Anti-cult France: Current Status
Advocating for Individual Freedoms

Disclaimer: this documentary has been created and produced by the CICNS, an independent French organisation not connected to Kenja or any other group. 

This is part 3 of a documentary in 3 parts (120min).

• Click here to view Part 1 of the documentary.
• Click here to view Part 2 of the documentary.

 The CICNS is reaching into an understanding of spirituality away from extremist religious viewpoints, and set itself up with a project for an independent Observatory of spiritual minorities in France. 


The Documentary Part 3 is in french subtitled in english. Below is a transcript in english translated from french:

CICNS - Copyright 2009

CICNS
BP7 – 82270 Montpezat de Quercy
www.cicns.net – contact@cicns.net 

CICNS presents:

Anti-cult France - Current Status:
Advocating for Individual Freedoms - Part 3

Journalist
"Controversial at all levels. The Director of the Office of the Head of State states that cults are a non-issue."

Ségolène Royal
"These are totally irresponsible statements. Moreover, all you have to do is just listen to the cults victims."

Journalist, LCI, "Cults: expressing yourself is a profession"
"You have to remove it, this mission, strengthen it?"

Jean-Pierre Raffarin (UMP), on LCI
"Of course not. I think that cults are a worrying phenomenon, in France and in Europe."

Journalist, LCI, Preuves à l'appui (Crossing Jordan), 04.04.08
"With a lack of followers, in search of power and especially money, the cults have adapted to the market and to the economy."

Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris
"When you are in a cult, you are dominated, you are manipulated, you have no more freedom!"

CULTS

"Cults", who remembers that the word has not always instilled fear and that these so-called cults did not always frighten off opinion?

TF1 - JT 8 p.m. - April 5, 1975 (INA)
"These religions from the Far East are numerous in the West today, and they benefit from being a bit popular."
"Sir, why have young people so readily adopted these Oriental movements?"
"There is a general crisis phenomena in adolescence, that takes different forms depending on the time period"

Who remembers the attack in January 1996 against the Unification Church in Paris? Who remembers the titles that condoned aggression and the articles that encouraged recidivism?

France 2 - JT 8 p.m. - August 14, 1996 (INA)
In short, bombing attempt, last night, against a building in the rue Daguerre in the 14th arrondissement in Paris that housed a cult, the New Acropolis."

Who remembers the indecency and the inconsistency of the comments that accompanied the second bomb of the year in the month of August?

CULTS

Who, today, understands all of the meanings and implications of this word?
In the first two parts of this documentary, we saw that the fear of "cults" is now spreading to the whole of French society and that it takes the form of serious acts ranging from defamation to excessive assaults by the gendarmes and discriminatory judicial decisions, while no real proof of the danger of these cults can be advanced.

The hearings of the last parliamentary commission of inquiry on cults were an opportunity to verify how much the fear was unfounded, with the supporting figures.

Jean-Yves Dupuis, Inspector General of the National Ministry of Education
"We asked the Academy Inspectors how many, among the children at risk, how many were due to sectarian movements. They said that there were eight."

Georges Fenech, President of the Commission
"Not more than two files, you say?"

Françoise Le Bihan, Deputy Director of French Foreign Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Ah, concerning the sectarian derivatives on minors."

Georges Fenech, President of the Commission
"Yes."

Françoise Le Bihan, Deputy Director of French Foreign Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Yes."

But the rumour is persistent. It only barely stops before the evidence, to rebuild again soon after. Who is feeding it and why? How does it gain ground in the minds of our fellow citizens? How do we influence it still, sometimes, even if we know it to be unjustified?

The third part of our documentary opens with these questions.

So-called public opinion, is being built today, for the better part, in the privacy of every citizen's living room. At the top of our program, a broadcast to the general public that, for the start of 2007, had two million viewers by focusing on "the cults".

