Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults (umbrella)
Umbrella entry for the dozens of 19th-century American religious-communal cults beyond named entries (Mormons, Shakers, Oneida Perfectionists, Harmonists/Rappites). Notable cases include Brook Farm (Transcendentalist commune 1841-1847), Hopedale Community (1841-1856), Amana Society (1855-present), Icarian (Cabet) communities (1849-1898), Bishop Hill Colony (1846-1861), Aurora-Bethel (Keil, 1844-1881), Zoarites (1817-1898), and Hutterian arrivals (1874+). Most dissolved or transformed.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — umbrella for the dozens of 19th-century American religious-communal cults beyond the major named entries (Mormons, Shakers, Oneida, Harmonists/Rappites). The 19th-century American 'Second Great Awakening' (~1790-1840) and subsequent revivalism produced an unusually fertile context for utopian-religious communal experiments.
Profile facts
In context
The 19th-century American religious-communal cult phenomenon — sometimes called the 'utopian period' — emerged from the convergence of the Second Great Awakening (~1790-1840), millennialist eschatology, the social-reform movements of the 1830s-1850s, and the geographic frontier that made land available for communal experiments. Beyond the major named entries already in this dataset (Mormons, Shakers, Oneida Perfectionists, Harmonists/Rappites), notable cases include:
(1) Brook Farm (1841-1847): Massachusetts Transcendentalist commune founded by George Ripley; included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dana, others. (2) Hopedale Community (1841-1856): Adin Ballou's Massachusetts perfectionist commune. (3) Amana Society / Community of True Inspiration (1855-present): Iowa pietist community; transitioned in 1932 to corporate ownership but the religious community persists as the Amana Church. (4) Icarian (Cabet) communities (1849-1898): French Étienne Cabet's communist-utopian communities in Texas, Illinois, Iowa, and California. (5) Bishop Hill Colony (1846-1861): Swedish Erik Jansson's perfectionist commune in Illinois; dissolved after Jansson's 1850 murder. (6) Aurora-Bethel (Wilhelm Keil, 1844-1881): German-American Pietist communes in Missouri and Oregon. (7) Zoarites (Society of Separatists of Zoar, 1817-1898): German Pietist commune in Ohio. (8) Hutterite migration (1874+): separately documented but arrives as part of this broader wave.
Common documented patterns across these communities include: (a) communal property arrangements (in varying degrees); (b) prophet/charismatic-founder centralisation; (c) distinctive religious-doctrinal claims justifying communal arrangement; (d) restricted-marriage or celibate practices in some communities (Shakers, Harmonists); (e) substantial documented internal coercion of dissenters; (f) ultimate dissolution within 1-3 generations as the founding charisma faded. Donald E Pitzer's America's Communal Utopias (UNC Press, 1997) is the standard academic synthesis; the Communal Studies Association maintains ongoing research.
The CLCI 23 (High, lower-range) is an umbrella score reflecting the typical pattern across these communities; individual major cases (Shakers, Oneida, Harmonists, Amana) have separate dedicated entries.
Recovery resources
- Communal Studies Association — Academic society maintaining ongoing research on US communal traditions
- ICSA — International Cultic Studies Association — communal-tradition archive
- Center for Communal Studies (University of Southern Indiana) — Archive and research centre for US communal-tradition history
See the full curated list at /resources.
