ABSTRACT
Introduction Regulations of sexual patterns and marriage, of ascetic and radical lifestyles have been a recurrent and an important concern for new religious movements that are worldrejecting. Such ethical regulations have generally been more pronounced in religious groups that practised communal living. For example, in the mid-nineteenth century America, the Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida community of New York were examples of religious organizations that formulated matrimonial patterns and regulated sexual conducts for their members. The Shakers outlawed marriage and sexual expression, while the Oneida community for a period practised free love, and made available all women and wives freely to their male members. The Mormons in the state of Utah practised certain complex sexual conducts, the notable of which was polygamy. The growth and decline of these organizations were greatly shaped by the sexual behaviour of both leaders and members. 1 It is intriguing to note how sexuality and matrimony have been channelled into spiritual commitments in these religious organizations.
