Panel: SECOND-GENERATION APOSTATES FROM NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND ANTI-CULT CAMPAIGNS



842.2 - INVESTIGATING INHERITED IDENTITY COMPONENTS AMONG HUNGARIAN SECOND-GENERATION SCIENTOLOGISTS

AUTHORS:
Nemes M. (Magyar Művészeti Akadémia ~ Budapest ~ Hungary)
Text:
The Church of Scientology was first registered in Hungary on the 17th of July 1991, gaining a visible following in its early years and opening several Missions nationwide, of which the largest was the Budapest Mission (later Budapest ORG). On the 23rd of July 2016, this mission gained "Ideal" status, cementing the ORG's regional significance and ensuring its perseverance against the earliest forms of Hungarian anti-cultism. Since then, the new religious movement has stabilized its base community, laying down the foundations for a smaller second - and supposedly even a third - generation of young Scientologists. These individuals were born and raised in Scientologist families, inheriting their values, rather than the values of mainstream religions. Such youth cohort had completely different encounters and individual challenges than their parents. Rather than choosing a new religiosity, they inherited one. Instead of struggling with concerned family members and parents, they were confronted by the external world and their peers. My paper aims to provide a qualitative insight into this severely under-researched segment of Scientology Studies, focusing on the questions of the second generation's religious convictions and self-definitions. The examples I present will aim to diversify the scholarly view on new religious self-definitions and attitudes towards a born-into religiosity in the generation who grew up in Scientology and later chose to similarly follow their parents' values and religious views or distance themselves from the movement to varying degrees.