My aim for this essay is to investigate if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a religious Sect, on the basis of literature and information about the Mormons organisation and their religious standpoints. My conclusion is that Mormon Church is a religious Sect. Their organisation has several Sect characteristics according to Sect definitions; see for example Göran Gustafsson (2000), Mikael Rothstein (1997) and Bryan R. Wilson (1970). Other researchers in religious studies think that the Mormon Church is not a Sect but a cult.

This study was performed to investigate how the Japanese Sect Aum Shinrikyo was legitimating its violence and killing acts. By analyzing the leader and members of the Sect, and applying this information on two theoretical models, this paper tries to give an explanation of both single acts of violence and killing, and two terrorattacks.The result shows that Aum Shinrikyo was able to legitimate violence and killing acts through its ideology. In their opinion, cosmos was a place with several levels and everyone wanted to get as high as possible. Those who were killed by the Sect would never be able to get to a higher level by living, since they would do too many bad actions. The murderers also got better karma since they helped the person to a better place.The legitimating of violence and killing acts in Aum Shinrikyo can be explained as a duty that is holy, which agrees with the theorists about religious terrorism..

The purpose of this thesis is to study the personal problems that can occur when defecting from a destructive cult, and what kind of support you may need from social authorities. The aim is to develop guidelines for social workers who are in contact with Sect defectors. It?s a qualitative study based on interviews with six defectors from Jehovah?s witnesses. The results shows that all the defectors that have been interviewed have had anxiety problems, lost contact with friends and relatives, low level of education, and low self esteem when defecting or after.

Denna uppsats analyserar och diskutera läroboksbilden av nya religiösa rörelser i fya läroböcker för religionskunskap på gymnasiet. De generella frågorna som ställs är hur läroboksbilden ser ut och vad man kan säga om den i jömförelse med nu gällande läro- och kursplan.Analysen görs i två steg. Först analyseras texten enligt innehållsanalysen som den presenteras av Hellspong och Ledin. Sedan analyseras resultatet utifrån tidigare forskning.Slutsatserna av undersökningen är att läroböckerna skulle limma beskriva de nya religiösa rörelserna mer ingående och använda sig mindre av begreppet sekt eftersom det är negativt laddat. Man skulle också kunna lägga mer fokus på individen, för att få en mer nyanserad bild..

Qigong was initiated by the Chinese government in the 1950´s as a domestic medical tradition to be included within a modern scientific framework. During the first decades it became popular among the élite. During the 70´s and 80´s scientific confirmation of the existence of qi contributed to its immense popularity among the population. Charismatic leaders with a traditional background were leading their groups in parks and the movement was booming. In 1992 Falun Gong was established by Li Hongzhi as qigong taken to a higher level.

There have been various results in research focused on why people are attracted to religion and religious movements. This is also the case with the reasons why people are attracted to far?right nationalist movements. The focus of this thesis is to analyze British National Party?s political documents after nationalistic quasi-religious elements.If nationalism was to be seen as a form of religion or as a substitute for religion the result could be a better understanding of why people are attracted to nationalist movements in general, and also to far-right movements.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to see if there are higher restructuring expenses under the item provision for the first year when a new president takes office.Method: The study was done by a quantitative study. Financial statements have been examined for companies listed on the OMX Stockholm Stock Exchange, Large Cap. We have examined all the companies? annual reports between the years 2002-2008. We have looked at the experience of restructuring and other expenses that occur in the context of CEO change.

Efter den senaste tidens debatter om Laboraskolan så har vi i denna uppsats valt att fördjupa oss i skolan och det samfund som driver den. Laboraskolan är en grund- och gymnasieskola belägen i Hylte kommun, det som gör den speciell är att den drivs av det religiösa samfundet Plymouthbröderna. Plymouthbröderna är ett litet samfund som kallats för bland annat ?sekternas sekt? och som håller sig frånvända från det omgivande samhället. Trots detta fick skolan år 2007 efter flera tvister och vad som kallats en ?administrativ cirkus? tillåtelse att starta sin skola.

Textbooks are the most dominant literature used in schools and are therefore an important source of information. Consequently, it is crucial that these are not misleading or biased and maintain a high quality along with a strict concordance to the School Department?s curriculum. The aims of this study have been to examine how Mormons, Jehovah?s Witnesses and Hare Krishna are presented in four religion textbooks used in senior high schools, as well as to examine what type of knowledge is being presented in terms of epistemology.

I detta arbete undersöks vilken grad av inomartskonkurrens som ger upphov till ett observerat utbredningsmönster av maskrosor (Taraxacum Sect. Ruderalia). Maskrosor har både fröspridning och vegetativ förökning. Studien hypotiserar att utbredningen kan beskrivas utifrån enkla regler för spridning och konkurrens. Dessa används i simuleringar med en binär cellulär automat där utveckling sker i deterministiska tidssteg.