The Information Centre and the New Spirituality Council was approached by the "Ça se discute” (Trans. : It is being discussed) team to participate in the show. An invitation like the ones we regularly receive, with very engaging terms.
Anne Morelli, a religious historian, specializing, among other things, in the role of the media in society, received an invitation for the same show at the same time.

Anne Morelli, Religious Historium, CICNS Symposium - September 30, 2007
"The assistant assured me that it was a broadcast of a debate..."

On our side, we did a little research on the Internet that brought us to an anti-cult forum and to another invitation for the same program under very different terms.
Before the coarseness of the hook, after a short exchange, we declined an invitation that smelled of a trap too.

Anne Morelli, although somewhat dubious about the sincerity of those she was dealing with, decided to respond to it positively. A few days before the program, it was learned that it would finally be delay-broadcast and that she would need to comply with certain guidelines.

Anne Morelli, Religious Historian, CICNS Symposium - September 30, 2007
"When they called me to say that the show would be delay-broadcast, I was told: "Oh, I forgot to tell you something, Madam, so that we don't do any advertising for them, you cannot give the names of any cults."  I said: "Oh, and if I want to talk about Jesuits or... Do I also need to avoid... "Oh no, no", she said, "There is no problem with them, you can say their name." "But," I said, "Isn't that advertising?" "No, no, but for them, there is no problem."

On September, the show finally aired.

Jean-Luc Delarue, Ça se discute
"Good evening everyone. Evoking their name is enough to shake all those who have left them."

Anne Morelli, Historian at the Free University of Brussels
"I really had the feeling of falling into a trap. [...]  They actually invited the two types of people but the victims of the anti-cult hunts were never able to speak on this platform. So it was quite interesting to see how it was treated, with an uncommon arrogance, repeating facts that sometimes dated from twenty-five years ago."

Debates and documentaries on "cults" have been produced by the dozens in the last twenty years. The appearance of the debate, as far as "cults" went, was given by the presence on the panel in a small proportion, of some opponents who, like Anne Morelli, state in general the feeling that it was an ambush.

Two examples to illustrate the impossibility of having an alternative opinion voiced on these platforms.

First example: Maurice Duval, an ethnologist who conducted a study on the Aumism religion, tried, on the "C dans l’air" program, to refine a very unbalanced debate.

“C dans l’air” program, The cults are resisting, Direct 5

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"What is a "cult"? In fact, sociologically, as with the legal point of view, moreover, there is no rigorous definition of the concept of a "cult"."

Journalist
"It's very simple, it what hurts vulnerable people."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"Oh but then, tell me then, here, we can..."

Journalist
"And then after, we bring together the professionals to determine who, what, how."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"So that, it is a little bit vague..."

Jean-Michel Pesenti, UNADFI Lawyer
"It's a very good definition, indeed."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"... because that is what is hurting people, but there are lots of things that hurt people! Seita hurts people by selling its tobacco, so are they a cult then..."
"No, no, no, this is not correct, as an argument."

Jean-Michel Pesenti, UNADFI Lawyer
"I don't think that we are here to talk about Seita, or even religion. We are here to talk about cults."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"Forgive me if I seem a little like a dog in a bowling game..."

In reality, it is practically impossible, under these conditions, even with a certain mastery of words and rhetoric, to breach the common opinion.

Journalist
"A space - so then, either we go there or we don't go, but by and large, where we normally enter and exit and where people aren't blocked in, because until proven otherwise, the Church..."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"So Mandarom is not a cult then!

Jean-Michel Pesenti, UNADFI Lawyer
"You have to know what you are talking about. Well you know, Mandarom is not a cult..."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"You go there and you leave, at Mandarom."

Jean-Michel Pesenti, UNADFI Lawyer
"Mr. Gilbert Bourdin, who was the guru at Mandarom, and I am weighing my words..."
In this kind of debate, a Manichean and simplistic view is imposed, and you are requested to take a position.

Journalist
"After a while, it is wondered whether you, you are not defending the cults..."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"Yes, of course, I was expecting that, it's normal."

