Growth of New Religious Movements
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were a time of great religious transformation and experimentation. The forces of industrialization, scientific progress, colonial expansion, and social change created a climate in which old religious structures were questioned and new spiritual visions emerged. As traditional institutions struggled to respond to the modern world, individuals and communities began searching for faiths that could reconcile spiritual longing with the new realities of modern life. Out of this search arose several significant new religious movements that would shape global religious history, including Mormonism, the Baháʼí Faith, and Scientology.
Mormonism, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, began in the 1820s in the United States through the teachings of Joseph Smith. Smith claimed to have received divine revelations and to have translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates revealed to him by an angel. The book presented a vision of ancient American prophets who testified of Jesus Christ, offering an expansion of the biblical narrative. The movement emphasized continuing revelation, restoration of priesthood authority, and the establishment of a community of believers preparing for the coming of Christ. Early persecution drove the Mormons westward, leading to the founding of Salt Lake City under Brigham Young. Over time, the church developed a strong institutional structure, missionary program, and emphasis on family life. Today it is one of the most successful modern religious movements, with millions of adherents worldwide.
The Baháʼí Faith emerged in mid-nineteenth-century Persia, rooted in the teachings of Baháʼu’lláh, who proclaimed himself a new messenger of God in a line that included Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. The Baháʼí message centered on the unity of all religions, the oneness of humanity, and the need for global peace and justice. Baháʼís rejected sectarianism and taught that divine revelation is progressive, with each faith preparing humanity for a more mature understanding of God’s purpose. Despite persecution in its Persian homeland, the Baháʼí Faith spread across continents, establishing communities that reflected its ideals of equality, education, and social reform. It became a truly global religion with no single ethnic or national base, symbolizing a spiritual response to the increasing interconnection of the modern world.
In the twentieth century, amid the rise of psychology, secularism, and mass media, Scientology emerged as a distinctive new spiritual path. Founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1950s, Scientology presented itself as both a religion and a system for achieving personal freedom and self-knowledge. Drawing from Hubbard’s earlier work Dianetics, it proposed that spiritual advancement could be achieved through techniques designed to free the individual from mental and emotional burdens. The movement taught that human beings are essentially immortal spiritual entities called thetans who have forgotten their true nature. Through auditing and study, adherents seek to recover their spiritual power and attain higher states of awareness. Scientology attracted both devoted followers and fierce critics, becoming one of the most controversial religious movements of the modern era.
Together, these movements reflected the broader spiritual ferment of the modern age. Each arose in response to cultural shifts and spiritual hunger: Mormonism sought to restore ancient truths and community in a new land; the Baháʼí Faith envisioned a universal religion of unity and peace; Scientology promised personal transformation through applied spiritual technology. Their stories illustrate how the modern world did not diminish the human quest for transcendence but rather inspired new ways to pursue it, reshaping the global religious landscape in the process.