ABSTRACT
The author addresses a special foundational issue about the characteristics of new religions, and conventional society, that lead to attributions of fraud. He proposes an alternative approach that emphasizes the socially constructed qualities of both religion and fraud. He also emphasizes that the social constructionist approach does not in any way deny that both religion and fraud possess social reality. He focuses on contextual factors producing attributions of legitimate and illegitimate religion rather than applications of existing definitions to specific cases, both issues are equally important. The social construction of the transcendent involves four components namely: mythic narratives, hagiographies, rituals and associational collectivities. The mythic systems of new religious groups that are announced as unique revelations or discoveries are never entirely new; they always draw on contemporary and historical knowledge to some degree, just as established religions have done. All analyses of the relationship between religion and fraud must, of course, be historically situated.