Journalist
"Yes, but it's legitimate."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"But I will come back to that"
Second example: Mr. Labrique, a psychotherapist who had been promised a balanced discussion of alternative therapies and who was present on the program for a lynching about his practices with, as judge and participant, the anti-cult activists and so-called conventional medicine.

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"You think it is possible to treat someone with only psychological arguments, for a disease like this? I am just asking you your opinion as a therapist, yes."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"Yes, but I think it is important perhaps to situate the history of the psychosomatic. In fact..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"No, please, just, I would like us to avoid this theory because we will all get lost in it. I think people know well, now, what "psychosomatic" means..."
Declared to be off topic and thus deprived of speech, he was to see Jean-Luc Delarue, three minutes later, call a psychiatrist to talk about exactly the same subject.

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"I would like to give the floor to Mr. Jean-Philippe Parquet. Jean-Philippe Parquet, you are a Professor of Psychiatry. You are a Psychiatrist yourself?"

Jean-Philippe Parquet, Psychiatrist
"Yes, absolutely."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist, Ça se discute, France 2
"Professor of Psychiatry, so that's the highest level. A Psychiatrist, then, is a physician who, in addition to that, has studied precisely that which deals with the influence of the mind over the body, not just."

"The influence of the mind over the body": Jean-Luc Delarue's acrobatic paraphrase was an exact definition of psychosomatics. Jean-Philippe Parquet, whose capacity as member of the MIVILUDES Advisory Council was not mentioned, would have, himself, complete latitude to expound on psychiatry and then denigrate the alternative therapies.

The inequity and the devaluation that took place before millions of television viewers constitutes a very significant psychological pressure and leaders such as Jean-Luc Delarue know how to play this.

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"A statistic from JAMA, I don't know if you know this American magazine..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"We need to move forward, sir, we can't spend the night on that, I am completely confused. I am confused."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"Yes, but listen to me anyway, I came here, you had a number of questions to ask me..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"So apart from these..."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"...that you have not asked."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"I'm sorry, I am going to continue to discuss, Mr. Baudouin, because..."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"Ms. Gil did not at all present things like that to me, but briefly..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"It has only been twenty or twenty-five minutes that you have been talking..."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"I feel like I am in a trap. One of the largest U.S. medical journals, which is also translated into French ..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist, Ça se discute, France 2
"Give me the short version, at least, Mr. Baudouin, please."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"It is all the same strange that with the others, they can take a little longer and me, I must always be brief."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"That means that they have a story to tell."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist in Belgium
"I can't even explain the details, things ... You want me to be brief..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"Oh well tell me, you have said a lot already, don't you think?"

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"No, not at all..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"You have already well explained several cases..."

Baudouin Labrique, Psychotherapist
"I would like a few minutes, you would be astonished. I would simply like to, in relation to these statistics ..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"Well there, frankly, you are exaggerating. So we are going to watch a report. We are going to watch a report. Otherwise, indeed, we will need to cut. Besides these new gurus ..."

Baudoin Labrique leaves

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist for Ça se discute, France 2
"Oh!...Well, listen, we will miss you... The door will be open for you. Thank you, Baudouin".
The extent of the imbalance of the discussions is given in part by the respective speaking time for the anti-cult representatives and those with an alternative opinion.

Speaking time
The latter, in the show "Ça se discute" for September 19, 2007 were represented by Anne Morelli, Baudouin Labrique and two members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Between them, they had 14.5 minutes to speak versus 1h55m30s of anti-cult discourse, or 11% versus 89%.

Speaking time
In the program "C dans l'air" in January 2004, Maurice Duval, the only alternative voice in the debate, was able to speak for 10 minutes versus 55 minutes dedicated to anti-cult discourse, or 15% versus 85% of the show time.
As far as the last word, it is never left to chance.

Journalist
"The Jehovah's Witnesses movement, present everywhere in Paris, is it considered a "cult"?"

