Radical Changes in Minority Religions

Eileen Barker is Professor Emeritus of Sociology with Special Reference to the Study of Religion at the London School of Economics, UK. Her main research interest is 'cults', 'sects' and new religious movements, and she has over 350 publications in this field, translated into 27 different languages. With the support of the British Government and mainstream Churches, Eileen founded INFORM, a charity based at the LSE which provides information about emerging religious groups. This has led to her becoming a frequent advisor on these issues to governments, other official bodies and law-enforcement agencies around the world.Beth Singler is a Research Associate at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, University of Cambridge, UK, where she is exploring the social and religious implications of advances in AI and robotics. A social anthropologist of new religious movements, her PhD thesis is the first in-depth ethnography of the Indigo Children - a New Age re-conception of both children and adults using the language of evolution and spirituality. She has also written on the development and legitimation of Jediism and Scientology, through social media.