ABSTRACT
New religious movements (NRMs) and 'small sects' have been a familiar feature of the North American religious landscape since the early 1700s. Frederick Bird has observed that, whereas the older traditional religions offer rituals that mark the life cycle in the individual and the yearly seasons, NRMs tend to offer rituals of meditation, purification, and initiation. Three examples of NRMs that not only deny the reality of death but have evaded serious efforts to rationalize it after the fact are the Rastafari in Jamaica, People Unlimited in the US, and Life Space in Japan. Many (late) charismatic prophets or messiahs in American history have claimed the gift of physical immortality. 'Translation' refers to the belief that, through the practice of certain rituals or techniques, the human body can undergo, or 'translate' into, a higher, superhuman form and thereby become eternal.
