Description
One spring afternoon in Amsterdam. as I was strolling near Dam Square with my family, we spotted some Hare Krishna devotees doing their thing across the street. Curious, my son Ken went over to get a closer look. These chanting, swaying religionists were young people from America too, and about Ken's age. Totally dedicated, they were willing to make fools of them- selves for Krishna Consciousness. Apparently, they had finally found something to believe in.
Back home again in the States, I became increasing- ly fascinated by the hold that these new religions are having upon people today; and I also became increas- ingly concerned about Christian churches and parents whose examples had inspired youth to boredom and disdain. So I began writing a brief series of sketches on contemporary cults for Eternity magazine, and thanks to Nathan Keats and Donald Kauffman this has blos- somed into a book.
In the following pages I want you to get a closer look at Hare Krishna and seventeen other "curious new cults." You may wish that I had added a few more to the list or that my treatment of some of them would have been more exhaustive. But I am writing not for scholars but for young people and their parents who are looking for something to believe in.
This book I am dedicating to my son Ken, who has found Someone to believe in.
ISBN:0879831200
