Some Thoughts on Selecting a Group . Selecting a group for your term project is the single most important decision you will make in this course, for you'll be working with the group you select for the entire semester. Select a group of interest to you and the effort required to achieve excellence will be easy. If you find that nothing on the list of approved groups is of interest, perhaps the reason is that you are not really interested in the subject and you should be looking for another course instead.
Unlike term projects that most of you have done, your finished product for this course will be available for the whole world to access on the Internet. Since the Religious Movements Homepage was initiated in 1996 access to the page has grown steadily. Some of the individual pages that students of this class have created receive several hundred accesses monthly.
Over the past three years, the Religious Movements Homepage has become the premiere web site on religious movements in the world. This has happened because of the hard work and excellent products that students in this course have contributed. I'm very proud of the work of students in prior terms and I want to be proud of the work you do as well.
My expectations are high. I expect your product to contribute to the enrichment of the site. If you will set high goals, I will work with you to help you achieve your goals.
A couple of years ago I found a card in a shop at the local mall that speaks to the motivation I hope you will all bring to this project. It read as follows:
"Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.
Autograph your work with excellence"
Excellence begins by self-consciously selecting a group that you are really interested in studying. Invest the time necessary to learn about several groups, and then select one that is ofparticular interest to you. Do some background searching of both electronic and print materials to make sure there are adequate resources for you to develop a solid web page.
Below you will find a list of groups that I have identified for development this term. The list is divided into three categories: (1) world religions, (2) new additions, and (3) upgrades of existing pages. Let me offer a fews about each of these categories.
World Religions . Up until last Spring (2000) the Religious Movements Homepage did not include Profiles of any of the major world religions. This was intentional in terms of the initial rationale of a web site devoted to "new" religious movements. As the page has gained visibility, I increasingly receive communications from people whating to know why we have not included specific groups. Most often, people inquire about one of the major world religions. Since all religions were once new, it seems perfectly appropriate to include Profiles of the major world religions. Three students elected one of the major world religions last term and I how hope more students will elect to do so this term. I especially encourage you to consider this option if you have taken a course about one of these groups. Both print and Internet resources are very substantial and easily accessible. Those who select one of the world religions will probably have to work a little harder than the average effort requried for the rest of the class, but the rewards should be commensurate with the effort. I will work closely with those who select a world religion to help them define the parameters of their work so that it doesn't become an overburdening task.
New Additions. In addition to the world religions, I have identified a substantial number of groups that have not heretofore appeared on the Religious Movements Homepage. Many of these groups are indigenous to the United States and are not found beyond the boundries of this country; a few currently have no presence in the U.S. I have done at least some preliminary searching for each group and have found what appear to be sufficient resources to do a page. Responsibility for confirming the availability of resources is yours (see below about confirmation of your choice).
Upgrades . Since this class project began the amount of material available on the Internet has increased very significantly. Furthermore, in the initial semesters of this project I was still learning the technology along with my students and, to be candid, my expectations were clearly below what University of Virginia students are capable of accomplishing. Thus, we are now in the process of going back and redoing pages that were created in the initial semesters of this project. Let me offer a word of counsel for those who may be thinking that the selection of an upgrade will be an easier task--don't even think about it.
Let me also call your attention to the asterisk [*] in front of several groups. This signifies that that I am particularly hopeful that a student will select this group. IF you don't know much about any of the groups on the list, or are having a difficult time making a choice, let me encourage you to select from among these groups.
Before you make a choice, it is highly recommended that you spend some time exploring the availability of resources on the Internet and in the library. In addition to what you find on the Internet, consulting various sources in the Alderman Reference Room will help you get acquainted with a group so that you can determine if this is a group you really want to study for the whole term.
When you have identified the group you wish to study, send me a note following the instructions under Proceedures for Claiming a Group below. I'll be checking e-mail pretty regularly and will get back to you as quickly as I can to acknowledge your claim. I will also note that someone has claimed the group by placing a bold "X" in front of the name on this page so that others will know it has already been spoken for. At the top of this memo I'll also note the date and time I last updated information about claims.
