The Beliefs of Spritualism

The foundation of Spiritualism is derived from all religions. Spiritualism centralized around the belief that the personality of a person, after death, is continued on into a new spiritual body. Spiritualists communicate with the deceased by the means of mediumship. There is no hell, eternal damnation, last judgment, or resurrection of the physical body in Spiritualism. Spiritualists identify with some forms of primitive Christian beliefs. They believe that Jesus was a master medium and a healer (Lewis, 1995; www.anomalyinfo.com).

Margarett and Catharine Fox started spiritualism in 1848. Their house, in Hydesville New York, was plagued by strange noises, which was attributed to a ghost. The Fox sisters noticed that if they clapped the ghost would respond with rapping noises. Pretty soon the rapping system developed raps for yes, no, and the alphabet. The spirit then identified itself as a man murdered by a former resident of the house and claimed his body was in the basement. When the basement floor was excavated they found human teeth, hair, and some bones. The sisters capitalized on the publicity by turning the ability to communicate with the dead into a stage act. P.T. Barnum, who took the Fox sisters to New York City and made them nationwide stars, noticed the sister's show (www.anomalyinfo.com).

It was not long after this that other mediums started to reveal themselves and started charging for their services, these services are called séances. A séance is a gathering of individuals and a medium in a circle to communicate with the spirit of the deceased loved one. The medium is the central contact from which the spirit communicates. The people in the circle through touch, pain, smell and temperature change c...

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...e who had to go to church or they would go to hell. The Spiritualist Church takes all the pressure away and you don't have to go to church to be closer to God; you just have to make the right choices in life.

Works Cited

Doherty, Jane. (1999). What is a Séance. Jane Doherty, 1. Retrieved November 1, 2004, from www.janedoherty.com.

Lewis, James R. (1995). The Death and Afterlife Book. Michigan: Visible Ink Press.

Loffredo, Joseph A. Jr. (2000, March). Spiritualist Basics. The Spiritualist Religion Page, 1-16. Retrieved November 1, 2004, from www.geocites.com.

Harrison, Lindsay & Browne, Sylvia. (2003). Visits from the Afterlife: The Truth About Hauntings, Spirits, and Reunions with Lost Loved Ones. New York: Dutton.

Haslam, Garth. (2003-2004). Spiritualism. Anomalies Article, 1-3. Retrieved November 1, 2004, from the Anomalies Database.