Introduction

The Rise of New Religions in Modern America

Each fall, my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, hosts the Universal Life Expo, a huge convention for alternative spiritual and religious practices held at our local Veterans' Memorial Hall. Since most central Ohioans come from a mainstream Christian or Jewish background, they are usually amazed to discover that right here, a few blocks from the Ohio Statehouse, we have one of the largest gatherings of New Age and alternative spirituality in the country. Featuring over 330 booths and vendors, the Expo describes itself as a "metaphysical extravaganza" offering "herbs, crystals, jewelry, angels, musical instruments, wholesome food, incense, readings, wellness products, clothing, candles, art, healers, publications, spiritual fulfillment, and something for everybody, even your pets." The various groups and individuals present include both established religious traditions, such as a group of Tibetan monks who create a large sand mandala, and a vast array of newer spiritual arrivals, such as Spiritualists, Scientologists, channelers, Reiki therapists, psychics, crystal healers, and professional ghost-hunters. The interested visitor can consult with a Spiritualist medium, have a tarot card reading, receive a quick "stress test" from the Church of Scientology, have her or his aura photographed, purchase any of the thousands of crystals and other objects on display, and finally relax with a stop by the "Cuddle Party." In many ways, the Expo is a microcosm of religious diversity and of the complex role of spirituality in the contemporary United States, where hundreds of new spiritual groups exist and compete alongside more established religions in a vibrant but at times chaotic marketplace of religious ideas, practices, goods, and services (figure 1.1).

If most Americans are surprised to discover a massive New Age convention in downtown Columbus, they are typically even more astonished to know that the Midwest is also one of the largest hubs of neopagan activity in the United States, with dozens of Wiccan, Druid, and other groups. Just a few weeks after the Universal Life Expo is the neopagan holy day of Samhain (corresponding to Halloween and falling on the autumn equinox). Our own local Druid group, called ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin, or "A Druid Fellowship"), welcomes the public to attend its major holy days and always performs its major rituals in public spaces such as metro parks, where anyone is invited to attend (figure 1.2).

Even closer to home, I can walk just a few blocks from my campus office down to the Krishna House, the local center for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Perhaps the most successful new religious movement to come from India to the United States, ISKCON began in the mid-1960s, and the Columbus Krishna House is one of its oldest centers. The Columbus Krishna House has been visited by such figures as the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who had a famous exchange with the ISKCON founder Swami Prabhupada here in 1969. To this day, the Krishna House remains a popular center for spiritual instruction, free food, and high-energy, often ecstatic devotional music, attracting a large crowd of both curious college students and first- and second-generation South Asians. Meanwhile, just two hours to the east lies Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, a large and opulent shrine dedicated to ISKCON's founder in a gorgeous setting surrounded by the West Virginia mountains, flocks of live peacocks, an award-winning rose garden, a major temple, and a cow protection sanctuary (figure 1.3).

This remarkable diversity of new religious life is surely not unique to Columbus, Ohio, where I happen to live (although being in the center of the Midwest, Columbus is typically the ideal test market for virtually everything in America, from new fast-food items to new religious ideas). Rather, this is simply one example of the astounding diversity of alternative spiritual life that exists almost everywhere across the United States, often in the least expected and seemingly most "mundane" spaces. Similar pockets of new religious diversity can be found not just in obvious places such as Northern California but in the farmlands of central Pennsylvania, in the mountains of New York and Massachusetts, on the coasts of Florida, in the forests of Washington, and in the deserts of Arizona, Utah, and Texas.

J. Gordon Melton, one of the most important scholars of new religions, has recently counted over 2,500 religious and spiritual groups in the United States alone; and by his estimate at least half of them are "non-conventional" or alternative spiritual movements. In other words, in addition to hosting every imaginable form of Christianity and Judaism, as well as various forms of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, the United States is home to an incredible array of New Age, neopagan, and new religious movements. These include huge global movements such as Mormonism as well as small and fairly esoteric groups such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; high-profile groups that attract celebrity spokespersons such as the Church of Scientology and fairly obscure, low-profile groups such as Heaven's Gate; new forms of Christianity such as the Branch Davidians and various forms of Satanism such as the Temple of Set; movements that emerged in the nineteenth century such as Spiritualism and Theosophy and groups that emerged in the age of cloning technology such as the Raëlians; earth-based forms of spirituality such as neo-paganism and groups based on UFOs from other worlds such as the Aetherius Society; movements based on Eastern religions such as ISKCON and movements rooted in European traditions such as Wicca; and many hundreds of others. Far from marginal or insignificant, New Age, neopagan, and new religious movements are an integral part of the thriving and increasingly eclectic religious landscape of contemporary America.

As we will see in this book, the United States has been from its inception an unusually fertile land for the...