Jean-Michel Pesenti, UNADFI Lawyer
"Yes. So, I have given you an answer."

Journalist
"Yes, well that, at least the answer was clear. Thank you very much everyone, for participating in this broadcast."

CULT VICTIMS

So what is actually done with these programs, since the debate of ideas is really absent from them? They are mainly testimonials and specifically for victims of "cults"
Let's look closely at some sequences, for their form and their content.
Antoine is presented by Jean-Luc Delarue as a former follower and especially as a father who was struggling to find his daughter, who was a prisoner of the "cult" that he had left. In the following passage, the "Ça se discute" team accompanies Antoine on his enquiry.

Journalist
"At Toulon, Antoine will go directly to knock on his sister's door, as she is also a follower of the community. He is convinced that his daughter is hidden at her house. The door doesn't open. For these ultra-religious radicals, the laws of confinement are stronger than blood ties. His daughter will continue to live hidden among the other members."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist
"Since the coverage, good news, you have been successful in seeing your daughter."

Antoine
"Since the coverage, good news, yes, I managed to see my daughter, who I did not recognize at first."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist
"But how were you able to see her? How were you able to find her?"

Antoine
"I returned to my sister's house and in fact, indeed, they are not there during the day. They came back at night and so, finally, I saw her."
The coverage and the sequel followed in the program. The report led you to believe that Anthony faced a furious denial of followers who retreated into their homes; on the program, Antoine reveals the facts: he simply found a closed door because no one was home...

Antoine
"In fact, indeed, they are not there during the day and they returned at night ..."
... a door that opened without difficulty a few hours later.

Antoine
"... and so then, finally I saw her, we were able to discuss for a minute, it went well but..."

Would you yourself have noticed this false shortening? Nothing is less certain, it was also not on the first viewing we noticed it.

How we do we get swallowed up by these snakes? Thanks, among other things, to the film techniques increasingly used in this type of program. Demonstration by a professional, otherwise employed by the big networks.

"You should know that when you do a show, there is always an intention. We are going to do two shows, based on the same facts set forth. So, first show: my intention is simply to inform. A classic shoot, purely narrative. Mostly static shots, no transformation of images, we transmit the reality: a man arrives at a house and rings the doorbell, he has come to see his daughter. No one answers, it is assumed that she is absent and he may have to return at another time.
This time, we will repeat the same story, but this time with the intention to suggest that his daughter is trapped or even sequestered in the house. Sweeping view, camera range. I will put a black halo around the images. Framing on the feet ... and suitable music. Without you being aware of it, the images, the music, you say that something unusual is happening or will happen. At the most intense moment in the sequence, that is to say when the protagonist knocks on the door, we do the package: quick shots, garish transitions, rendering of the girl he has come to see, with a psychedelic effect. It fully supports a feeling of anxiety. And finally, a commentary that somehow channels the emotion created, offering him an outlet.

"The door won't open. For these ultra-religious radicals, the laws of confinement are stronger than blood ties. His daughter will continue to live hidden among the other members."

There you have it, it isn't reporting, it’s fiction.

Gilles Farcet, Writer, Literary Critic, Former Journalist
"It's still something extraordinary, with all of the experience that we now have of the media, television, film, to believe that the camera is innocent and believe that the show hasn't been contrived and that we can do a documentary that is objective on this or that seminary, this or that association, while it is very obvious that everything will depend on how we show things and that what we intend to show is a priori."
Without special effects, or music, or directed commentary, the story of Antoine and his daughter could come down to this.

