New Religious Movements

Read more about the article Session: Around the Temple- Holy Places and Contested Spaces in Israel
Disputation or conflict / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / State politics and law

Session: Around the Temple- Holy Places and Contested Spaces in Israel

How is the Holy Land perceived and shaped by thinkers of new religions? In this session, at an international conference that dealt with new religions, four researchers (from the USA, Scotland and Israel) presented different religious approaches: by Freemasonry, channelers, Jewish and Christian groups. The session was moderated by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro, at a conference of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), and the lectures were videotaped.

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November 12, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: An Academic Outlook of New Age and Contemporary Religions – Mapping the Research Field and the Challenges it Faces
Disputation or conflict / Education and higher education / Israel / Methodology and models / Science/medicine and technology / State politics and law

Lecture: An Academic Outlook of New Age and Contemporary Religions – Mapping the Research Field and the Challenges it Faces

At the founding conference of the Israeli Association for the Study of Religions, this lecture offered an extensive view of the contemporary religiosity and spirituality space, from an academic angle. Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro was a member of the founding committee of the association and later - of its executive committee.

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November 2, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: Israeli Government Reports on “cults” – a critical study
Disputation or conflict / History / Identity / Israel / Popular culture and mass media / State politics and law / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: Israeli Government Reports on “cults” – a critical study

A critical study of the struggle revolving "cults" in the Israeli society, through an analysis of formal Israeli reports - lectures on the subject of this research project featured in various forums (in English and Hebrew), and some articles were published in this project's framework.

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January 17, 2022
Read more about the article Article: Israeli Government Reports on New Religious Movements – ‘Tell me Who your Enemies are…’
Disputation or conflict / History / Identity / Israel / Popular culture and mass media / State politics and law / Typology and comparative study

Article: Israeli Government Reports on New Religious Movements – ‘Tell me Who your Enemies are…’

The nature of the society's response to new religious movements actually illumonates us on the society itself. For example, in the U.K. and the U.S., the cults were mainly accused of brainwashing; in the U.S., they were also held responsible for the breakdown of the family and various economic crimes; in France, NRMs were portrayed as engaging in political plots and subverting the secular French nationality (Laïcité), which mandates separation between religion and state; in Germany, NRMs were presented as failing to make their national insurance payments and as a danger to democracy; in Japan, they were suspected of harming young people’s chances of succeeding in the workforce. And what about Israel? A study of the reports written by governmental bodies regarding "cults" serves us as to analyse the Israeli society, its major values, processes and transformations.

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January 17, 2022
Read more about the article Article: “The State of Israel vs. The Cults – The Anti-Cult Discourse and the Israeli Public Discourse in Government Reports”
Disputation or conflict / History / Identity / Israel / Popular culture and mass media / State politics and law / Typology and comparative study

Article: “The State of Israel vs. The Cults – The Anti-Cult Discourse and the Israeli Public Discourse in Government Reports”

In the state of Israel, four govenmental reports were written against "cults". What is disturbing in this phenomena? Is it likely that each one of the reports finds different kind of problems with regard to the new religious movements in Israel? What can we understand from this? What can we learn about the Israeli society from those various reports? In this study, we've analysed the wording of the reports (from a discoursive angle), and indicated the similarity as well as the difference between them. The study serves of course a mirror for the Israeli society and processes it undergone in the last decades.

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January 17, 2022