Sect

This article is about religious groups. For other uses, see Sect (disambiguation).

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger religious group. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles. The term is occasionally used in a malicious way to suggest the broken-off group follows a more negative path than the original. The historical usage of the term sect in Christendom has had pejorative connotations, referring to a group or movement with heretical beliefs or practices that deviate from those of groups considered orthodox.

Major denominations and religions of the world

A sect as used in an Indian context refers to an organized tradition.

Etymology

A Catalogue of the Severall Sects and Opinions in England and other Nations: With a briefe Rehearsall of their false and dangerous Tenents. Broadsheet. 1647

The word sect comes from the Latin noun secta (a feminine form of a variant past participle of the verb sequi, to follow), meaning "a way, road", and figuratively a (prescribed) way, mode, or manner, and hence metonymously, a discipline or school of thought as defined by a set of methods and doctrines. The present gamut of meanings of sect has been influenced by confusion with the homonymous (but etymologically unrelated) Latin word secta (the feminine form of the past participle of the verb secare, to cut), as though sects were scissions cast aside from the mainstream religion.

Sociological definitions and descriptions

Main article: Church-sect typology

There are several different sociological definitions and descriptions for the term. Among the first to define them were Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch (1912). In the church-sect typology they are described as newly formed religious groups that form to protest elements of their parent religion (generally a denomination). Their motivation tends to be situated in accusations of apostasy or heresy in the parent denomination; they are often decrying liberal trends in denominational development and advocating a return to true religion. The American sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge assert that "sects claim to be authentic purged, refurbished version of the faith from which they split". They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, a high degree of tension with the surrounding society. Other sociologists of religion such as Fred Kniss have asserted that sectarianism is best described with regard to what a sect is in tension with. Some religious groups exist in tension only with co-religious groups of different ethnicities, or exist in tension with the whole of society rather than the church which the sect originated from.

Sectarianism is sometimes defined in the sociology of religion as a worldview that emphasizes the unique legitimacy of believers' creed and practices and that heightens tension with the larger society by engaging in boundary-maintaining practices.

The English sociologist Roy Wallis argues that a sect is characterized by “epistemological authoritarianism”: sects possess some authoritative locus for the legitimate attribution of heresy. According to Wallis, “sects lay a claim to possess unique and privileged access to the truth or salvation and “their committed adherents typically regard all those outside the confines of the collectivity as 'in error'”. He contrasts this with a cult that he described as characterized by “epistemological individualism” by which he means that “the cult has no clear locus of final authority beyond the individual member.”

In other languages

The corresponding words for "sect" in European languages other than English — Sekte (German), secte (French), secta (Spanish, Catalan, Romanian), seita (Portuguese), sekta (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, Latvian), sekt (Danish, Estonian, Norwegian, Swedish), sekte (Dutch) and szekta (Hungarian), секта (Russian, Bulgarian) — refer to a harmful religious sect and translate into English as "cult". In France, since the 1970s, secte has a specific meaning which is very different from the English word.

In Buddhism

Main article: Schools of Buddhism

In Christianity

See also: List of Christian denominations and Christian denomination

While the historical usage of the term "sect" in Christendom has had pejorative connotations, referring to a group or movement with heretical beliefs or practices that deviate from those of groups considered orthodox, its primary meaning is to indicate a community which has separated itself in some way from the larger body from which its members came and to which they may or may not still adhere. The term remains valid for this purpose.

Roman Catholic sects

There are many groups outside the Roman Catholic Church which regard themselves as Catholic, such as the Community of the Lady of All Nations, the Palmarian Catholic Church, the Philippine Independent Church, the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, and others.

In Hinduism

Main article: Hindu denominations

The Indologist Axel Michaels writes in his book about Hinduism that in an Indian context the word "sect does not denote a split or excluded community, but rather an organized tradition, usually established by founder with ascetic practices." According to Michaels, "Indian sects do not focus on heresy, since the lack of a center or a compulsory center makes this impossible – instead, the focus is on adherents and followers."

Muslim sects

Main articles: Islamic jurisprudence and madhhabs

Further information: Dawoodi Bohra, Sulaimani, Khoja, Alavi Bohra, and Qutbi Bohra

The ancient schools of Islamic jurisprudence or Islamic law in Islam are known as "madh'habs." In the beginning Islam was classically divided into three major sects. These political divisions are well known as Sunni, Shi'a and Kharijites. Each sect developed several distinct jurisprudence systems reflecting their own understanding of the Islamic law during the course of the history of Islam.

For instance, Sunnis are separated into five sub-sects, namely, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbalites and Ẓāhirī. Shi'a, on the other hand, was first developed Kaysanites and in turn divided into three major sects known as Fivers, Seveners and Twelvers. Qarmatians, Ismailis, Fatimids, Assassins of Alamut and the Druse all emerged from the Seveners. Isma'ilism later split into Nizari Ismaili and Musta’li Ismaili, and then Mustaali was divided into Hafizi and Taiyabi Ismailis. Moreover, Imami-Shi'a later brought into existence Ja'fari jurisprudence. Akhbarism, Usulism, Shaykhism, Alawites and Alevism all developed from Ithna'asharis. Similarly, Khawarij was initially divided into five major branches as Sufris, Azraqis, Najdat, Adjarites and Ibadis.

Among these numerous sects, only Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Imamiyyah-Ja'fari-Usuli, Nizārī Ismā'īlī, Alevi, Zaydi, Ibadi, Zahiri, Alawite and Taiyabi communities have survived.

Amman Message

Main article: Amman Message

Further information: Muslim denominations

An Islamic convention held in Jordan in July 2005, which brought 200 Muslim scholars from over 50 countries together, announced the official recognition of eight legal schools of Islamic jurisprudence and the varying strains of Islamic theology viz. The eight recognized Islamic schools and branches are:

1. Sunni Hanafi
2. Sunni Maliki
3. Sunni Shafi'i
4. Sunni Hanbali
5. Shia Ja`fari (inc. Mustaali-Taiyabi Ismaili)
6. Shia Zaydi
7. Kharidjite Ibadi
8. Sunni Zahiri

Five of them are Sunni, two of them Shi'a, and the remaining one, Ibadi, is an independent school of Islamic jurisprudence.

The declaration of Amman Message, which represents the views of more than 97% of the Muslim population, does not recognize Ahmadis, Alevis, Moorish Science, Nation of Islam, Nizari Ismailis, Nusairis and Quranists as either distinct Muslim sects or legal madh'habs.

See also

• Cult (religious practice)
• Ecclesia (sociology of religion)
• New religious movement
• One true church
• One true faith

External links

• Church sect theory by William H. Swatos, Jr . in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society by Swatos (editor)
• Apologetics Index: research resources on cults, sects, and related issues. The publisher operates from an evangelical Christian point of view, but the site links to and presents a variety of viewpoints.
• ReligionNewsBlog.com Current news articles about religious cults, sects, and related issues.