Antoine
"I told her that I loved her, that I was very unhappy to see her back there, in this cult. And then she said to me: "But Dad, you can't understand, it's not a cult and I am happy here where I am." That I don't believe myself, but ..."
It is also important to focus on the supposed "dangerous cult", the spiritual community caricatured in the reporting. This is actually the Plymouth Brethren, easily identifiable, even though they are not hypocritically named.
"In France, more than 1,500 members live secluded in their homes, isolated from the world and from modern life. In 2005, the Prime Minister's services raised the alarm about the lives of the faithful, especially the children."
The so-called "Matignon services" or services from the Prime Minister, are in reality the MIVILUDES who have actually, in many of their reports, mentioned the Plymouth Brethren as a group at risk. The Chief of the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior, before the Third Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on "cults", did a reasoned critique of the MIVILUDES' policy by using, among other examples, the stigmatization of the Plymouth Brethren.

Didier Lèschi, Chief of the Central Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior
"The 2005 MIVILUDES report brings back the Plymouth Brethren, as "likely to be sectarianism in the education of children." This is obviously not to be excluded but does it underlie the file in a rigorous and precise way. However, in this case, we are once again amongst forms of approximation that can, ultimately, discredit necessary and legitimate government actions against the sectarian derivatives. More precisely, the new file at hand is supported by three elements that raise questions:

• first element: the statements of the former President of the AVIFE were highlighted when he was convicted of defamatory comments against the Plymouth Brethren in the TG de Lyon of January 4, 2005;
• second element: It is indicated in the report that the Plymouth Brethren refuse all public education. This is factually incorrect and, indeed, the current President of the AVIFE did  part of his compulsory education in public education, while he explained  the opposite to MIVILUDES."

Add to that that the current president of the AVIFE, an association created in response to contentious divorce proceedings in the fight against the Plymouth Brethren, is none other than Antoine, whose real name is Jean-Philippe Vergnon.

Finally, there are three sociological studies on the Plymouth Brethren that neither MIVILUDES or Jean-Luc Delarue's team have, it seems, bothered to consult. In these, we learn that the Plymouth Brethren have been in France for 150 years, where they have peacefully integrated into the social fabric. Bryan Wilson, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Oxford, noted that their children, according to their teachers who are not members of the movement, proved easy to teach and as enlightened and intelligent as the majority of the children of their age.

"as enlightened and intelligent as the others"
"the children are workers..."
"Sense of responsibility..."

The latest study, that by Sébastien Fath, CNRS Rsearcher, concludes as follows: "The available evidence does not lead to a collective challenge in the name of public order." His assessment is similar to that of Bryan Wilson and Blandine Chelini-Pont, Senior Lecturers at the University of Aix-Marseille.

CULT VICTIMS?

We are not expressing an assessment of the Plymouth Brethren's lifestyle, but emphasize that it is, until proven otherwise, a movement that is law-abiding and respective of human dignity, and that the story of Antoine and his daughter comes down, in fact, to a simple difference of opinion on lifestyle choices that may be surprising but that are perfectly legitimate.

On February 6, 2001, "Ciel, mon Mardi" (Trans.: Heaven, my Tuesday!) was dedicated to "cults". A particularly agitated and unproductive broadcast, but the scene of a unique moment when the direct words of a witness were brutally questioned by a man in the audience.

A member of the public for the broadcast
"I know the Ram Chandra Mission association, which is a combination of Raja Yoga, so the companion of the monsieur, Françoise, left with the children because of abuse by monsieur. Madame was not in the cult, was not a member of the cult. She stayed three months in this meditation course. Sir, your bitterness, your pain, we understand but your hate, your wife, she does not understand."

Christophe Dechavanne, Host of Ciel, mon Mardi!
"Yes, well, myself, your accusations, I can't accept them, sir!"

Michel Gilbert
"And I don't accept them either!"

Christophe Dechavanne, Host of Ciel, mon Mardi!
"You have subtly accused this man of abusing his children. I don't accept that. Goodbye! Unbelievable, this, what a shambles! Mr. Fenech, I apologize."

Michel Gilbert's story, challenged on this program, was included in several anti-cult broadcasts.

