There has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of the US population that is not religious. However, there is, to date, very little research on the social movement that is organizing to serve the needs of and advocate for the nonreligious in the US. This is a book about the rise and structure of organized secularism in the United States. By organized secularism we mean the efforts of nonreligious individuals to build institutions, networks, and ultimately a movement that serves their interests in a predominantly religious society. Researchers from various fields address questions such as: What secularist organizations exist? Who are the members of these organizations? What kinds of organizations do they create? What functions do these organizations provide for their members? How do the secularist organizations of today compare to those of the past? And what is their likely impact on the future of secularism? For anyone trying to understand the rise of the nonreligious in the US, this book will provide valuable insights into organized efforts to normalize their worldview and advocate for their equal treatment in society.

"It is not the time of the creation in itself that disturbs us, nor is it the so-called fall or the time when mankind wandered the world between light and darkness. What disturbs us is what we suspect transpired in the time before time." Magister Amarantus Sodalitas Sanctum Seth Classical Gnosticism points to a path, which is not a path, but rather a path between the paths. It is a story told at the strike of the thirteenth hour on the mystical dial of the wise; from a mental position between truth and falsehood, reality and dream, in a spiritual place that unites all things in a point without a centre. The tradition, to which this book refers is based on Biblical stories of creation, the nature of God, how man came to live on earth, and how we may recapture what humanity lost. This tradition has a systematic enquiring approach to redemption. It thus relies on our own understanding and our own experiences to grasp it. This is the path called Gnosticism; Sethian Gnosticism.

This is the first investigation of the history of Russian Freemasonry, based on the premise that the facts of the Russian Enlightenment preclude application of the interpretative framework commonly used for the history of western thought. Coverage includes the development of early Russian masonry, the formation of the Novikov circle in Moscow, the programme of Rosicrucianism and its Russian variant and, finally, the clash between the Rosicrucians and the State.

The volumes in this set, originally published between 1978 and 1992, draw together research by leading academics in the area of the occult and provide a rigorous examination of related key issues. The collection examines occultism from a broad range of disciplines, from shamanism and the occult tarot, to the esoteric and spiritualism. It includes volumes across the disciplines of religion, covering new religious movements, spiritualism, ritual and magic practices. The three books that comprise this set include investigations into the evolution of occultism, as well as the history and practices of the occult as a religious movement. This collection brings back into print insightful and detailed books and will be a must-have resource for academics and students, not only of religion and anthropology, but also of history and psychology.

This introduction to Gnosis by Christoph Markschies combines great clarity with immense learning.In his Introduction Markschies defines the term Gnosis and its relationship to 'Gnosticism', indicating why Gnosis is preferable and sketches out the main problems. He then treats the sources, both those in the church fathers and heresiologists, and the more recent Nag Hammadi finds. He goes on to discuss early forms of 'Gnosis' in antiquity, Jewish and Christian (New Testament) and the early Gnostics; the main representatives of Gnosis, especially Valentinus and Marcion; Manichaeism as the culmination and end-point of Gnosis; ancient communities of 'Gnostics'; and finally 'Gnosis' in antiquity and the present.There is a useful chronological table and an excellent select bibliography.

The New Age movement is a twentieth-century socio-cultural phenomenon in the Western world with Glastonbury as one of its major centers. Through experimenting with a number of ways of analyzing this movement, the authors were able to develop a novel theory of social religious movements of broad applicability. Based around contradictions relating to such central anthropological concepts as communitas, egalitarianism, individualism, holism, and autonomy, it reveals the processes by which, having abandoned a mainstream lifestyle, people come to build up a counter-culture way of life. Drawing on their own work on tribal shamanistic religions, the authors are able to point out interesting similarities between the latter and the Glastonbury New Age movement. Not only that: their model allows them to explain such wide-ranging social and religious movements as the Hutterites, the Kibbutz, and Green communes. In fact, the authors argue, these movements may be regarded as variations of the Glastonbury type.

The New Age movement is a twentieth-century socio-cultural phenomenon in the Western world with Glastonbury as one of its major centers. Through experimenting with a number of ways of analyzing this movement, the authors were able to develop a novel theory of social religious movements of broad applicability. Based around contradictions relating to such central anthropological concepts as communitas, egalitarianism, individualism, holism, and autonomy, it reveals the processes by which, having abandoned a mainstream lifestyle, people come to build up a counter-culture way of life. Drawing on their own work on tribal shamanistic religions, the authors are able to point out interesting similarities between the latter and the Glastonbury New Age movement. Not only that: their model allows them to explain such wide-ranging social and religious movements as the Hutterites, the Kibbutz, and Green communes. In fact, the authors argue, these movements may be regarded as variations of the Glastonbury type.

