What is a Sect?

from Wikipedia

A sect?

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles.

Sociological definitions and descriptions[edit]

Main article: Church-sect typology

There are several different sociological definitions and descriptions for the term.^[3] Among the first to define them were Max Weberand Ernst Troeltsch (1912).^[3] In the church-sect typology they are described as newly formed religious groups that form to protest elements of their parent religion (generally a denomination). Their motivation tends to be situated in accusations of apostasy or heresy in the parent denomination; they are often decrying liberal trends in denominational development and advocating a return to true religion. The American sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge assert that "sects claim to be authentic purged, refurbished version of the faith from which they split".^[4] They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, a high degree of tension with the surrounding society.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7]

The English sociologist Roy Wallis^[8] 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."^[9][10]

This makes all the denominations including the so called "non-denominationals" sects.

What does the Bible say?

1. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,2. with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,3. endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.4. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism;6. one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

7. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Ephesians 4:1-7

There is only one church on earth and by default in Stellenbosch.

The clergy keep the divisions alive because of their careers. How evil?!