Journalist, Teva, May 9, 2005, Cults: simple community or organized manipulation?
"The man that you are going to see now saw his family torn apart by a cult. When his wife freed herself from the trap, she took everything she had with her, she left for abroad, taking the children and nothing seems to be able to bring her back"

Michel Gilbert
"It is obviously not the mother of my children that is responsible for this situation but it is a yoga group, a Hindu cult, called Shri Ram Chandra Mission."
Always presented as the victim, here he is filmed with a hidden camera during a meeting with his ex-wife.

Michel Gilbert
"But nothing prevents me from bringing sweets for my children."

His wife
"You can't come to harass me here every day."

Michel Gilbert
"It is not harassment. Usually, it isn't you who comes to get the children."

His wife
"You can't come here, you know it. If you aren't gone from here in 15 minutes, I will call the police ..."
What his ex-wife is reminding him of is what was confirmed by Lawrence Hincker, Lawyer for the Shri Ram Chandra Mission that eventually filed a complaint against Michael Gilbert.

Laurent Hincker, Lawyer
“17th Criminal Chamber, Mr. Michel Gilbert arrives, he is told: "Sir, you said this, this and that, that a cult removed your children from you, so what then are the tangible elements that you have?" In fact, he had none, it was completely false, it was only a lie. Behind us, we have, on the other side, his ex-wife, a decision by Justice showing that he was an abusive father, his children had been entrusted by the French courts, by the Judges in family matters, to the mother and it is in this context that the children left and could not see the father except as part of an supervised visit, as is the case for all child abuse."

Michael Gilbert would then be convicted of defamation, a sentence that would be upheld on appeal. So this is a divorce resented by the former husband, who is challenging the Judge's decision and refusing to apply it. As for the role attributed by Michel Gilbert to the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, it is really revealed as fiction, fiction which the media gives body to, complacently.

CULT VICTIMS?

The following examination is really approaching the unacceptable, or at least, what should be allowed to occur in a State of law.

Ça se discute, France 2, September 19, 2007
"Floria was snatched up in the downward spiral of a cult of evangelical extremists.

Floria
"If they had asked me to kill myself, I would have done it."

Floria's mother
"For me, my daughter was dead."
This synthesis, aired in the introduction to the broadcast, will be very biased and very partial when you listen carefully to the testimony.

Floria
"Exactly, me too, the fact of having seen the light, for them it was a great opportunity and, in retrospect, now, I tell myself that I would have been better off never to have had access."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist, Ça se discute, France 2
"Why?"

Floria
"Because I experienced the worst, in so little time, so far from them, but ... I went through hell."

This young woman does not testify, on the subject of her period of contact with the so-called "cult", about any abuse, or even suffering. The "worst", that she has just mentioned, actually happened when she tried to leave her parental home and her parents opposed it physically, even though she was of the age of majority.

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist, Ça se discute, France 2
"You were afraid of losing her, she was leaving with a sectarian movement. Why you were afraid for her?"

Floria's mother
"Because she was not at all aware of what she was doing. She arrived one day and told me she was an angel..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist, Ça se discute, France 2
"So I will be the lawyer for madame, few seconds: were you sure she wasn't happy?"

Floria's mother
"She was happy for a while, but in the unconscious. She was no longer in the real world, she was not in reality.

Floria's father
"There were two solutions: either she was leaving and, at that time, the family, it was over, she was leaving and we were losing a daughter. It was a choice, and so we didn't adopt it, at that time, well, stop, she was in her room, we had helped her a little bit to sleep a little bit so that she would be calm, and then we locked the room. We basically confined her."

Journalist
"For more than a week, the parents kept their daughter, Floria, confined. The whole family took turns to impose a veritable withdrawal on Floria."

Floria's mother
"We put pills in her mouth ..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist, Ça se discute, France 2
And at the end of one week, what happened?"

Floria's mother
"After one week, I think the threat of the psychiatric hospital had had an affect and when she saw that they had not... We, we had cut her off from the Internet, we had removed all of her belongings, she remained in her room, cloistered. We had taken everything from her room because she had threatened to commit suicide four times ..."

