Cults and governments

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Some countries, expressing concern with possible abuses by groups they consider to be "cults", have for whatever reason taken restrictive measures against some of the activities of organizations which they see as cultic. Against a background of suspicion of, and generally low regard for, identified cults (French sectes, German Sekten), such measures sometimes intensified in the wake of various crimes committed inside "cults", especially following a string of murderous incidents involving doomsday cults circa 1995.

A difference in viewpoint regarding religious tolerance sometimes pits the United States of America against several European countries (especially France and Germany) which have enacted legislation against groups considered cults. Critics of such measures claim^{[citation needed]} (for example) that the counter-cult movement and the anti-cult movement, abetted by media sensationalism, have succeeded in influencing governments in transferring the public's abhorrence of doomsday cults in such a way as to direct it indiscriminately against new religious movements or small religious groups. Proponents of those measures regard this criticism as unwarranted and contend that there exists a variety of dangerous actions (sexual abuse, extortion, etc.) that alleged cults engage in, besides the few cases of mass suicide and murder.

European countries criticized by the United States see the United States' political interventions in their internal affairs as pro-cultic,^{[citation needed]} uninformed meddling; they contend that these interventions lack responsibility towards the well-being of citizens, especially concerning children and incapacitated persons. They trace the United States' attitude, at least partially, to lobbying by cults and cult-apologists of the United States government.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Historical background 2 Specific cases 2.1 Belgium 2.2 China 2.3 Council of Europe 2.4 European Union 2.5 France 2.6 Germany 2.7 Iran 2.8 Russia 2.9 Switzerland 2.10 United Kingdom 2.11 United States 3 References 3.1 Bibliography 3.2 Citations 4 External links

[edit] Historical background

Governing institutions -- like dominant religions -- have long harbored suspicions of heterodox beliefs, seeing them as disruptive to unity and subversive of any "right-thinking" standard status quo. (Compare laws against blasphemy.) Thus the Athenians convicted Socrates for (amongst other crimes) his lack of respect for conventional contemporary religious thinking. The medieval Catholic Church declared a special crusade against the Cathars, and a tradition of intolerance towards witchcraft resulted in persecutions and executions. The identification of a single state or nation-state with a single approved set of religious beliefs became standardized under the post-Reformation doctrine of cuius regio, eius religio. And totalitarian regimnes in the 20th century countered the general movement towards tolerance by actions against religious minorities: note especially the case of the Soviet Union -- see religion in the Soviet Union. Thus suspicions of and special treatment for minorities with "unusual" ideas have a long and well-ingrained history even prior to the invention of the "doomsday cult" phenomenon.

[edit] Specific cases

[edit] Belgium

In Belgium, the Belgian Parliamentary Commission on Cults submitted a report to the Belgian Parliament in 1997. The report differentiated in its conclusions between three types of "sectes":

• the cult in the strict sense (la secte strictu sensu): a group distinguished by a particular belief which is a normal expression of religious freedom
• a harmful sectarian organization (Les organisations sectaires nuisibles): defined as a group with real or pretended philosophic or religious vocation which in its organisation or its practices includes harmful illegal activities, harms individuals or society or interferes with human dignity
• criminal associations (Les associations de malfaiteurs): defined as criminal organisations (frauds, money-launderers, drug-traffickers, pedophile rings, etc.) using a cult-like or pseudo-religious front to disguise their criminal practices. ^{2(pg. 99-101)}

The report included a list of 189 organizations which had come up during the investigation, including the Amish Mission in Belgium, Buddhism, several Catholic groups such as Opus Dei, some Evangelical Christian denominations, Hasidic Judaism, Quakers, and Satanists. But the report also stated clearly immediately before the listing:

"This listing does not constitute a specific position or a judgment by the commission. The fact that a movement is listed here, even if at the instigation of an official instance, does not signify that the Commission regards it as a cult, let alone as dangerous. (Cette énumération ne constitute donc ni une prise de position, ni un jugement de valeur de la part de la commission. Ainsi, le fait pour un mouvement d'y figurer, même si c'est à l'initiative d'une instance officielle, ne signifie pas que pour la commission, il soit une secte, et a fortiori qu'il soit dangereux.) ^{2(pg. 227)}

The Belgian Parliament in its plenary session of May 7, 1997 rejected most of the Commission’s report, including the above-mentioned list (tableau synoptique). Out of the 670-page-report, the Belgian Parliament approved only the section “conclusions and recommendations” (pages 209-226).³

The Quakers complained to the Deputy Prime Ministers about their inclusion on the list, pointing out their programs of humanitarian aid, and requested to see the evidence which the federal police had presented against them in a closed session to the Parliamentary Commission. The Quaker appeal did not succeed.^{[citation needed]}

As a consequence of the advice of the Commission to the Parliament, the legislators adopted a law on 2 June 1998 to observe cults that might break the law. This resulted in the foundation of the Center for information and Advice on Harmful Cults (Centre d'information et d'avis sur les organisations sectaires nuisibles or CIAOSN), located in Brussels.