The Golden Dawn is one of most prolific and legendary of all Western secret and esoteric societies. Hundreds of people, from the rich and famous to the common man, have walked through its halls of the neophyte. Very few stood as tall in the history of the occult sciences as Arthur Edward Waite, the creator of the Rider Waite Tarot Deck. He founded the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross in England in 1915. For the first time in more than 80 years, these secret ceremonies are revealed and made available to you. Included in this volume are the following deeply spiritual rites: 1) Invocation of the Rosicrucian current during the Equinoxes, 2) Celebration of the Solstices, 3) Ceremony of Consecrating the Rosicrucian Temple in the First and Second Orders, 4) Consecrating the Temple in the Highly Secret Third Order, 5) Ceremony for Enthroning the Keeper of the Sacred Mysteries, and 6) The Ceremony Of Consecration On The Threshold Of Sacred Mystery For The Watchers of the Holy House. Be part of a historical moment in the tradition of the Western Mysteries. If you are an aspirant of the Rosicrucian Mysteries or the Golden Dawn Tradition and looking for moving mystical ceremonies filled with high levels of esoteric wisdom, you will find them in this book.

Whether the recently settled religious minorities, Muslims, in particular, can be accommodated as religious groups in European countries has become a central political question and threatens to create long-term fault lines. In this collection of essays, Tariq Modood argues that to grasp the nature of the problem we have to see how Muslims have become a target of a cultural racism, Islamophobia. Yet, the problem is not just one of anti-racism but of an understanding of multicultural citizenship, of how minority identities, including those formed by race, ethnicity and religion, can be incorporated into national identities so all can have a sense of belonging together. This means that the tendency amongst some to exclude religious identities from public institutions and the re-making of national identities has to be challenged. Modood suggests that this can be done in a principled yet pragmatic way by drawing on Western Europe's moderate political secularism and eschewing forms of secularism that offer religious groups a second-class citizenship.

A landmark work. Mandatory reading for anyone who wants to learn to be a good skeptic.
In this widely acclaimed and highly controversial book, Paul Kurtz examines the reasons why people accept supernatural and paranormal belief systems in spite of substantial evidence to the contrary. According to the author, it is because there is within the human species a deeply rooted tendency toward magical thinking - the "transcendental temptation" - which undermines critical judgment and paves the way for willful beliefs. He explores in detail the three major monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - finding striking psychological and sociological parallels between these religions, the spiritualism of the 19th century, and the paranormal belief systems of today. There are sections on mysticism, belief in the afterlife, the existence of God, reincarnation, astrology, and ufology. Kurtz also explains the nature of skepticism as an antidote to belief in the transcendental.

The Indigo Child concept is a contemporary New Age redefinition of self. Indigo Children are described in their primary literature as a spiritually, psychically, and genetically advanced generation. Born from the early 1980s, the Indigo Children are thought to be here to usher in a new golden age by changing the world's current social paradigm. However, as they are "paradigm busters", they also claim to find it difficult to fit into contemporary society. Indigo Children recount difficult childhoods and school years, and the concept has also been used by members of the community to reinterpret conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and autism. Cynics, however, can claim that the Indigo Child concept is an example of "special snowflake" syndrome, and parodies abound. This book is the fullest introduction to the Indigo Child concept to date. Employing both on- and offline ethnographic methods, Beth Singler objectively considers the place of the Indigo Children in contemporary debates around religious identity, self-creation, online participation, conspiracy theories, race and culture, and definitions of the New Age movement.

The book reveals that Whitefield was both a great man of prayer, and a voracious reader. For instance, he acknowledges Matthew Henry s Commentary, Alleine s Alarm, A Call to the Unconverted, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, among the many classics that he fed upon and found both soul-stirring and soul-satisfying. In his personal life, he very much reminds one of Jonathan Edwards, being so dedicated in all his activities. In fact, all his hours were assigned in this way: ''I . . . generally divided the day into three parts eight hours for study and retirement, eight hours for sleep and meals, and eight hours for reading prayers, catechizing and visiting the parish.'' (p. 41). The Second Journal covered May 1738 to November 1738. This is the first journal that he consented to be printed. He arrived in Georgia on May 17, 1738 He then gives various experiences, sometimes day by day, sometimes a week or more between. The Third Journal covers December, 1738 through June, 1739, when he returned to London. He spoke to huge crowds. He preached almost constantly, and often from morning to midnight he was either preaching or witnessing personally. People almost hung on the rafters to hear him. Throughout this book you will see demonstrated the Scriptures in action. He breathed spirituality in his every appearance, private or public. At this time he was yet but 24 years of age. Such a life, some may say, is not for them. So prone are we to think that some of our hours and thoughts are our own. Whatever one s progress in holiness may be, the reader of these journals may be sure that much of Whitefield s spirit will greatly profit his or her soul. After all, how many opportunities does one have to look into the heart and soul of such a committed servant of God. Get it. It may be but a personal account, but it is sure to be of great value to any Christian. Whitefield (1714-1770) is the justly famous evangelist of the eighteenth century. He wrote his first rather full autobiographical account while on board ship in 1736. The balance of the book chronicles his travels as an evangelist through 1756.Despite the well-known differences in doctrine between Whitefield and John Wesley (which resulted at last in his famous letter to that one), he counted both John and Charles Wesley as dear friends. 332 pages, hard cover