Children in New Religions

What happens to a new religious movement of "born again" converts when it has to cope with its "born into" children? What happens to the kids as they grow up? This important book provides a unique and long-awaited opportunity to learn about the second-generation membership of a wide range of alternative religions. -- Eileen Barker * FBA, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics *
Palmer and Hardman are acknowledged experts in the study of religions, especially "new" ones. Until now, very little has been written about children in new religions except, of course, for accusations about abuse. . . . There is something remarkably refreshing, then, to read a series of discussions by authors who know that there are other matters of interest and more to be said. . . . Its ethnographies complement more detailed interaction and presentation of the groups at issue. While the book continues in the tradition on which the Sociology of Religion predominates as the methodology of choice in approaching new religions, and while concerns about power, sex and gender predominate among issue that excite interest, it does so in new directions. Seeing children, let alone hearing them, enables some quite different thoughts about new religions. * Reviews in Religion and Theology *
Palmer and Hardman . . . make an important point when they note that the "study of children in new religious movements (NRMs) is a largely uncharted terrain" (p. 1). Their book opens up this field of research through thirteen interesting studies by authors from Europe, Canada, and the United States. For main issues are considered: the impact of children on NRMs; the socialization of children within NRMs; issues of religious freedoms surrounding children in NRMs; and how children in NRMs construct meaning. * Sociology *
This is a timely and important book focusing on the second generation of members in new religious movements (NRMs) born largely in the 1960s or 1970s. The book is important for two reasons. First, NRMs provide a unique social laboratory to observe and test ideas and theories about social movements. . . . Second, as many social scientists have observed, children have a significant impact on religious movements. . . . This is an invaluable contribution to the literature on new religions and social movements. The cross-cultural scope is especially significant. * Contemporary Sociology *
As new and alternative religions become standard fixtures in society, understanding their children becomes an important key to understanding their future. This wonderfully rich, panoramic book provides that key. -- Timothy Miller * Professor of Religious Studies, University of Kansas *
Palmer and Hardman collect much new material about an understudied dimension of new religious movements. * Novo Religio *