Definition of a sect?

Question

I do not believe that JWs are a sect. Not sure why many people say that.

Answer 1

A sect is in a non-Indian context generally a small religious or political group. Sects have many beliefs and practices in common with the religion or party that they have broken off from, but are differentiated by a number of doctrinal differences. In contrast, a denomination is a large, well-established religious group; however, in Islam, the large groups such as Wahabi, Shi'a and Sunni are referred to as "sects", not "denominations". In politics, a mass party typically tolerates a variety of views and interpretations, insisting only on a limited number of basic principles as a condition for membership.


Etymology
The word sect comes from the Latin secta (from sequi to follow), meaning (1) a course of action or way of life, (2) a behavioural code or founding principles, (3) a specific philosophical school or doctrine. Sectarius or sectilis also refer to a scission or cut, but this meaning is, in contrast to popular opinion, unrelated to the etymology of the word. A sectator is a loyal guide, adherent or follower.




Sociologists Starks and Bainbridge use the general definition and additionally assert that "sects claim to be authentic purged, refurbished version of the faith from which they split" [3]. They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, a high degree of tension with the surrounding society [4].

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. [5]

A religious or political 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. 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.

Mass-based socialist, social-democratic, labor and communist parties often had their historical origin in utopian sects, and also subsequently produced many sects, which split off from the mass party. In particular, the communist parties from 1919 experienced numerous splits; some of them, it is argued, were sects from their foundation.

One of the main factors that seems to produce political sects is the rigid continued adherence to a doctrine or idea after its time has passed, or after it has ceased to have clear applicability to a changing reality.

The English sociologist Roy Wallis[6] 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.” [7] [8]


The concept of sect as used in an Indian context
The Indologist Axel Michaels writes in his book about Hinduism that in an Indian context the word “sect does not denote a split or excluded community, but rather an organized tradition, usually established by founder with ascetic practices. And according to Michaels, “Indian sects do not focus on heresy, since the lack of a center or a compulsory center makes this impossible – instead, the focus is on adherents and followers.” [9]


Corresponding words in French, Spanish, German, Polish, Dutch, and Romanian
In European languages other than English the corresponding words for 'sect', such as "secte", "secta", or "Sekte", are used to refer to a harmful religious or political sect, similar to how English-speakers popularly use the word 'cult'. In Latin America, it is often applied to any non-Catholic religious group, regardless of size, often with the same negative connotation that 'cult' has in English.

Answer 2

The first mistake that people make is see a sect as something bad and evil, it's simply a small group that follows their own religion. I guess the difference between a sect and a religion is number of followers. So if you get a million people to follow you, you can now be called a religion.

Answer 3

The term "sect" implies a religion that broke from an earlier religion. For example, Lutheranism is a sect of Catholicism.

Jehovah's Witnesses did not break from an earlier religion, so they do not consider themselves to be a "sect".

The term is rarely used as a pejorative, however, and is sometimes used simply to refer to a subset of a larger religious tradition. In that limitted sense Jehovah's Witnesses are sometimes called a Christian sect.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org

Answer 4

Any smaller religion within a larger one is a sect. So yes Jehovah's Witnesses are a sect inside of Christianity along with Lutheranism, Catholicism, Mormonism, etc.

Answer 5

A sect is a religion with no political connections.

Answer 6

Sect: A religious body, especially one that has separated from a larger denomination.

It is.

Answer 7

Christianity.