You can claim a group at any time. Be sure to follow the instructions at the end of the list. Students who have not claimed a group by Sept 14 will have one assigned by the instructor by not later than Sept 19.
World Religions
*Christianity
*Protestantism
X*Roman Catholicism
X*Orthodox
X*Judaism
X*Shintoism
X*Sikhism
X*Taoism
New Additions to Religious Movements Homepage
Alamo Christian Foundation
XAssemblies of Yehweh
XAumism
XChruch of Light
XChurch With No Name
also goes by the names of:
Two X Twos; and
Cooneyites
Cursillio
XGreater Gospel World Outreach [Bible Speaks]
XHoliness Movement
International Society of Divine Love
XKemetic Orthodoxy
XMasada
**Maitreya
XMethodists
XOld Believers
This group is a schismatic movement from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th Century. Persecuted because of their resistance to go along with the uniting of Greek and Russian Orthodoxy in the seventeenth century, thousands of Old Believers choose self-immolation to submission. They survive today in many parts of the world, including Oregon and Detroit in the U.S., with large concentrations in the Baltic countries, Poland and Belarus.
XOneness Pentecostals ["Jesus Only" Movement]
Ophrah [Explore information on quasi-religious movements. If you are, or have been an Ophrah fan, this could be a fun page to do. See Mr. Hadden if you are interested.]
+Pre-Christian Revivalism
It also goes by the name of The Ancient Latvian Religion and Dievturiba. They reject the concept "Pagan," but it is clearly has roots in this ancient tradition. This is a Latvian tradition that I learned about in my recent trip. I brought home a couple of papers in English and there are some other articles that should be available.
XSahaja Yoga
Santo Daime
XSeicho-No-le
**Twelve Tribes/Northeast Community Kingdom
X*Unitarian Universalist Association
Existing Page Upgrades
XBranch Davidians
XChurch of the Nazarene
Foundation for Human Understanding
XInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishnas)
Meher Baba
X*Mennonites
X*Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
This is the Ugandan group that apparently committed mass suicide earlier this year. Jean-Francois Mayer, the only scholar who has visited the site, presented his preliminary findings at the meeting I attended in Latvia in late August. He will be a guest lecturer for our class on Sept 19. I did the page that is on our site as the news story was breaking. We know a great deal move now. Prof Mayer will share information that will be helpful to the student who selects this page.
Nation of Yahweh
X*Ramtha School of Enlightment
XRastafarians
Restoration/churches of Christ
X*Satanism
Please note that our treatment of satanism involves several components. The death of the leader/founder of the Church of Satanism, changes in the Church of Set, and the formation of a Satanic Council add up to a series of developments that have made this page out of date.
X*Swedenborgians
XTranscendential Meditation
X*Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Communities
*The Way International
Procedures for claiming a group
When you have identified a group that you wish to work with, send me a "claim" message. It is important that you follow these simple instructions:
- Send your message to me, NOT the class mailing list. <hadden@virginia.edu>
- In the subject line write this message: <Claim: (short name of group)- (your last name)> eg: <Claim: Way Intl - Hadden>
- Body of text: line # 1 - Name of group
- Body of text: line # 2 - Your name in full
- Body of text: line # 3 - Your e-mail address
- Body of text: line # 4+ - Add any additional message you may wish to communicate.
Groups are assigned on a first claim basis. If someone else claims a group first, you will need to select another group. IF you fail to follow these instructions, your communication may not end up in the claim box, with the result that the group is assigned to someone else.
Check this list often to see if the group(s) that may be of interest to you are available. Whenever there has been substantial traffic in claiming groups, I will also post a message to the class mailing lists identifying groups that have been taken. If more than one person selects the same group, it will be assigned to the person whose e-mail message has the easliest date.
If you have not claimed a group by Sept 14, a group will be assigned by the instructor on or before Sept 19. I highly recommend that you get on top of this task early and select your owngroup. After you have selected a group, remember you need to file a Confirmation Report with your instructor on Sept 21. See the "Benchmarks for Web Site Development" section under Course Requirement in the syllabus for details about how to submit this assignment.