Evidence by BITE axis
- Restricted-marriage or celibate practices in some communities (Shakers, Harmonists)
- Prophet/charismatic-founder centralisation pattern across multiple communities
- Substantial documented internal coercion of dissenters in multiple cases
- Distinctive religious-doctrinal claims justifying communal arrangement
- Most communities dissolved within 1-3 generations of founding
- The 19th-century American 'Second Great Awakening' (~1790-1840) and subsequent revivalism produced an unusually fertile context for utopian-religious communal experiments
- Communal property arrangements producing significant exit cost (in varying degrees)
Timeline
- 1817Society of Separatists of Zoar founded in Ohio
- 1841-1847Brook Farm Transcendentalist commune in Massachusetts
- 1841-1856Hopedale Community in Massachusetts
- 1844-1881Aurora-Bethel (Wilhelm Keil) German-American Pietist communes
- 1846-1861Bishop Hill Colony (Erik Jansson) in Illinois
- 1849-1898Icarian (Cabet) communist-utopian communities
- 1855Amana Society Community of True Inspiration founded in Iowa
- 1898Final Icarian community dissolved; major 19th-century utopian period closes
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
Sources
- Donald E Pitzer (ed), 'America's Communal Utopias' (UNC Press, 1997) search ↗
- Communal Studies Association (CSA) — ongoing academic research and conferences search ↗
- John H Noyes, 'History of American Socialisms' (Lippincott, 1870) — primary 19th-century source search ↗
- Robert P Sutton, 'Communal Utopias and the American Experience' (Praeger, 2003) search ↗
- Bestor, Arthur, 'Backwoods Utopias' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1950) search ↗
- Yaacov Oved, 'Two Hundred Years of American Communes' (Transaction, 1988) search ↗
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- Finding a life partner is hard enough. For those of the Druze faith, their future depends on it — https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-druze-future-20170731-story.html open ↗
- Rastafarian history — https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/history/history.shtml open ↗
- The Faces of Buddhism in America — https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520213012 open ↗
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- Unitarian Universalists Denounce White Supremacy, Make Leadership Changes — https://www.npr.org/2017/06/24/534248664/unitarian-universalists-denounce-white-supremacy-make-leadership-changes open ↗
- Who's Counting: Distrusting Atheists — https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1786422&page=1 open ↗
- Atheists identified as America's most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study — https://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2006/UR_RELEASE_MIG_2816.html open ↗
- Pew survey: Doubt of God growing quickly among millennials — https://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/12/pew-survey-doubt-of-god-growing-quickly-among-millennials/ open ↗
- according to Mark Chaves — https://today.duke.edu/2011/08/chaves open ↗
- Religion Is Dying? Don't Believe It — https://www.wsj.com/articles/religion-is-dying-dont-believe-it-nones-others-surveys-faith-institutions-atheists-agnostics-practice-minority-11659017037 open ↗
- Lots of Americans Are Losing Their Religion. Have You? — https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/opinion/religion-america.html open ↗
- Humanist Synagogue Tests Reform Judaism — https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/05/17/humanist-synagogue-tests-reform-judaism/1ac3f620-73ab-4cfb-aebb-8057245f5ad2/ open ↗
- Mythmaking in the African American Muslim Context: The Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, and the American Society of Muslims — Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2005) — https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjaarel%2Flfi075 open ↗
- Neo-Shamanism — https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304036146 open ↗
- Neo-Shamanism — Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions (2015) — https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-319-08956-0_49-1 open ↗
- How Many “Nones” Are There? Explaining the Discrepancies in Survey Estimates — Review of Religious Research (2020) — https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs13644-020-00400-7 open ↗
- Cultural Research Center — https://www.arizonachristian.edu/culturalresearchcenter/research/ open ↗
- American Worldview Inventory 2024 (Release #4) New Research Reveals the Limitations of Christian Evangelicalism in American Society — https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CRC-Release-AWVI-4-Aug-6-2024-Fourth-Draft.pdf open ↗
- One in 10' attends church weekly — https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6520463.stm open ↗
- Exit poll - Decision 2004- NBCNews.com — http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5297138 open ↗
- Biden to become the second Catholic president in U.S. history, after JFK — https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/biden-to-become-the-second-catholic-president-in-u-s-history-after-jfk-99673157918 open ↗
- The First Catholic Vice President? — https://www.npr.org/blogs/politicaljunkie/2009/01/the_first_catholic_vice_presid.html open ↗
- Why Bernie Sanders doesn't participate in organized religion — https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-finally-answers-the-god-question/2016/01/26/83429390-bfb0-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html open ↗
- Spring 2023 Harvard Youth Poll: Top Findings and Takeaways — https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/spring-2023-harvard-youth-poll open ↗
- Immigration and Religion in America: Comparative and Historical Perspectives — https://www.academia.edu/29234371 open ↗
- Prayer in America: A Detailed Analysis of the Various Dimensions of Prayer — https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fjssr.12810 open ↗
- American Religion, All or Nothing at All — https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1536504217742401 open ↗