[edit] China

Main article: Falun Gong

The case of Falun Gong in China furnishes an example of wide-ranging measures against a perceived cult. The government of the People's Republic of China considers Falun Gong a dangerous cult and seeks to dismantle it; the authorities have jailed followers of Falun Gong, and numerous reports of torture have emerged. Many critics of cults believe that even if Falun Gong meets a definition of a "cult" widely accepted by Western anti-cult groups (as opposed to the Chinese government's definition), the Chinese government nevertheless has violated the human rights of Falun Gong members in a criminal and inexcusable manner. (Note that the U.S. anti-cult movement, for example, has no clear consensus as to whether or not to regard Falun Gong as a cult.)

Controversies have arisen concerning the reaction or non-reaction of various foreign governments with respect to the Chinese anti-Falun Gong actions (see passages in a Reuters report. Some commentators have criticized certain governments, including that of France, for complacency with respect to Chinese authorities, and especially for restricting demonstrations against the Chinese government during official Chinese visits and ceremonies organized in collaboration with the Chinese government. ^[1]

[edit] Council of Europe

While the constitution of the United States (for example) allows no legislation on religion, things differ in Europe. The Council of Europe, to which 46 European nations belong, has had in force since 1953 a "Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms", which defines religious freedom and sets certain limits to it:

Article 9 Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

2. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

On June 22, 1999 the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly adopted, unanimously, in view of the "the serious incidents which had occurred in recent years" a recommendation ^[2] which gives priority to the prevention against dangerous sects. The recommendation regards major legislation on sects as undesirable, but it calls on the member states:

• to support the setting up of independent, national or regional information centres on sects;
• to include information on the history and philosophy of important schools of thought and of religion in general school curricula;
• to use the normal procedures of criminal and civil law against illegal practices carried out by these groups;
• to encourage the setting up of non-governmental organisations to protect victims, but also;
• to take firm steps against any discrimination or marginalisation of minority groups and encourage a spirit of tolerance and understanding towards religious groups.

[edit] European Union

On May 22, 1984 the European Parliament passed a resolution with the title "New Organizations Operating Under the Protection Afforded to Religious Beliefs" that expressed the Parliament's concern about the recruitment and treatment of the members of these new organizations. [1]

In March 1997, a "Resolution on cults in Europe" by the European Parliament reaffirmed its attachment to the basic principles of democracy and the rule of law (such as tolerance, and freedom of conscience, religion, thought, association and assembly) as well as calling on its Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs to meet and work on collecting and sharing information that would enable the drawing of conclusions on the best way to restrain undesirable activities by sects and on strategies to raise public awareness about them. [2]

On December 22, 1997 the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs released an amended resolution named "Resolution on Cults in the European Union" and originally intended for voting on by the European Parliament in Strasbourg during the session of January 1998. The plenary of the European Parliament in July 1998 rejected the text of the resolution, with anti-cultists seeing it as too weak and religious-liberties activists considering it out of the scope of the European Parliament to decide. The resolution went back to the Commission for further consideration.

[edit] France

Main articles: About-Picard law and Status of religious freedom in France

Following the 1995 mass-suicides of adepts of the Order of the Solar Temple, the French Parliament set up a Parliamentary Commission, led by MP Alain Gest, and encouraged public caution towards groups that it classed as cults. In December 1995 the Commission parlementaire sur les sectes en France ("Parliamentary Commission on cults in France") published its report (also known as the Rapport Gest-Guyard). The document classified various movements and qualified as cults those movements which it considered represented a potential threat either toward the adepts themselves or toward society and the state. The Parliament also adopted legislation making it easier to prosecute alleged crimes committed by cults. However, both the reports and the legislation have proven controversial in some circles. Whatever the stance adopted, the report provides a serious categorization of new religious movements and other cultic phenomena, and attempts to define what constitutes a "cult", notwithstanding the necessary respect of freedom of religion and the 1905 French law on the separation of Church and State. To this day, the Gest-Guyard report remains one of the few official indicators allowing one to define a cult.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin issued a circulaire in May 2005 calling for renewed vigor in the fight against cults, and indicating in passing that the list of cults published in the parliamentary report had become less relevant over time as cults evolved. ^[3]

The French Parliament passed a law (the About-Picard law) in 2001 which (its proponents declared) aimed at repressing the excesses of groups infringing human rights and fundamental freedoms. The law makes it possible to prosecute organizations (rather than just individuals) for a number of crimes already represented in the criminal code; in the case of established criminal behavior by an organization, courts may disband the organization. Legislators rejected a provision criminalizing "mental manipulation", included in early drafts, because of concerns about the vagueness of this notion.

