“New Religious Movements" (NRM) refers to a distinct field of new religions studies developed within the academic study of religion in the 1970s. The category of NRM religions was defined in the mid-1900s and "includes both the innovative [19th -20th centuries] religious groups and the older alternative groups, which, taken together, form a spectrum challenging both mainstream religious traditions and secular society" (New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader, 2005, p. 4).