Utopian Religious Communities

Religion and Culture ANTH 2301 Utopian Religious Communities There are several methods to establish a religious community, even though the most prevalent type found in modern society is a collection of individuals who meet regularly for worship and share a shared religion and set of beliefs. Utopian religious communities, which were common in the United States in the 19th century, are one example. A utopian community is one that has been consciously created by individuals who want to realise their idealised vision of society. Religious or secular groups can exist in utopia. The most prosperous utopian societies have a few things in common: they are geographically isolated from the outside world; they develop some economic self-sufficiency through industry or agriculture; and they have a distinct hierarchy and ideology, or set of shared values. Numerous utopian religious societies have existed throughout American history. Many Europeans believed that the United States was a nation free of tradition or history in the 19th century. Large tracts of land and natural resources became available to White settlers and newly formed religious organisations vying for autonomy after the forcible relocation of Indigenous peoples. Thousands of Americans lived in these communities in the 19th and 20th centuries, despite the fact that many of them were transient, unworkable, and riven by conflict. Small utopian settlements may still be found all across the country today; some are founded mostly on religion (like the Bruderhof), while others are built on sustainable economics (like Serenbe in Fulton County, Georgia). Particular religious ideas become the focal point of religious utopian societies. Some of these groups totally isolate themselves from the outside world, while others create an enclave—a sort of Earthly heaven—with the intention of drawing more recruits as time goes on. Utopian religious communities do exist, although being rather uncommon in modern times. The Amish are a group of people who live in tiny, independent agricultural communities with extremely traditional Swiss German and Protestant backgrounds. They are distributed throughout the United States, although they are concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The Amish tend to keep themselves apart from the surrounding non-Amish towns and lead what they refer to as a plain lifestyle based on basic technologies. Similar to the Amish, the Hutterites are mostly found in Canada and have German Protestant origins. However, unlike the Amish, they usually engage with their non-Hutterite neighbours more and do not forbid the use of contemporary technologies. More modern utopian religious communities, known as Bruderhof, were founded in the 1920s and have origins in German Protestantism. Today, they may be found all over the world, including South America, Africa, Europe, Australia, and the United States. The Bruderhof live in community and are guided by biblical principles, but they also engage with surrounding communities. They work and study in secular society, even if they have Bruderhof companies, such as a special-needs furniture company. The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or Shakers, was one of the most prosperous religious utopian groups in 19th-century America. Despite having initially joined together in the English countryside near Manchester in the middle of the eighteenth century, the group did not develop into a self-sufficient utopian settlement until its members emigrated to America in 1774. Leading them was an Englishwoman named Ann Lee, who founded their first community in 1776 in Watervliet, New York. Mother Ann, as the Shakers referred to her, and her initial eight English adherents traversed New England in search of converts to become a part of the Watervliet community. The Shaker community started to formalise after Mother Ann's death in 1784, which was brought on by beatings she had endured while travelling and preaching. This formalised beliefs, social norms, and a rigorous work ethic. By 1790, prospective Shakers had to affix their signatures to covenants pledging them to dedicate all of their assets to the society, work towards the group's common good, live chaste lives (married individuals were expected to dissolve their unions before formally joining the Shaker community), and uphold Shaker doctrine and values. Shaker societies began as a single, little village at Watervliet and expanded to encompass ten U.S. states: New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, and Georgia. At its peak, their membership numbered more than 6,000 people. At Sabbathday Lake, Maine, there is currently just one Shaker society still in existence. Two Shakers who were covenanted remain. The Shakers practise millennialist Christianity, which holds that Christ has already returned and is now physically present among believers as the Holy Spirit. Shakers think it is their job to create a heaven on Earth because they have Christ inside them. A variety of social and theological doctrines have traditionally been included into the Shaker principles of religion. Since its founding in the late 18th century, they have upheld gender equality and held the belief that God is dual, existing in both male and female forms. They also support the idea of racial equality. Shakers are committed pacifists who refuse to engage in warfare and who take as their motto a statement attributed to Mother Ann: "Hands to work and hearts to God." Even during the 19th century, as the American Civil War raged throughout the country, this included the practice of housing Black people and White people within the same community with equal access to resources. The United States' material culture benefited greatly from the Shaker influence. The group created and commercialised a number of successful items, such as paper seed packs that are currently used globally in the seed industry, their elegant and simple furniture, an upgraded washing machine, waterproof clothes, the circular saw, and therapeutic plants. Their musical compositions, architecture, and artefacts are still wellknown and revered. At three US presidential inaugurations, the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts" (1848), which Aaron Copland lifted and utilised in his ballet music Appalachian Spring (1944), has been played. Even though there aren't many Shakers remaining in the world today, they serve as a reminder of the value of religion as a constant institution, its ability to unite people around a shared goal, and the rich diversity that lies at the core of religious traditions.