This legislation attracted some critical remarks, but no condemnation, from the Helsinki International Federation for Human Rights (See index of documents), the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, an Investigatory Commission for Violations of Human Rights hosted by the Omnium des Liberté, and from minority religious groups. The US government under the Clinton administration also expressed criticism. Critics argued that improper application of such legislation could result in the arbitrary banning of unpopular religious groups; and that the legislation fostered in the public and amongst officials an atmosphere of discrimination against members of emerging religions.

[edit] Germany

The German federal government does not accept (for example) Scientology's self-designation as a religion, but regards it as a business disguised as a religion. The German internal secret service, the Verfassungsschutz, monitors Scientology, and the German authorities place restrictions on its activities.

In 1997 the United States Congress failed to pass a proposed resolution related to "discrimination by the German Government against members of minority religious groups" that mentioned only Scientology-related examples of discrimination. See also Status of religious freedom in Germany.

[edit] Iran

The government of Iran treats members of some minority religious movements (such as Bahá'ís) as though they belong to cults, with restrictions on their rights and privileges. See the Wikipedia article on religious minorities in Iran and Persecution of Baha'is.

[edit] Russia

Authorities in Russia may appear biased against belief-systems not traditionally associated with recognized nationalities. As such, some minority religious groups sometimes appear subject to discrimination. ^[4]

[edit] Switzerland

In Switzerland there exists according to the constitution no legislation whatsoever about religion at the national level, only at the level of the cantons. At federal level Switzerland grants no church or religion or religious group any official recognition, and passes no legislation forbidding any religious groups.

Some cases involving the sentencing of members of religious groups and purported cults for breaking Swiss law include:

• On 5 December 1997, a Swiss federal court sentenced one of the leaders of the theosophic Universal Church to a fine for publishing antisemitic statements. The defense claimed that the statements formed part of the teaching of the church, and its leader Peter Leach-Lewis has lost the right to enter Switzerland due to a similar charge.

• On 3 April 2003 the Swiss federal court confirmed a sentence against Uriella, the leader of the Fiat Lux group, obliging her to pay back a large sum to an ex-member. The court reasoned that normal loan regulations apply also between leaders and members of cults.

• On 10 June 1987 the penal court of Basel sentenced two Scientologists for continued extortion to a suspended prison sentence and a fine because they had sold services at high prices to a physically and mentally handicapped person.

• In December 2003 a court sentenced the head of Scientology Lausanne to a suspended prison sentence and the payment of damages for defamation of a former member.

[edit] United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom in 1988 Professor Eileen Barker of the London School of Economics, with funding from the Home Office and with the support of mainstream Churches, founded a charity named INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements). According to its website, INFORM has as its primary aim "... to help people through providing them with accurate, balanced, up-to-date information about new and/or alternative religious or spiritual movements."

INFORM patrons include Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia (Greek Orthodox Church), Lord Bishop Graham James of Norwich (Church of England), Lord Dahrendorf and Lord Desai.

[edit] United States

Timothy Miller, of the University of Kansas writes that no country in the world has a religious diversity as extensive as that found in the United States. He asserts that this religious diversity stems in significant part from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees that no religion will have governmental endorsement and that all Americans have the freedom to practise the religions of their choice.¹ Tolerance and diversity also encouraged the growth of non-religious cults, for which California has a particular reputation.

Countries such as France and Germany energetically protest against the frequent accusations by made the United States government against countries such as France and Germany for measures which countries such as France or Germany consider as protecting their citizens against destructive and/or fraudulent cults violating human rights. ^[5] Shortly after German Scientologist Antje Victore received political asylum in the US in 1996 following alleged religious persecution in Germany, German newspapers showed evidence that fellow-Scientologist company owners had fabricated Victore's "proofs" (letters denying her employment due to her Scientology beliefs). ^[6]

A travel advisory of the United States Department of State, which mentions neither Sathya Sai Baba nor other individuals, warns US citizens traveling to Andhra Pradesh of unconfirmed reports of inappropriate sexual behavior toward young male devotees by "a prominent local religious leader". ^[7].

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Note 1: Miller, Timothy, Religious Movements in the United States: An Informal Introduction, The New Religious Movements Homepage at the University of Virginia. available online

• Note 2: The Belgian Parliamentary Commission on Cults‘ report to the Belgian Parliament in 1997. available online

• Note 3: Vote of the Belgian Parliament about the report of the Enquete Commission on Cults, Session of May 7, 1997. available online

• Kent, Stephen A. (January 2001). "The French and German versus American Debate over 'New Religions', Scientology, and Human Rights". Marburg Journal of Religion 6 (1). Retrieved on 2006-08-06. 

• Council of Europe: Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 4th November 1950 [3]

[edit] Citations

[edit] External links

• "Totally Expunge Evil, Pursue it to the End" Explaining the Crackdown on the Falun Gong Graduation paper by Karin Aalderink Department of Chinese Studies Leiden University, The Netherlands (2001)

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