexualising young children, and abusing them in the context of an allegedly “sex positive” religion, as well as using female member as “hookers for Jesus”. Memoirs authored by members of the Children of God and other 1960s fringe religions have proliferated since the 1990s, and in the 2020s documentaries and memoirs abound about NXIVM. This paper examines NXIVM and asks whether there is a case for classifying it as a cult or a religion.
No comments:
Post a Comment