A Catalogue of the Severall Sects and Opinions in England and other Nations: With a briefe Rehearsall of their false and dangerous Tenents. Broadsheet. 1647

A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles. The term is occasionally used in a malicious way to suggest the broken-off group follows a more negative path than the original. The historical usage of the term "sect" in Christendom has had pejorative connotations, referring to a group or movement with heretical beliefs or practices that deviate from those of groups considered orthodox.^[1]

A sect as used in an Indian context refers to an organized tradition.^[2]

Etymology[link]

Look up sect in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word sect comes from the Latin noun secta (a feminine form of a variant past participle of the verb sequi, to follow^[3]), meaning "(beaten) path", and figuratively a (prescribed) way, mode, or manner, and hence metonymously, a discipline or school of thought as defined by a set of methods and doctrines. The present gamut of meanings of sect has been influenced by confusion with the homonymous (but etymologically unrelated) Latin word secta (the feminine form of the past participle of the verb secare, to cut), as sects were scissions cut away from the mainstream religion.^[3]

Sociological definitions and descriptions[link]

There are several different sociological definitions and descriptions for the term.^[4] Among the first to define them were Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch (1912).^[4] In the church-sect typology they are described as newly formed religious groups that form to protest elements of their parent religion (generally a denomination). Their motivation tends to be situated in accusations of apostasy or heresy in the parent denomination; they are often decrying liberal trends in denominational development and advocating a return to true religion. The American sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge assert that "sects claim to be authentic purged, refurbished version of the faith from which they split".^[5] They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, a high degree of tension with the surrounding society.^[6] Other sociologists of religion such as Fred Kniss have asserted that sectarianism is best described with regard to what a sect is in tension with. Some religious groups exist in tension only with co-religious groups of different ethnicities, or exist in tension with the whole of society rather than the church which the sect originated from.^[7]

Sectarianism is sometimes defined in the sociology of religion as a worldview that emphasizes the unique legitimacy of believers' creed and practices and that heightens tension with the larger society by engaging in boundary-maintaining practices.^[8]

A religious cult, by contrast, also has a high degree of tension with the surrounding society, but its beliefs are, within the context of that society, new and innovative.^{[citation needed]} Whereas the cult is able to enforce its norms and ideas against members, a sect normally doesn't strictly have "members" with definite obligations, only followers, sympathisers, supporters or believers. A sect may also have members which choose to leave later, which is allowed whereas a cult uses any means necessary to keep its members (including coercion).^{[citation needed]}

The English sociologist Roy Wallis^[9] argues that a sect is characterized by “epistemological authoritarianism”: sects possess some authoritative locus for the legitimate attribution of heresy. According to Wallis, “sects lay a claim to possess unique and privileged access to the truth or salvation and “their committed adherents typically regard all those outside the confines of the collectivity as 'in error'”. He contrasts this with a cult that he described as characterized by “epistemological individualism” by which he means that “the cult has no clear locus of final authority beyond the individual member.”^[10][11]

Corresponding words in other European languages[link]

In European languages other than English the corresponding words for "sect", such as secte (French), secta (Spanish), seita (Portuguese), sekta (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Serbian), sekt (Danish, Estonian, Norwegian, Swedish), sekte (Dutch), Sekte (German) or szekta (Hungarian), are used sometimes to refer to a harmful religious or political sect, similar to how English-speakers popularly use the word "cult". In France, since the 1970s, secte has a specific meaning which is very different from the English word.^[12]

In Buddhism[link]

In Christianity[link]

The historical usage of the term sect in Christendom has had pejorative connotations, referring to a group or movement with heretical beliefs or practices that deviate from those of groups considered orthodox.^[13]

Roman Catholic sects[link]

There are many groups outside the Roman Catholic Church which regard themselves as Catholic, such as the Community of the Lady of All Nations, the Palmarian Catholic Church, the Philippine Independent Church, the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, the Free Catholic Church, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, and others.

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae started in Lima, Peru, has multiple cases of psychological abuses experienced by youth that were attracted to the movement.^[14]

In Hinduism[link]

The Indologist Axel Michaels writes in his book about Hinduism that in an Indian context the word

according to Michaels,

In Islam[link]

See also[link]

• Cult
• Ecclesia (sociology of religion)
• Heresy
• One true church
• One true faith
• Religious denomination
• Sectarianism
• Sociology of religion

References[link]

External links[link]

• Three Groups in One by Mary McCormick Maaga excerpt from her book Hearing the Voices of Jonestown (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1998)
• Apologetics Index: research resources on cults, sects, and related issues. The publisher operates from an evangelical Christian point of view, but the site links to and presents a variety of viewpoints.
• ReligionNewsBlog.com Current news articles about religious cults, sects, and related issues.
• Church sect theory by William H. Swatos, Jr . in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society by Swatos (editor)
• La Gnosis Develada Critical studies about Samael Aun Weor.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

