Islam was introduced to Indonesia in the 14th century, hardly having time to consolidate itself there politically before the region came under Dutch hegemony. At first, Plymouth Colony’s government and its religion were only somewhat entwined but the colony slowly increased its legislation on religious duties and morals over time. Regardless of how scholars classify it, efforts to stamp out Santa Muerte-the Mexican government has been bulldozing roadside shrines, perhaps out of concern over the faith’s association with narco culture-haven’t been enough to keep it from acquiring a following among marginalized communities in the Americas. After Gafatar branches throughout the Indonesian archipelago began running into trouble with local authorities, the organization’s authorities encouraged adherents like Dwi to sell all their possessions and use the money to buy land in remote Indonesian Borneo, where they hoped state authority would be lax enough to allow them to farm in peace. It’s quite clear that the Catholic Church is alarmed by the rise of Santa Muerte, with the Vatican’s representatives condemning worship of her as “blasphemous.” So is Santa Muerte distinct enough from mainstream Catholicism that it should be considered a new religious movement?

Many worshippers of Santa Muerte still attend Mass and consider themselves Catholic, merely praying to Santa Muerte as they might to another saint. “It’s a very informal religious movement, it’s not institutionalized,” said Stefano Bigliardi, an assistant professor at Akhawayn University in Morocco, who spent years researching Santa Muerte in Mexico. Santa Muerte-Our Lady of Holy Death-is the rare example of a new religious movement that appears to be steadily gaining followers in the Americas. The goal was to establish a Zion, similar in concept to the one Mormons founded one and a half centuries ago in Utah-a faraway community where followers could live according to their faith without being challenged by outsiders. By willfully subjecting oneself to the commanding love of God, a person in this filial relationship with God through Christ may experience a change of character (from self-centeredness to serving others) in which the person’s character (or very being) may come to serve as evidence of the truths of faith. While some relatively recent faiths have succeeded in recruiting millions of followers-such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormonism), Scientology, and Baha’i-their numbers of adherents are dwarfed in scale by these earlier four.

To do so is the greatest act of treason toward the gospel of Christ and the glory of God in the modern Christian era. But this era of accessibility also comes with a downside for a new faith: There are so many religions on offer in most countries that it’s hard for any new religion to gain a critical mass. But even though state conquest does not offer the possibility to spread faiths quickly anymore, prophets today have more ways than ever to spread their teachings abroad. In total, more than 25 members of Gafatar were convicted of blasphemy around the archipelago, with around a dozen spending time in prison. Read on for more information on tangrams, and to find Web sites where you can make and solve your own problems. What is more, god is a being with infinitely many attributes, each of which is itself infinite, upon which no limits of any kind can be imposed. As al-Ghazali puts it, “every being which begins has a cause for its beginning; now the world is a being which begins; therefore, it possesses a cause for its beginning.” He then argues that it must be God who by free choice determines that the world comes to exist at the time it does, and we can thus conclude that God exists.

Can you tell which country’s flag is shown? We can extend grace through our talent, time, and financial support to those in need. Members of the faith insist they will soldier on; their persecution, after all, is in keeping with prophesy. State persecution, aided by religious authorities, is in fact a major reason why new faiths fail in parts of the world where government polices religious doctrine. I asked Palmer if a reason why new faiths typically struggle to gain adherents is that we tend to laugh when we hear claims about fantastic and miraculous events that occur in the present day-such as when Vorilhon, the founder of Raëlism, claimed he learned about humanity’s origins after being abducted by aliens. But the religion scholars I spoke with said that perhaps the biggest reason that new faiths like Scientology, Raëlism or Millah Abraham have failed to take off is the lack of state sponsorship. In a Singapore airport, I met with three Malaysian members of Millah Abraham who joined the faith after watching a Youtube video of Mushaddeq preaching. But followers I spoke with said there had been no coercion, and Gafatar members had moved to West Borneo to live communally and worship freely, not to challenge the Indonesian state or conduct mass suicide.