Sect

==Sociological definitions and descriptions==
{{Main|Church-sect typology}}
There are several different sociological definitions and descriptions for the term.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McCormick Maaga|first=Mary|title=Hearing the Voices of Jonestown|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=1998|isbn=0815605153|chapter=Three Groups in One|chapter-url=https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=16596}}</ref> Among the first to define them were [[Max Weber]] and [[Ernst Troeltsch]] (1912). In the [[church-sect typology]], sects are defined as voluntary associations of religiously qualified persons:<ref name="Chalcraft">{{Cite book|last=Chalcraft|first=David J.|title=Sectarianism in Early Judaism: Sociological Advances|publisher=Equinox Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84553-083-9|editor-last=Chalcraft|editor-first=David J.|location=London, Oakville|pages=27|chapter=The Development of Weber’s Sociology of Sects: Encouraging a New Fascination}}</ref> membership is not ascribed at birth but results from the free acceptance of the sect's doctrine and discipline by the follower, and from the continuous acceptance of the follower by the sect. Sects tend to draw disproportionately from the underprivileged elements of society, and are usually created by schisms within churches, which are aligned with the dominant social structure.<ref name="Dawson2009">{{Cite book|last=Dawson|first=Lorne L.|url=|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0199588961|editor-last=Clarke|editor-first=Peter B.|pages=|chapter=Church-sect-cult: Constructing Typologies of Religious Groups|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199588961.013.0030}}</ref> They are often decrying liberal trends in denominational development and advocating a return to true religion; their beliefs and practices tend to be more radical and ethically stern than those of churches, and constitute an act of protest against the values of the rest of society.<ref name="Dawson2009" /> The American [[sociology|sociologists]] [[Rodney Stark]] and [[William Sims Bainbridge]] assert that "sects claim to be authentic purged, refurbished version of the faith from which they split".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stark|first1=Rodney|author-link=Rodney Stark|last2=Bainbridge|first2=William Sims|author-link2=William Sims Bainbridge|date=1979|title=Of Churches, Sects, and Cults: Preliminary Concepts for a Theory of Religious Movements|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1385935|journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|volume=18|issue=2|at=125|doi=10.2307/1385935|jstor=1385935|issn=0021-8294}}</ref> They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, a high degree of tension with the surrounding society.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Stark|first1=Rodney|title=The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation|last2=Bainbridge|first2=William Sims|publisher=University of California Press|year=1985|isbn=0520048547|location=Berkeley|author-link=Rodney Stark|author-link2=William Sims Bainbridge}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kniss|first1=Fred|title=Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement: How Religion Matters for America's Newest Immigrants|last2=Numrich|first2=Paul D.|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780813541709|location=New Brunswick, N.J.}}</ref>

[[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.<ref>McGuire, Meredith B. "Religion: the Social Context" fifth edition (2002) {{ISBN|0-534-54126-7}} page 338</ref>

In his book ''[[The Road to Total Freedom]]'', the English sociologist [[Roy Wallis]]<ref>[[Eileen Barker|Barker, E]]. ''New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction'' (1990), Bernan Press, {{ISBN|0-11-340927-3}}</ref> argues that a sect is characterized by "[[epistemology|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."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wallis|first=Roy|url=https://archive.org/details/roadtototalfreed00wallrich/mode/2up|title=The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1977|isbn=0-231-04200-0|location=New York|author-link=Roy Wallis|archive-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wallis|first=Roy|date=1975|title=Scientology: Therapeutic Cult to Religious Sect|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/003803857500900105|journal=Sociology|volume=9|issue=1|pages=89–100|doi=10.1177/003803857500900105|s2cid=144335265 |issn=0038-0385}}</ref>