Rajiv Radheshyam Dixit was an Indian social activist. He started social movements in order to spread awareness on topics of Indian national interest through the Swadeshi Movement, Azadi Bachao Andolan, and various other works.^[1] He served as the National Secretary of Bharat Swabhiman Andolan he is the founder of bharat swabhimaan andolan ]^[2] He was a strong believer and preacher of Bharatiyata.^[3] He had also worked for spreading awareness about Indian history, issues in the Indian constitution and Indian economic policies.^[4]

Life[link]

Dixit was born on 30 November 1967 in Naah village, Atrauli tehsil of Aligarh district, Uttar Pradesh . Under the tutelage of his father RadheShyam Dixit, he was educated till the 12th grade in the village schooling system in Firozabad district. In 1994, he moved to Allahabad (Prayaag) for higher studies. He pursued his M.Tech degree in Satellite Telecommunications from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and pursued his doctorate in telecommunications in France. Subsequently, he worked at CSIR as a scientist. But his passion for his motherland made him give up a paid-position for the sake of Indian culture and Swadeshi movement, serving the cause of "Rashtra Dharma". His audio cassettes on Indian Nationalism and greatness of India's past did well in 1999. He had been recording them over months traveling across India spreading his message of great optimism about India and its enormous contributions to the human civilization. He was a Brahmachari and never married. He was influenced by the ideologies of Indian revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh. Later in life, he began to appreciate the early works of Mahatma Gandhi. His life was dedicated to not just ideas with high ideals, but also causes like stopping alcohol and "gutka" production, cow-butchering and social injustices. On the 9th of January 2009, he became one of the founders of "Bharat Swabhiman" movement. He died on 30 November 2010, while in Bhilai in Chattisgarh. The circumstances around his death are uncertain and the cause of his death is unknown. In his memory, the constructed Bharat Swabhiman building in Haridwar has been named "Rajiv Bhawan". He refused to take any modern medicine on his death bed, insisting instead on Ayurvedic medicine.

Work[link]

Dixit suggested that the Indian supreme court should declare money held by Indians in Swiss banks as national property so that foreign banks would have to legally hand over this money to India.^[5]

He fought various MNCs like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Colgate as he considered that these companies are draining wealth in their country making India poorer.^[6]

Initiated and supported movements[link]

• Dixit supported the movement of opening a chain of Swadeshi General Stores, where only Indian-made goods are sold.

He believed in swadeshi. He initiated movements like the Swadeshi Movement and Azadi Bachao Andolan and became their spokeperson.^[7] He addressed a rally of over 50,000 people under the leadership of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch in New Delhi.^[8] He also took leadership of the programme held at Calcutta which was supported and promoted by various organizations and prominent personalities and was celebrated all over India on the eve of the 150th Anniversary of the 1857 war of Indian Independence.^[8]

• He demanded decentralization of taxation system, saying that the current system is the core reason for the corruption in bureaucracy. He said that 80% of taxes is being used to pay the politicians and bureaucrats and just 20% for development purposes for the people. He compared the current budget system of the Indian government to the earlier British budget system in India, presenting statistics to show that they are the same. Recently he was working with Swami Ramdev in Bharat Swabhiman Trust as national secretary.^[9]

• He also doubted the terrorist attack on the United States Twin Towers, claiming that it was stage managed by U.S. Government itself, and supported the claims of the Lone Lantern Society of the U.S.^[10]

• He also said that "liberalization, privatization and globalization, the three evil faces staring at us today, have pushed us towards a suicidal state."^[1]

• He argued that modern thinkers have neglected agricultural sectors and farmers have been left to feed themselves and commit suicide.^[1] Expressing his views on the Indian judiciary and legal system, he said that India is still following the laws and acts enacted during the British era and had not taken the burden of changing them as per the requirement of Indian people.^[2]

• He accused the current Indian Government (Congress person Mr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India) of being an agent for USA. He claimed a huge stock of radio-active elements is buried in Indian sea below Setu Samudram, also known as Sri Ram Setu. These radio-active elements could be used to produce electricity and Nuclear weapons for coming 150 years. He also accused that Indian government is trying to break that bridge, which is more than 700,000 years old. ^[1]

Sudden death[link]

Dixit was in Bhilai to deliver lecture as a part of his Bharat Swabhiman Yatra, where he died on 30th November 2010. His death was unexpected. The cause of death is still unknown, though it was initially believed that he died of a cardiac arrest.

References[link]

External links[link]

• [1] Media silent on the death of Rajiv Dixit
• [2] Rajiv Dixit and his Articles (New Website)
• Rajiv Dixit and his Articles
• mp3-of-rajiv-dixit-lectures
• Complete Mp3 Lectures on History of Ancient & Modern India
• [3]
• Swabhiman Yatra Videos