Cults today are bigger than ever, with broad ramifications for national and international terrorism. In this newly revised edition of her definitive work on cults, Singer reveals what cults really are and how they work, focusing specifically on the coercive persuasion techniques of charismatic leaders seeking money and power. The book contains fascinating updates on Heaven's Gate, Falun Gong, Aum Shinrikyo, Hare Krishna, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and the connection between cults and terrorism in Al Queda and the PLO.

It is widely acknowledged that the United States has al- ways provided fertile ground for the growth of new religious movements and cults, but modern organized efforts to oppose and restrict them have been less well understood. In Agents of Discord, Anson Shupe and Susan E. Darnell offer a groundbreaking analysis of the operations and motives of these oppositional groups, which they generally group under the umbrella term of the anticult movement.

Historically there have always been parallel groups opposed to certain religious movements, whether these be anti-Quaker, anti-Roman Catholic, or anti-Mormon. The authors establish the cultural context of such movements in the nineteenth century. They point out the link between modern anticult movements and nativist movements in American history. Turning to the postwar era, the authors discuss the rise of anticult movements and focus specifically on one of the most prominent, the Cult Awareness Network (CAN). CAN was a two-tiered organization. Partly composed of volunteers, donors, and families affected by cult movements, it also included what the authors call an "inner sanctum" of behavioral science professionals, attorneys, and deprogrammers. Using never-before-reported data on CAN's activities, the authors cite an extensive history of financial impropriety that finally led to the organization's bankruptcy. They offer a pointed critique, informed by current scholarship, of the "brainwashing" model of mental enslavement presented by the anticult movement that has been a central assumption undergirding its activities. At the same time, they show how increasing professionalization has gradually begun a shift of such movements to a therapeutic model of exit counseling that rejects the crude methods of earlier intervention strategies.

In their analysis of the anticult movement nationally and internationally, Shupe and Darnell merge sociological concepts and social history to make unique sense of a heretofore relatively unexplored phenomenon.

Shows how some of the ideas about the afterlife presented by spiritualism helped to shape popular Christianity in the period. From the moment of its arrival in Britain in 1852, modern spiritualism became hugely popular among all sections of society. As well as offering mysterious and entertaining seance phenomena, spiritualism was underpinned by a beliefthat the living could communicate with the departed and even come to know what life after death looked like. This book, offering the first detailed account of the theology of spiritualism, examines what happened when the Church of England, itself already grappling with questions about the nature of the afterlife, met with such a vibrant and confident presentation. Although this period saw a gradual liberalising in the Church's own theology of heavenand hell this was not communicated to the wider public as long as sermons and liturgy remained largely framed in traditional language. Over time spiritualism, already embedded in common culture, explicitly influenced the thinkingof some Anglican clergy and implicitly began to permeate and shape popular Christianity - to the extent that even some of spiritualism's harshest critics made use of its colourful imagery. This study sets one significant aspect ofChristian doctrine alongside an attractive alternative and provides a fascinating example of the 'negotiation of belief', the way in which, in the interface between Church and culture, religious belief came to be refreshed and redefined. GEORGINA BYRNE is an ordained Anglican priest and currently Director of Ordinands for the Diocese of Worcester and a Residentiary Canon at Worcester Cathedral.

What happens on the other side of life?

Author Bruce Moen continues to bring us evidence that physical death is just a momentary event in our eternal consciousness as he explores life after death in this, the third book in his Exploring the Afterlife series.

Using groundbreaking techniques developed by Robert A. Monroeaauthor of the classic Journeys out of the Body and founder of The Monroe InstituteaMoen projects himself out of his body to travel beyond death into new realms of existence. His travels allow him to access knowledge available only to out-of-body explorers. With Moen, you will journey to the center of the Earth, develop a unique understanding of how astrology really works, and even make contact with extraterrestrials.

But more fascinatingaand empoweringais his glimpse of the community of souls, his explorations of nonphysical environments, and his growing understanding of what he has witnessed. Read Voyages in the Afterlife: Charting Unknown Territory and learn, along with Bruce Moen, the nature of the cosmos and our place in it.