Jean-Luc Delarue, Journalist, Ça se discute, France 2
"Is everything okay, Floria?"

Floria
"Yes, yes. I am listening."
Even if the young woman says today that she is pleased with the decision of her parents, what is described here is a kidnapping characterized by violence, punishable by several years in prison. And until proven otherwise, the so-called "cult", itself, has not violated any law and has obviously never asked anyone to commit suicide. As for the young woman, she was just exercising her freedom as an adult citizen, before the intervention of her parents.

Journalist
"Her parents were justified. Floria gradually recovered her senses. But she came out of this period totally broken."

The journalist agrees with these illegal actions, the magistrate present on the program abstained from any comment... No media revealed anything that characterized an incitement to violence, however, not even the audience, who commented and sometimes very harshly criticized the broadcast on the channel's forum.

We don't have the means to analyse each case of alleged "sectarian organization" put forward by the media, but every time we do, we discover, beyond the lies and the obvious absence of proof, the same sad picture:  that of people with real suffering, propelled into a role, that in the long term cannot stand up.

These disappointed followers who have turned against their former group, are, in a manner of speaking, the raw material of the anti-cult activities that highlight their criticisms and their complaints, as if they were absolutely true and representative of majority opinion.

Anne Morelli, Historian at the Free University of Brussels
"This is an aspect of reality, but obviously you have to go beyond it. In history, you always come across testimonials. You have one person on one side, one person on the other side, you could expect to have a vision that is a little more balanced. And, in the matter of the so-called cults, in fact, it is always the view of the penitents, as they say about those who have left the mafia, the repentants, the apostates, and systematically, we neglect the point of view of the people who happily live a spirituality."

Not only do we only give the floor to former members but, in addition, we do a sorting among them that is far from innocent. Massimo Introvigne, Doctor of Law and internationally recognized specialist in the sociology of religion, has studied the opinions of former French members of New Acropolis, an association regularly stigmatized as a cult by the media and parliamentary reports and which may be regarded as typical from this point of view.

This movement has especially been given the label as being "racist" or "fascist" which has earned it, as you will be able to see, particularly violent assaults.

It should be specified first that the association has a completely legal existence, has never subject to a conviction and even that no complaints have been ever filed against it since its inception in 1973, and finally, that a tax audit could not identify any irregularities in its accounts. More specifically, concerning the charge of racism, the Massimo Introvigne enquiry reveals that the profession of faith, the public statements, the New Acropolis writings, show no evidence of racism, but on the contrary, a denunciation of racism.

Massimo Introvigne thus methodically questioned the population of former members.

The results speak for themselves: more than three-quarters of those who have left New Acropois say they are outraged about the charges against their former movement by anti-cult activists and consider them to be slanderous. Contrary to popular stereotypes of these so-called cults: over 80% of the people in its study sample do not regret the money they spent and 90% do not believe that they were subject to excessive pressure.

Cult leavers
The study found that those who hold rancour and hostility against the movement, those that sociologists call the apostates and seem to be the only ones that interest the media, represent only 10% of the former members.
Another notable result:  three-quarters of the apostates believe that ADFI played a role in their decision to leave the group.

In light of this study, we will go back to certain events of 1996 and their media coverage.

January 13, 1996 - January 30, 1996 - August 1996
Journalist, France 2 (INA)
"In short, bombing attempt, last night, against a building in the rue Daguerre in the 14th arrondissement in Paris, that housed a cult, the New Acropolis. The building custodian was slightly injured, the New Acropolis is a small cultish and racist grouping, according to specialists in this field."

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"If the media are interested, because they make the audimat, because it works, etc.., to manufacture fear aimed at groups that we call cults, well, they will do it, and it will work, the people will walk the walk. I could elaborate on a lot of examples that demonstrate this. From the time that the media say it, people think that it is true. Even if, abstractly, they know that they have been made out to be in the wrong by the media, concretely, when they look, they nod, they say yes."
It may be appropriate to question this observation personally. In thirty years of anti-cult campaigns, how many of these abuses have we missed? How many lies about these so-called cults have thus been made and are part of our memory? We are all potential links for a rumour that today is self-sustaining.

