-Caveat Lector- The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030201-94404616.htm Ex-pastor updates religion 'encyclopedia' Richard N. Ostling ASSOCIATED PRESS Published February 1, 2003 Americans are proud of their freedom of religion, and the work of J. Gordon Melton shows they have a whole lot of religions to choose from. The Roman Catholic Church may be huge, but it's only one among 116 Catholic denominations. Orthodox Christians have an even higher total, and Protestantism is notoriously splintered; its Pentecostal segment alone counts groups by the hundreds. There's a denomination for practically everyone. If the Episcopal Church won't do, worshippers can move leftward into the Metaphysical Episcopal Church or Free Episcopal Church, or rightward into dozens of breakaways like the Anglican Mission in America. Does Unitarianism seem too conventional? The denomination offers a subgroup of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. Moving further from the mainstream, there's always the Church of God Anonymous, the Nudist Christian Church of the Blessed Virgin Jesus, or the Only Fair Religion. All are among 2,630 U.S. and Canadian faith groups described in the new edition of the indispensable "Encyclopedia of American Religion." Mr. Melton, a one-time United Methodist pastor, treats each entry with nonpartisan objectivity and — when necessary — a straight face. The total includes ecumenical organizations, loosely knit movements and defunct faiths. But most are still-existing denominations with distinct flocks. Mr. Melton prefers to call them "primary religious groups." Mr. Melton's task includes placing religions into 26 "families" — and then breaking those down into subcategories. Among religions difficult to classify are the eight that practice drug use, 22 that believe in UFOs — including the Raelians at the center of the recent human- cloning claims — and 12 mail-order religions that dispense instant clergy credentials or divinity degrees. Mr. Melton's curiosity originated during his Alabama boyhood when he attended a family reunion at a rural church. His mother warned, "Whatever you do, don't talk about religion" because some relatives were touchy Pentecostalists and Jehovah's Witnesses. By late high school, he had given up stamp collecting for sect collecting. In the 44 years since, he has obsessively compiled data on more creeds than anyone knew existed. He has deposited his trove of 70,000 books and 40 filing cabinets of materials at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he teaches part time. The campus is two blocks from his Institute for the Study of American Religion. Mr. Melton, 60, is especially adept at tracking obscure, smaller groups. He takes pride in discovering religions that practice rigorous secrecy, such as the Kennedy Worshippers, who have made the late U.S. president into a divinity, and the Two-by-Two's, a network of nomadic evangelists. Other Melton mentions: •All-One-God-Faith Inc. (based in Escondido, Calif.) is simply a soap company that spreads its eclectic doctrines through the labels of its products. •The Church of the New Song (Bluffs, Ill.) recruits prison inmates and once claimed porterhouse steaks and Harvey's Bristol Cream to be its communion elements. •The Embassy of Heaven (Strayton, Ore.) considers all earthly governments illegitimate and takes the logical step of issuing its own auto license plates. Two points emerge to Mr. Melton from all his counting, tracking and compiling. The United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world — especially since immigration laws loosened in 1965 — though Europe as a whole is comparable. Christianity is the biggest single element: 70 percent of Americans belong to "some brand of Christian church." What's more distinct, Mr. Melton said, is that the United States "is certainly the most religious country that has ever existed, in terms of voluntarily taking part in religion." "There's no country to equal us, to date," he said. The turning point was World War II, when "the majority of the public became church members for the first time." He said diversity contributes to that. "The Christian groups know they have to compete. It keeps them alive, growing, and adapting, not resting on their laurels as groups in the majority tend to do," he said. The latest encyclopedia, its seventh edition, has about 250 groups that are newly listed since the 1999 version. Copyright © 2003 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Return to the article Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article have to stand on their own merits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera- tions. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." 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