New Religious Movements: Theoretical Perspectives on Religious Deviance

The subject of deviance, taken from any context – be it political, religious or cultural – has fueled many heated debates over the decades.  Although the topic has accumulated a rather large body of knowledge, experts, theorists, critics and academicians are no closer to reaching an agreement about anything.  According to Clinard (2004), “deviance takes many forms, but the agreement remains elusive about which specific behaviours and conditions constitute deviance. This ambiguity becomes especially evident when some people praise the same behaviour that others condemn. To understand deviance, one must first understand this contradiction:  No consensus reliably identifies behaviour, people, or conditions that are deviant, although most people would say that they know deviance when they see it.” (p.2) …

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