New Age
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Fellowship of Isis (1976)
The Fellowship of Isis is an international, multi-faith spiritual organization dedicated to honoring the Goddess Isis and promoting awareness of the Divine Feminine. It was formally founded on the vernal equinox of 1976 at Clonegal Castle in County Carlow, Ireland. The founders were Olivia Robertson, her brother Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, and his wife Pamela Durdin-Robertson. The… Continue reading
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Fellowship of Friends (1970)
Robert Earl Burton was born in Mineral, Arkansas, and graduated from San Jose State University in 1963. He taught school in California before experiencing what he would call a spiritual awakening in 1967. By 1970, while living in a Volkswagen bus in Berkeley, he had gathered a small group of followers who believed he possessed… Continue reading
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Father Divine (c. 1907)
Father Divine’s origins remain uncertain. He was born around 1876, though the exact date and place are disputed, as he would intentionally obscure details about his early life. He declined offers to document his biography, stating that the history of God would not be useful in human terms. A woman named Eliza Mayfield claimed to… Continue reading
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The Family/Anne Hamilton Byrne (1964)
The Family, also known as the Santiniketan Park Association or the Great White Brotherhood, was an Australian New Age group that emerged in the mid-1960s. It was formed and led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne and combined elements of Eastern and Western religious traditions. At its peak, the group had approximately 500 followers, largely from middle-class and… Continue reading
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Falun Gong (1992)
Falun Gong, also referred to as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual movement that emerged in China in the early 1990s. It was founded by Li Hongzhi and combines meditation, physical exercises, and a moral philosophy rooted in traditional Chinese concepts. Over time, the movement developed from a widely practiced health activity into an international diaspora,… Continue reading
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Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (1968)
The Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (Spanish: Asociación Evangélica de la Misión Israelita del Nuevo Pacto Universal, AEMINPU) is a religious and political movement founded in Peru in 1968. Commonly known as the Israelitas, the group combines elements of Old Testament law, Incan traditions, and a communal agricultural system.… Continue reading
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Eternal Flame Foundation/People Unlimited (1982)
The Eternal Flame Foundation, later known as People Unlimited, People Forever, and CBJ, was founded in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1982 by Charles Paul Brown, Bernadeane Brown, and James Strole. The group is centered on the belief that physical human immortality can be achieved through willpower and what it describes as a “cellular awakening.” It characterizes… Continue reading
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Esalen Institute (1962)
The Esalen Institute was established in 1962 on the Big Sur coastline of California on land originally inhabited by the Esselen tribe, from which it took its name. By the late 19th century, the property had become a destination for tourists seeking the therapeutic benefits of its natural hot springs, then known as Slates Hot… Continue reading
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Endeavor Academy (1992)
Endeavor Academy, legally established in 1992 as the New Christian Church of Full Endeavor, is an international spiritual community and seminary based in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The organization centers its teachings on A Course in Miracles (ACIM), a psychological and spiritual self-study program first published in the 1970s. Founded by Charles Buell Anderson, the Academy… Continue reading
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Emissaries of Divine Light (1932)
The Emissaries of Divine Light was founded in 1932 by Lloyd Arthur Meeker. Meeker, who wrote under the pen name “Uranda,” began experimenting with a practice called “Attunement” as early as 1929. The group dates its formal origin to September 16, 1932, following what Meeker described as a three-day spiritual awakening. Its teachings were based… Continue reading
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Emin (1973)
The Emin Society, also known as the Emin or the Eminent Way, was founded in London in 1973 by Raymond Armin. Born in 1924 as Raymond Schirtenlieb, Armin had previously worked as a quartermaster in the Royal Air Force and later as a salesman. Within the movement, he became known as “Leo.” The group originated… Continue reading
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Eckankar (1965)
Eckankar is a new religious movement combining elements of several belief traditions that was founded by Paul Twitchell in 1965. It is today one of the larger new faiths coming out of that period, with as many as 100,000 adherents worldwide in more than 120 countries, with significant communities in the United States, Canada, Nigeria,… Continue reading
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Earthseed (c. 2000)
