CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Abstract

Lofland and Stark (1965) give a model of the conversion process to the New Religious Movement in the field of the Sociology of the Religion. The model states that a person who converts to the New Religious Movements must follow these seven stages of process in order to fully commit to a New Religious Movement of his or her own choosing. The first step of the conversion model states that the person who converts to a particular New Religious Movement must be experience and enduring felt the acutely tension in his or her lives beforehand then this preconditioning leads the individual to follow the rest of the model of conversion to an New Religious Movement. This paper it will take look at the preconditioning that leads to the conversion process in name the experience and enduring felt the acutely tension. To see if this model of the conversion process fits with a New Religious Movement namely “Eastern Lightningâ€

Brief background history and the beliefs of the Movement
The name of the Movement is Eastern Lighting also known as “The Church of Almighty Godâ€

Body
Lofland and Stark (1965) give a conversion model in which one joins into an New Religious Movement in the first three Stages of the conversion model it states that the first the person must experience enduring, and acutely felt tension second that the person must be within a religious problem-solving perspective, and third which leads him or her to define himself or herself as a religious seeker. In examining the first three stages of the model it first looking at the way of this model supposes to work. Lofland and Stark (1965) say that this Model is value added model. As an individual to fully commit oneself to the movement it would need all seven stages of the conversion process in order to be fully committed to the movement itself. One stage of conversion process added unto another stage. But does this model fit with the New Religious Movement call Eastern lightning and how the members first encounter the movement? First does the members there feel and experience enduring, and acutely felt tension? Second do the members have a religious problem-solving perspective? And third do the members there leads him or her to define him or herself as a religious seekers? In the initial report of one member it seen that in the beginning he did not feel the need of join the movement itself. As he wrote in his testimony that he was actually against the movement itself. Until one day he was brought into a group meeting in which he described in the way that is similar to case described by Marc Galanter Cults Faith and healing and coercion’s conversion process by subterfuge whereas the group did not clearly state the group’s intention for the conversion process. The member reported that in the meeting they did not told him the intention of the meeting. Until later on that he begins to gain an awareness of the intention of the meeting. This leads to the beginning of the conversion process for him.
The second case of conversion process was more in line of what in Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge’s article entitle “Networks of Faith: Interpersonal Bonds and recruitment to cults and Sectsâ€

Conclusion
Examining of the Lofland Stark (1965) Model has shown it was the first to study the concept and the idea of the conversion process into a New Religious Movement. It gives the field of the Sociology of Religion a foundational model in which the sociologist of the Religions can then further along the researching in to why an individual joining into the New Religious Movement. In their model it assume that a person who joining into a New Religious Movement has the precondition in which he or she has experience and enduring the acutely felt tensions. And this precondition then added to the necessary stages in the conversion process in which one must to travel in order to fully commit to the Movement itself. Such as the second stage that which state that a person must be within a religious problem solving perspective. Follow by this leads him or her to define him or herself as religious seekers. For the original purpose of this paper is to examine this model in term of the preconditioning. Does it necessary for a person to experience and enduring acutely felt tension before he or she joins into the New Religious Movement? It shows by various other sociologists whom have study the conversion process as not a necessary factor for a person to be the case when they initially join up with the New Religious Movement. In fact the cases from the Eastern Lightning group have pointing to other sources in which a person initially joins up with the group. The cases pointing to the routes of the Networking in which the nonmembers has initial contact with the members and through the friendship with the members then the nonmembers then later on join into the group as well as the other routes of the conversion process in which the members using the tactic of the subterfuge whereas the group did not clearly state the group’s intention in the initial phases of the meeting with the nonmembers. In short what Lofland and Stark have given us is an important foundation in which later works can base upon it.

References

Galanter, Marc. 1999. Cults Faith, Healling and Coercion. New York. Oxford
University Press
Lofland, John and Rodney Stark. 1965. “On becoming a world-saver: A theory of conversion to a deviant Perspective.â€