ABSTRACT
An examination of contemporary social-scientific literature on the new cults leads to the conclusion that one cannot ignore similar movements in the past. Brian P. Levack, for instance, who has studied the witch hunt in early modern Europe, has concluded that contemporary attempts to investigate new religious movements bear striking resemblances to those used to persecute alleged witches in the past. Among the many contemporary religious revivals, Witchcraft and Paganism have attracted more followers than those notorious cults which have been targeted by the Anti-Cult Movement. Members of most of the new cults are rebelling against their own culture; members of black sects and cults against a foreign one. Some of the strange behavior of contemporary cults is far from new. Religious movements among minorities, particularly Blacks, have not often figured prominently in scholarly assessment of the contemporary religious scene and in reflections on future religious trends.
