Since the appearance of the first religious education, there have always been those who tried to make religion more “correct”, “true”, “true”. Reformers, schismatics, adherents of seceded religious movements were earlier declared heretics, later - sectarians, and the new teaching - a sect. According to theologians, one should distinguish between traditional or classical sects and totalitarian or destructive ones.
Classical sects
Classical sects include teachings that were formed on the basis of the main religion and have a spiritual leader. So, for example, in the 1st century A. D. Christianity was considered a heretical doctrine or sect. The spiritual leader of the early Christians was Jesus Christ, who preached among the Jewish population. The fate of heretics in those days was unenviable: they were crucified, hung, burned, boiled, given to be torn apart by lions, gutted. All these atrocities took place in the main squares of the city with a large crowd of people - for edification, on the one hand, and as entertainment for the crowd, on the other.
Later, another sect broke away from Judaism - Islam. Their spiritual leader was the person who wrote the first Koran - the Prophet Muhammad. Each of these sects split into several powerful movements, each of which found its own audience. The traditional Christian church was originally only Catholic, led by the Pope, disintegrated into Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy. The last two branches were also originally sects. Islam also split into three streams: Sunnis, Shiites and Kharijites. Currently, the Bahá'ís, Druze, Nizari and Ahmadi are considered Islamic sects. The Christian Church in this respect went further: the Old Believers separated from the Orthodox Church, to those who accepted Nikon's reforms, from Protestantism - Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Lutherans, Anglicans, etc.
The classical sect in Hinduism is very difficult to define, because in most Hindu sects, a tolerant position towards new views remains.
Eastern teachings also have a lot of disagreement in matters of faith, rituals and rituals. On the basis of Hinduism, the ancient doctrine of the drachma, smartism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shiktism were formed. From them, in turn, spun off such sects as Krishnaism, Arya Samaj, Dharma Sabhu, Ramakrishna Mission, the Brotherhood of Self-Consciousness and others. Buddhism, Jainism and Shintoism were previously considered religious sects of Hinduism, but prominent theologians of our time reject this statement, believing that all three movements are independent. Lamaism is considered a religious movement within Buddhism.
Totalitarian or destructive sects
Totalitarian sects are pseudo-scientific, pseudo-political, pseudo-religious formations with a relatively small number of followers, which has a devastating effect on the psyche, health, social or financial side of an individual's life. Their leaders can preach anything: the approaching end of the world, a righteous life, the coming of a new god, etc., but they carefully hide their true motives from their flock. The methods of attraction to a totalitarian sect can be very different: the most aggressive methods are attracting a person or his loved ones with the help of threats, hypnotic, narcotic or psychotropic effects. These sects include hundreds of associations and diverse movements, the most dangerous of which are the extremist sects of Islam - Al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat Al-Islamiya.
The most terrible tragedy broke out in 1978, more than a thousand followers of the "Temple of the Nations" sect committed suicide at the same time, taking cyanide added to the "last supper." They even fed the children with their deadly meal.
Examples of the most destructive sects can be considered the sects: "Seventh-day Adventists", "Aum Senrikyo", "Gate of Paradise", "Church of Scientology", "Temple of the Nations", the Rajneesh sect, "Church of Christ". Tens of thousands of people around the world have become victims of these sects to varying degrees, they are banned in many countries. Their leaders are guilty of many crimes: they have destroyed many families, robbed, driven mad, persecuted, driven to suicide and killed their followers.
