I've thought for a while now that lots of these (nominally) leftist social movements seem to equate self-flagellation with moral goodness, instead of, y'know, doing good with moral goodness.
But on religion: Are we restricting this discussion to Murica? Because I know South Korea has plenty of Christian cults, and Taiwan is also infamous for cults (e.g. the Falun Gong). You could also argue that there are plenty of martial arts schools in China that claim some sort of supernatural ability, though whether you'd count that as just a rehash of the old concepts of Chi and the five elements, or whether it's even properly religious, is debatable.
I found McWhorter’s new book persuasive. But could it count wholly as “new”? I dunno. There are some in the woke camp who still ascribe to the Christian god, others are atheists who ascribe an almost supernatural (certainly overwhelming) power to an invisible social force.
Defining religion is a notoriously difficult problem that frustrates and annoys a lot of scholars who study it.
I think "new religions" are often visible only in hindsight, often when there has been some form of systematization or institutionalization that codifies or organizes religious practices that began far earlier. Christianity arguably didn't separate out from a swarm of Jewish apocalyptic or messianic movements and practices and become a "new religion" until it had been around for two centuries or more. We may be living in the midst of ideas, practices and rituals that will be recognized as a new religion two or three centuries from now which we're simply incapable of seeing as such.
I've thought for a while now that lots of these (nominally) leftist social movements seem to equate self-flagellation with moral goodness, instead of, y'know, doing good with moral goodness.
But on religion: Are we restricting this discussion to Murica? Because I know South Korea has plenty of Christian cults, and Taiwan is also infamous for cults (e.g. the Falun Gong). You could also argue that there are plenty of martial arts schools in China that claim some sort of supernatural ability, though whether you'd count that as just a rehash of the old concepts of Chi and the five elements, or whether it's even properly religious, is debatable.
I found McWhorter’s new book persuasive. But could it count wholly as “new”? I dunno. There are some in the woke camp who still ascribe to the Christian god, others are atheists who ascribe an almost supernatural (certainly overwhelming) power to an invisible social force.
Defining religion is a notoriously difficult problem that frustrates and annoys a lot of scholars who study it.
I think "new religions" are often visible only in hindsight, often when there has been some form of systematization or institutionalization that codifies or organizes religious practices that began far earlier. Christianity arguably didn't separate out from a swarm of Jewish apocalyptic or messianic movements and practices and become a "new religion" until it had been around for two centuries or more. We may be living in the midst of ideas, practices and rituals that will be recognized as a new religion two or three centuries from now which we're simply incapable of seeing as such.