- New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America — https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520281172/new-age-neopagan-and-new-religious-movements open ↗
- The ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey) time series surveys — https://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/ open ↗
- American History: Massachusetts Bay Colony — https://www.britannica.com/place/Massachusetts-Bay-Colony open ↗
- Sects in Sikhism — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikhism/Sects-and-other-groups open ↗
- Table 75. Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population: 1990, 2001 and 2008, The methodology of the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) — http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population/religion.html open ↗
- Creyentes procedentes de un trasfondo musulmán: Un censo global — https://www.academia.edu/73872958/Creyentes_procedentes_de_un_trasfondo_musulm%C3%A1n_Un_censo_global open ↗
- Libertad de credo — http://www.america.gov/esp/publications/ejournalusa/0808.html open ↗
- U.S. on the History of "In God We Trust — http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx open ↗
- United States Public Law 84-851 — https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-70/pdf/STATUTE-70-Pg732-2.pdf open ↗
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html — https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html open ↗
- Cópia arquivada — http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/nationprofiles/United_States/rbodies.html open ↗
- Native American Church — http://www.wrs.vcu.edu/profiles/NativeAmericanChurch.htm open ↗
- Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research — http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html open ↗
- United States Census 2012 — http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0075.pdf open ↗
- Mark Bennett McNaught, La religion civile américaine. De Reagan à Obama — Lectures (2011) — https://dx.doi.org/10.4000/lectures.885 open ↗
- La religion civile américaine — Revue du droit des religions (2018) — https://dx.doi.org/10.4000/rdr.333 open ↗
- Religion Is on the Decline as More Adults Check ‘None’ — https://www.wsj.com/articles/religion-is-on-the-decline-as-more-adults-check-none-11571320801 open ↗
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- American Religious Identification Survey Report 2008 — http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2011/08/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf open ↗
- Test Your Savvy on Religion - Nicholas Kristof - New York Times — https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/opinion/10kristof.html open ↗
- What Religion Would Jesus Belong To? - Nicholas Kristof - New York Times — https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/opinion/sunday/what-religion-would-jesus-belong-to.html open ↗
- La France mauvaise élève pour la connaissance de la Bible — http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualites/2008/04/29/01001-20080429ARTFIG00019-la-france-mauvaise-eleve-pour-la-connaissance-de-la-bible-.php open ↗
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- Harold Institute for Religion Research — http://hirr.hartsem.edu/org/faith_megachurches.html open ↗
- Первая поправка: CRS Annotated Constitition — http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt1toc_user.html open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
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Frequently asked questions
Q.Is Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults a cult?
CLCI Hub deliberately avoids the binary label "cult." Instead it places groups on a transparent 0–40 spectrum of documented control using Steven Hassan's BITE model (Behaviour, Information, Thought, Emotional). Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults scores 23 out of 40 — "High Control", at high confidence. The score describes documented control patterns, not a judgement of members' sincerity or beliefs; many members do not personally experience the patterns listed.
Q.What is Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults's CLCI score?
Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults scores 23 out of 40 on the Cult-Like Control Index, which falls in the "High" band. That total is the sum of four BITE axes — Behaviour 6, Information 5, Thought 6, Emotional 6 — plus a signed modifier of +0 for aggravating or mitigating factors.
Q.Why does Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults score 23 on the CLCI?
The score reflects publicly documented patterns including: Prophet/charismatic-founder centralisation pattern across multiple communities; Communal property arrangements producing significant exit cost (in varying degrees); Restricted-marriage or celibate practices in some communities (Shakers, Harmonists); Substantial documented internal coercion of dissenters in multiple cases. These map onto the BITE axes of behaviour, information, thought, and emotional control, and a signed modifier of +0 is applied for factors such as financial demands, leadership accountability, and exit costs. Every claim is backed by the citations in the Sources section on this page.
Q.How reliable is the Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults rating?
This profile is rated High confidence. High confidence means the score is backed by court records, academic work, and/or sustained investigative journalism. CLCI scores are not fixed — they are revised whenever new public evidence appears, and groups that reform can score lower over time.
Q.Where can I get help regarding Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults?
If you or someone you care about is affected by Historical 19th-century American religious-communal cults, start with the Recovery resources listed on this page. General cult-aware support is available from the International Cultic Studies Association (icsahome.com) and the Freedom of Mind Resource Center (freedomofmind.com). CLCI Hub is an educational resource, not a crisis service — if anyone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
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