posted on Jun, 16 2004 @ 11:43 AM
radardog~
The New Age movement is more diverse than almost any other religious movement in history. It is not one religion but a classification of religions,
everyone from the Raelians to some fundie Christian groups have been called "New Age"
That being said, I and several other scholars call anything that is a religion created in the last century that focuses upon internal exploration a
New Age religion. Though still very broad, this narrows it down a bit.
New Age religions get their ethics from a great many sources, some from their gods, some from paranormal forces, ect. It's as divergent as anything
else on the planet. Probably the weirdest I have ever heard of is people getting their ethics from what they believed were psychic connections to
dolphins, that rated about a 10 on my BS-meter, and I'm very open minded.
The Golden Rule (I assume you refer to the idea of "treat your fellow as you wish to be treated") is also kind of hit or miss. While most New Age
religions are very liberal and take the Golden Rule as a part of their teachings there are exceptions. Satanists (really atheistic objective
humanists who like to cause arguments) for example do not take the Golden Rule. Also they make a point to partake in all seven of the Christian
deadly sins, and bash both Western Religion and White Witches whenever they get the chance.
But the bottom line is that the New Age movement is as wide a spectrum as the religious world at large. If you wanted to narrow it down further I
could probably tell you more about individual or groups of religions.
May Peace Travel With You
~Astral