International Journal for the Study of New Religions, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2019, pp. 139-158.
This article examines an esoteric religion founded by charismatic leaders in the mid-1960s that ceased to exist several decades later due to changes in belief and affiliation; members adopted another, more mainstream, identity, rendering the original religion, which was perceived as deviant in doctrine and practices, futile. The Process Church of the Final Judgment was founded in 1966 in the United Kingdom by Mary Ann MacLean and Robert de Grimston. The Process developed a theology melding esoteric Biblical motifs with psychoanalysis. De Grimston was expelled from the religion in 1974, after which date it transformed into The Foundation Faith of God under MacLean’s leadership. The Process later morphed into the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah, abandoning its ‘deviant’ identity in favour of an animal rights-based new identity. Until recently little attention was paid to how new religious movements (NRMs) came to an end; the academic focus was overwhelmingly on the origin or beginnings of such groups. This study builds on new scholarship to argue that the Process came to an end through activities of transformation and replacement. Consideration is given to the status of the Process as a defunct religion whose ex-members and interested outsiders ‘curate’ online archives of Process materials, keeping the ideas ‘alive’ and available for revival, despite the defunct status of the original organisation.
See Full PDF See Full PDFEuropean Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) Conference, University of Erfurt, Augustinerkloster, 1-3 June 2017.
This paper considers two esoteric religions founded by charismatic leaders in the 1960s that ceased to exist several decades later due to shifts in beliefs and affiliation; in other words, the members of both groups decided to adopt another, more mainstream, identity, rendering the original, arguable deviant, religion defunct. The Process Church of the Final Judgment was founded in 1966 by Mary Ann MacLean and Robert DeGrimston, who had met as members of Scientology; and the Holy Order of MANS (HOOM), was founded in 1966 by Earl Blighton, a Rosicrucian fascinated by Freemasonry, Swedenborgianism, and other esoteric traditions. The two differ radically, but held ‘deviant’ theologies drawing on the Bible (the Process worshipped Christ and Satan, and HOOM melded Christian ideas with Theosophical/Eastern notions of reincarnation, chakras, etc). Blighton died and Robert DeGrimston was ousted as Teacher of the Process in 1974. From that time, the groups transformed. HOOM, as the Christ the Savior Brotherhood (CSB) was incorporated into the Orthodox Church in 1988 under Blighton’s successor Andrew Rossi. By 1993 the Process Church was the Foundation Faith of God, and later became the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. Both religions emerged from the ‘cultic milieu’ at the same time, underwent a change of leadership in 1974, and gradually replaced esoteric or ‘deviant’ beliefs with mainstream views (Christian- and animal rights-based). Former members and interested outsiders ‘curate’ archives of the Process and HOOM documents, which keep the ideas alive despite the defunct status of both movements.
Download Free PDF View PDF
Female Leaders in New Religious Movements
This chapter will try to shed light on this unique figure in the history of new religious movement: alleged former fiancé to world-renowned boxer Sugar Ray Robinson (1923–1989), and head of a ring of prostitution involved with the Profumo scandal in London in 1963, founder of a new religious movement, which even to this day titillates the minds of musicians, artist and members of the counterculture: Mary Ann MacLean’s character and leadership methods within The Process Church will be assessed thanks to interviews with surviving member of the Church and previously unreleased documentation linked to the social dynamics of the movement.
Download Free PDF View PDF
"New Religious Movements tend to start their lives with a number of unequivocal statements, not only of a theological nature but also about the world and appropriate behaviours for the believer. Yet these apparently inalienable Truths and their interpretations frequently become revised, ‘adjusted’ or selectively adopted by different believers. This book explores different ways in which, as NRMs develop, stagnate, fade away, or abruptly cease to exist, certain orthodoxies and practices have, for one reason or another, been dropped or radically altered. Sometimes such changes are adapted by only a section of the movement, resulting in schism. Of particular concern are processes that might lead to violent and/or anti-social behaviour. As part of the Ashgate/Inform series, and in the spirit of the Inform Seminars, this book approaches its topic from a wide range of perspectives. Contributors include academics, current and former members of NRMs, and members of ‘cult-watching’ movements. All the contributions are of a scholarly rather than a polemic nature, and brought together by Eileen Barker, the founder of Inform."
Download Free PDF View PDF
Invited lecture, University of Geneva, 12 April 2019
New Religious Movements (NRMs) became the subject of field research in the 1960s, and participant observers studied them in terms of factors that caused them to emerge and become established (charismatic leaders, counter-cultural contexts, hallucinogenic experiences, communal living etc). Until recently scholars were not interested in how religions end. From June 2018 to June 2019 I am taking part in a large project, “The Demise of Religions” hosted by the Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, led by James R. Lewis (Tromso) and Michael Stausberg (Bergen). The project covers from the ancient work to the present, and includes all types of “religion”. My focus is on the difficulty of identifying the moment of “death” for a new religion. In one case, the digital realm means that extensive archives of defunct religious groups are available (for example, Kerista, a sexually-experimental intentional community founded by Jud Presmont that disbanded in 1991 and the UFO religion Heaven’s Gate, founded by Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles, which ended with the mass suicide of 39 members in 1997). Both religions are defunct; a seeker cannot ‘join’ today. Yet the web archives make it possible for interested parties to learn a great deal about both groups, and to keep their ideas alive. In fact, the unfamiliar (and generally unpopular) beliefs and practices of these fringe groups are now accessible and plausible to a far greater audience than either group (each with around 40 members) reached during its active years. My other cases are the Process Church of the Final Judgment and the Holy Order of MANS, esoteric religions founded by charismatic leaders in the 1960s that ceased to exist decades later due to shifts in beliefs and affiliation. In other words, members of both groups decided to adopt a more mainstream identity, rendering their original deviant identity defunct. The Process was founded in 1966 by ex-Scientologists Mary Ann MacLean and Robert de Grimston, and the Holy Order of MANS (HOOM) was founded in 1966 by Rosicrucian Earl Blighton, who was interested in many esoteric traditions. Blighton died and de Grimston was ousted as Teacher of the Process in 1974. From then the groups’ identities mainstreamed. HOOM was incorporated into the Orthodox Church in 1988 as the Christ the Savior Brotherhood (CSB). In 1993 the Process Church was the Foundation Faith of God, and later it became the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. Both religions emerged from the ‘cultic milieu’ at the same time, underwent a change of leadership in 1974, and gradually replaced esoteric or ‘deviant’ beliefs with mainstream views (Christian- and animal rights-based). Ex-members and interested outsiders ‘curate’ archives of the Process and HOOM, which keep the ideas alive despite the defunct status of both movements.
Download Free PDF View PDF
Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2016, pp. 331-336.
