Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the dead can communicate with the living through mediums. The Church of Spiritualism is a religious organization that promotes this belief and provides a community for spiritualist practitioners. Here is an overview of the history, beliefs, and practices of the Church of Spiritualism.
History of the Church of Spiritualism
The Spiritualist movement emerged in the 1840s in upstate New York. It began with the Fox sisters – Margaretta, Leah, and Kate – who claimed to communicate with spirits through rappings and knockings. As Spiritualism spread across the United States and Europe, many prominent figures became advocates, including chemist William Crookes, psychologist William James and author Arthur Conan Doyle.
The loose movement began to organize into formal groups and churches. In 1893, Spiritualist minister Alma Elizabeth Fox founded the First Spiritualist Church of Toledo, Ohio. This church served as a model for other Spiritualist churches forming during this time period. In 1899, Spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten organized the National Spiritualists Association to provide cohesion and a unified voice for the independent churches. Today, the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) oversees around 200 member churches.
Beliefs and Teachings
Spiritualist churches emphasize direct spirit communication and personal religious experience. They reject formal creeds or dogmas. However, Spiritualist churches unite around shared principles and beliefs:
- Belief in the continuation of life after physical death.
- Belief that spirits of the dead can communicate with the living, especially through properly developed mediums.
- Personal responsibility for one’s own deeds and misdeeds as a basic moral teaching.
- Acceptance of principles of karma and reincarnation.
- Belief in the infinite intelligence or “Infinite Spirit” as the ultimate source of all existence.
Spiritualist theology emphasizes the love of God, the immanence of God, and the existence of spirit guides and angels. Jesus is understood as a spiritual avatar rather than the exclusive Son of God. The Bible is used alongside other religious texts. Modern Spiritualism interprets the events of the New Testament, such as Pentecost, as evidence of Spirit communication.
Practices and Rituals
Spiritualist services resemble Protestant Christian services in form, with hymn singing, prayer, and a sermon. However, the focal point is demonstration of spirit communication. Services include some of the following elements:
- Message service – A medium delivers messages from departed loved ones and spirit guides to people in the congregation.
- Spirit greetings – The presiding minister calls out the names of spirits present, who communicate messages through rapping sounds.
- Inspirational speaking – A speaker delivers an impromptu sermon under the claimed influence of a spirit guide.
- Spirit healing – Mediums and healers channel energy and advise on medical treatments supposedly prescribed by spirits.
- Readings – Mediums give one-on-one clairvoyant or clairaudient readings to congregants before or after the service.
Music, especially singing, is valued in Spiritualist services for raising spiritual vibrations. Full trance channeling, where the medium is entirely overtaken by a spirit, is discouraged in favor of conscious channeling. Sunday school programs are offered for the education of children on Spiritualist principles.
Organization and Leadership
Each Spiritualist church is autonomous and congregationalist in governance. However, ministers must be ordained by the NSAC to serve in churches affiliated with the organization. Churches have boards of trustees as well as committees overseeing education, healing, and special events.
To be ordained as a Spiritualist minister, an individual must complete a 32-credit program with the Morris Pratt Institute, NSAC’s educational department. Ministers are formally installed through a ceremony where spirit guides endorse the candidate’s appointment. All life events such as weddings, funerals and naming ceremonies are overseen by ordained Spiritualist ministers.
The NSAC serves to unite Spiritualist churches through stated purposes such as promoting spiritual healing, education and scientific investigation of psychic phenomena. Conventions bringing together ministers and mediums are held annually.
Prevalence and Influence
There are an estimated 15,000 members affiliated with 200 Spiritualist churches in the United States and Canada. While relatively small, Spiritualist churches helped introduce the concept of mediumship to North America and Europe. Prominent Spiritualists such as Andrew Jackson Davis and Helen Blavatsky played a role in the New Age movement emerging out of Spiritualism.
Aspects of Spiritualist belief have disseminated into wider Western culture, such as ideas surrounding life after death and mediumship. Spiritualist techniques like table turning and Ouija boards entered popular culture. Elements of Spiritualism can be found in channeling practices of New Age adherents.
Controversies and Criticisms
Spiritualism has been plagued by accusations of fraud by skeptical investigators seeking to debunk mediums. Magician Harry Houdini devoted effort to exposing what he saw as trickery. Some mediums confessed to or were caught using techniques like rapping on wood to simulate spirit messages.
Christian fundamentalists have condemned Spiritualism as a dangerous form of necromancy prohibited by the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:10-11). The Catholic church has declared Spiritualist practices to be sinful on multiple occasions. Mainstream Protestants and Christian apologists view Spiritualism as heretical and an unhealthy obsession with the dead.
Scientists criticize Spiritualist claims for lacking clear empirically verifiable evidence. They suggest phenomena associated with Spiritualism can be explained through psychology, misperceptions and suggestion. Fraudulent activity also undermines Spiritualism’s credibility in the scientific community.
Comparison to Other Religions
Spiritualism overlaps with New Age spirituality in its mysticism and use of practices like meditation and healing energy. However, New Age focuses more on individual spirituality rather than community religion. Spiritualism also differs from occult traditions like Theosophy that incorporate esoteric philosophies.
Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism share some similarities with Spiritualism in their belief in spirits, mediums, karma and reincarnation. However, these religions have very different cosmologies, texts, moral codes and conceptions of the absolute.
Amongst Christian denominations, Spiritualism is most comparable to Pentecostalism. Both emphasize personal spiritual experience and divine healings. However, Pentecostals appeal to biblical authority while Spiritualists focus more on spirit guidance. Most Christian churches reject Spiritualism as contradictory to scripture.
Conclusion
The Church of Spiritualism is a religious movement centered around contact with the spirits of the dead. Originating from 19th century Spiritualism, Spiritualist churches hold services where mediums deliver messages from spirits to congregants. Widely criticized for encouraging fraudulent activities, these churches remain a fixture in some Spiritualist communities.
Spiritualism reflects a deep human impulse to commune with deceased loved ones that persists to this day. While controversial, Spiritualist beliefs challenge assumptions about the finality of death and possibilities of existence beyond the physical. Spiritualist churches aim not just to communicate with spirits, but find meaning for living through such experiences.
