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Why the Cults? New Religious Movements and Freedom of Religion or Belief

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Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook

Abstract

All religions can both inflict and suffer from abuses of human rights. This chapter asks what it might be about new religious movements (NRMs), “cults,” or “sects” that could make them peculiarly susceptible to such discrimination. Is it that there is something intrinsic to an NRM that invites others to feel the need to treat them as deserving of a special kind of control? And/or is it that there is something about societies that encourages them to restrict the freedom of new religions?

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Tore Lindholm W. Cole Durham Jr. Bahia G. Tahzib-Lie Elizabeth A. Sewell Lena Larsen

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Barker, E. (2004). Why the Cults? New Religious Movements and Freedom of Religion or Belief. In: Lindholm, T., Durham, W.C., Tahzib-Lie, B.G., Sewell, E.A., Larsen, L. (eds) Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-5616-7_25

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