Earthseed is a religion created by science fiction author Octavia E. Butler in her novels Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998) that has since been adapted into a real-world religion by some readers. In the books, teenager Lauren Oya Olamina, develops a philosophical and religious system called Earthseed. Olamina has… Continue reading
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Dudeism (2005)
Dudeism, formally known as the Church of the Latter-Day Dude, is a new religious movement inspired by the character Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski from the 1998 Coen Brothers film “The Big Lebowski.” The movement was founded in 2005 by Oliver Benjamin, a journalist based at the time in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was developed as… Continue reading
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Druidry (c. 1781)
Modern Druidry, also known as Druidism, is a contemporary spiritual and religious movement centered on relationships with the natural world. Its practitioners hold a range of theological views but share a general focus on the perceived sacredness of nature. The movement emphasizes environmental stewardship, meditation, and nature-based rituals. Although it draws inspiration from the Iron… Continue reading
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Drenthe Hermits (c. 2009)
The case of Gerrit-Jan van Dorsten and his family, who were dubbed the “Drenthe hermits” due to their residence in the Dutch province of Drenthe, came to public attention in October 2019. The family, consisting of van Dorsten and six of his adult children, had been living in a secluded farmhouse in the village of… Continue reading
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Dove of Oneness/Shaini Candace Goodwin (c. 2002)
The National Economic Security and Recovery Act, commonly known as NESARA, originated as a theoretical economic proposal drafted by engineering consultant Harvey Francis Barnard in the late 1980s. His primary thesis argued that compound interest was a “moral evil” and a major inhibitor of economic growth. To address this, his proposal called for replacing the… Continue reading
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Divine Light Mission (1960)
The Divine Light Mission, known in India as Divya Sandesh Parishad, was established in 1960 by Shri Hans Maharaj Ji. Born in 1900, Shri Hans was initiated into the Sant Mat tradition by the guru Sarupanand Ji. Sant Mat is a mystical movement that combines elements of Hinduism and Sikhism and emphasizes direct spiritual experience.… Continue reading
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Dhunami (2008)
Dhunami is a small offshoot of Eckankar that continues the lineage of Darwin Gross, who succeeded Eckankar founder Paul Twitchell in the leadership of that group but who was deposed and erased from Eckankar history under longtime leader Harold Klemp. Gross founded his own offshoot, Ancient Teachings of the Masters (ATOM), which had largely faded… Continue reading
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Defenders of Christ (c. 2010)
Defensores de Cristo, or Defenders of Christ, was founded in the early 2010s in northern Mexico by Spanish citizen Ignacio Gonzalez de Arriba. The group initially presented itself not as a formal religious movement but as a center for “bio-programming.” This approach claimed to help participants “reprogram” their minds to address psychological distress, including pain,… Continue reading
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John de Ruiter (c. 1990)
John de Ruiter is a Canadian spiritual leader and author who developed an international following through a blend of New Age spirituality and a personalized teaching style. He was born on November 11, 1959, in Stettler, Alberta, to Dutch immigrant parents and was raised in traditional Christian settings. His father worked as a shoemaker, and… Continue reading
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Dances of Universal Peace (1968)
The Dances of Universal Peace (DUP) are a spiritual practice that integrate singing, chanting, and collective movement with the aim of fostering interfaith understanding and personal awareness. The practice combines sacred phrases from multiple religious traditions with simple, repetitive movements. The practice originated in North America during the late 1960s. Its development is attributed to… Continue reading
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Covenant of the Goddess (1975)
The Covenant of the Goddess is an international, cross-traditional Wiccan confederation and advocacy organization. Incorporated in 1975, it is one of the oldest and largest religious bodies dedicated specifically to Wiccan practice. Its membership includes both autonomous covens and solitary individuals. The organization’s stated goals are to encourage cooperation among different Wiccan traditions, provide public… Continue reading
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A Course in Miracles (1976)
A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is a spiritual self-study program rooted in a book by the same name. It combines Christian terminology with psychological and Vedantic concepts, presenting a system focused on forgiveness as a means of releasing guilt. The text teaches that the physical world is an illusion produced by the ego and that… Continue reading
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Cosmic Ordering (2001)
Cosmic ordering is a belief system centered on positive thinking that gained a following around the start of the current century. The practice, which has roots in the New Thought movement of a century earlier, holds that individuals can achieve personal or professional goals by clearly stating them as “orders” to the universe. Followers typically… Continue reading