The Process Church of the Final Judgment, an esoteric religious movement that became defunct during the 1970s, has been partially revived through various online expressions. The church held to a mixture of psychotherapeutic and occult teachings and practices that was in many ways similar to Scientology, although it had a polytheistic orientation. The group did not have a large membership, even though the writings of its founders Robert de Grimston and Mary Ann MacClean had broader influence, and gradually went defunct due to schisms in its leadership. Recently, however, the Process has had a new incarnation as, among other things, a large and successful animal welfare organization called Best Friends. Under MacClean, the group moved through various spiritual expressions to embrace the “salvation of animal lives rather than human souls,” according to sociologist William Sims Bainbridge.
The Process had a long involvement in music, inspiring the group Funkadelic under George Clinton, and today several bands featured on YouTube have embraced Process themes, most notably the New York occult band Sabbath Assembly. Finally, Process teachings have found their way onto the Internet, both attracting a new following and reinvigorating its original members. Solo magical rituals have replaced the former emphasis on group rituals. There is talk of reviving the group, but even if that doesn’t happen, “the wide distribution of music, scripture, symbols, and even simulated artifacts in the form of newly crafted jewelry and clothing offers the possibility of revival of a radical religion that was once thought to be extinct,” Bainbridge writes. He adds that the rebirth of elements of Process may be an example of how “we are witnessing not the decline of religion but its fragmentation, which can be considered a form of paganization.”
(Source: Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, Vol. 11, article 14, http://www.religjournal.com/articles/article_view.php?id=105)