Have you been touched by the Mystery? You may not remember it but we have all been touched in some mysterious way by the divine. Though we know that traumatic memories are often suppressed, the fact that we all, particularly as children, are likely to have had significant spiritual experiences of great goodness and importance to us is generally rejected, its remembrance discouraged. But these experiences remain within us, ready to re-awaken, when the right catalyst enters our lives. Walking with the Ineffable is a memoir of one woman's walk through the mystery of spiritual experiences. It is about the changing weather of belief: what we believe, why we believe, and when we believe. Steeped in the mysticism of Christian, Sufic, and other spiritual transmissions and pilgrimages, the author, aided by a vibrant company of a host of wise-eyed, mischievous cats, brings a broad spiritual perspective to the perennial quest of the human soul to know itself and its Maker, and to the discovery of that hidden splendor, waiting to shine, in the depths of us all.

When Brian Doyle died of brain cancer at the age of sixty, he left behind dozens of books -- fiction and nonfiction, as well as hundreds of essays -- and a cult-like following who regarded his writing on spirituality as one of the best-kept secrets of the 21st century. Though Doyle occasionally wrote about Catholic spirituality, his writing is more broadly about the religion of everyday things. He writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the holiness of small things, and about love in all its forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, friendly love, love of nature, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon. At a time when our world feels darker than ever, Doyle's essays are a balm for the tired soul. He finds beauty in the quotidian: the awe of a child the first time she hears a river, the whiskers a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every day -- but through his eyes, nothing is ordinary. David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to the glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size or renown, and brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." In a time when wonder seems to be in short supply, Your One Wild and Precious Life, Doyle and Duncan invite readers to experience it in the most ordinary of moments, and allow themselves joy in the smallest of things.

In Strange Rites, Tara Isabella Burton takes a tour through contemporary American religiosity. As the once dominant totems of civic connection and civil discourse--traditional churches--continue to sink into obsolescence, people are looking elsewhere for the intensity and unity that religion once provided. We're making our own personal faiths - theistic or not - mixing and matching our spiritual, ritualistic, personal, and political practices in order to create our own bespoke religious selves. We're not just building new religions in 2019, we're buying them, from Gwyneth Paltrow's gospel of Goop, to the brilliantly cultish SoulCycle, to those who believe in their special destiny on Mars. In so doing, we're carrying on a longstanding American tradition of religious eclecticism, DIY-innovation and "unchurched" piety (and highly effective capitalism). Our era is not the dawn of American secularism, but rather a brand-bolstered resurgence of American pluralism, revved into overdrive by commerce and personalized algorithms, all to the tune of "Hallellujah"--America's most popular and spectacularly misunderstood wedding song.

Stop comparing yourself to others-you're special just as you are! In this fun, practical guide, you'll learn how to silence your nit-picky inner critic, cultivate self-compassion, and discover what really matters to you. If you're like many teens, you probably feel pressured to live up to the impossible standards set by our culture, the media, and even by your peers. After all, everyone wants perfect hair, a perfect body, cool friends, and good grades. But while it's okay to strive to be your best, it's also easy to get caught up in a never-ending comparison game that can feed your inner critic and rob you of your happiness. So, how can you break free from negative self-criticism and learn to appreciate your strengths? In Just As You Are, psychologist Michelle Skeen and her daughter, Kelly Skeen, offer simple tips to help you overcome feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, stop comparing yourself to others, and be more open and accepting of all aspects of who you are. You'll also learn how to be more aware of your thoughts and feelings in the moment using powerful mindfulness tools, and build a plan of action for the future based on your values. Sometimes it's hard to see yourself with clarity and kindness. With this important guide, you'll learn to move past your faults, celebrate your true strengths, and discover what really matters in your life. What are you waiting for?

By the end of the first decade of the Victorian era political, religious and social ideas were in a state of flux, and profound, far-reaching cultural changes were taking shape. The spirit of enquiry generated by this upheaval produced both a striking advance in philosophical materialism, and an equally pronounced quest for evidence of a life after death - evidence that would supply proof of the reality of a spiritual world. This quest gave birth to the multi-faceted movement of Spiritualism. Growing out of a complex combination of religious enthusiasm, Mesmerism, and the influence of the New England Transcendentalists, Spiritualism as a movement first appeared in 1848. Its proponents offered what they claimed was verifiable evidence of the reality of the spirit world, and of their ability to communicate with individual, identifiable spirits. Spiritualism was taken up with enthusiasm by all sections of society; institutions to investigate and to promote the new movement were established; its history and pre-history were mapped out, evidence was gathered, sifted and debated; and the theological and philosophical implications were analyzed in depth. In one way or another, Spiritualis