Journalist, Teva, May 9, 2005
"No one in the village was really worried."

A farmer
"Well, we can say that up to now, they have not hurt anyone."

Journalist, Teva, May 9, 2005
"Yes... And you know that it is a cult?"

A farmer
"I know ... They talk about it often on television. So, they have said, it's the worst that we have had."
The beginning of 2008 was an opportunity to do an inventory of spiritual freedom in France.

Lateran Palace, Rome, December 25, 2007
A few weeks after the Lateran speech, where the Head of the State invoked a positive secularism, the policy against "cults" was directly called into question following statements by the Minister of the Interior, Michèle Alliot-Marie. In interviews given successively to the newspapers La Croix and Le Parisien, she announced plans to "decomplex the fight against sectarian organizations" and emphasized strongly the principle of "tolerance and respect for all forms of spirituality." Rumours then circulated about a possible suppression of MIVILUDES.

But what really put fire to the powder and placed the anti-cult activists in turmoil, were the statements by the Director of Office of the President of the Republic, Emmanuelle Mignon. In an interview with VSD, published February 20, 2008, she said according to her, "the cults are not a problem," "the 1995 list is outrageous," "the fight against cults has long helped cover up the real issues."
Such remarks, made at the very head of the French State, are unprecedented. Whatever their level of sincerity, they would primarily be an opportunity to measure the extreme reactivity of the French political world on the subject.

Journalist
"Controversial at all levels. The Director of the Office of the Head of State stated that "cults are not a problem," a statement that she partly contradicts..."

Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party
"These are totally irresponsible statements. Moreover, just listen to the cult victims, and especially those who have come out of them, to find out how the cults operate. And the French Republic, which is the secular republic, must imperatively fight against the cults."

François Hollande, the Socialist Party
"If it turns out that Ms. Mignon was able in any way to justify the existence of "cults", I think it would call into question Ms. Mignon's very presence at the Elysee."

Francois Bayrou, Modem
"It is not the responsibility, it is not legitimate, it is not the mandate of the State, let alone the President of the Republic, to come and tell us what to believe."

Journalist, LCI, "Cults: expressing yourself is a profession
"You have to remove it, this mission, strengthen it?"

Jean-Pierre Raffarin, UMP
"Of course not. I think that cults are a worrying phenomenon, in France and in Europe. I think of all of those families who had children, relatives, who were snatched up by this unacceptable sectarianism in modern times."

Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris
"I, Mayor of Paris, who has fought against the cults, I will never, never, never accept lightening up on them."

To complete this overview, we will quote Roland Minnerath, Archbishop of Dijon, who states that the cults should not be minimized, they show criminal behaviour, they manipulate people and they are absolutely separate from the religions that, themselves, have a transparent organization.

Finally, note the positioning without ambivalence of the Grand Orient of France, who declared his support for the cult black list in 1995 and strongly urges the Government to position itself in contrast to the remarks attributed to Emmanuelle Mignon.
It should be noted that no one takes fine tweezers and speaks of "cults" and not "sectarian derivatives".

So what happens then? While the anti-cult activists see themselves being offered all the honours of the press, those who sparked the controversy shrink or fall quickly within the ranks of dominant opinion.
In a letter addressed to the four largest French anti-cult associations, the Minister of the Interior quashes any rumours about removing MIVILUDES, and says his main concern on the subject is the protection of victims.
"I have never advocated the abolition of this body."
"My first concern is the protection of the victims."

On the day of the release of his interview, Emmanuelle Mignon belies his words, while VSD reaffirms their accuracy and specifies the places and times for the interview. Ms. Mignon was finally ousted from her position a few months later.
The next day, it was the President of the Republic himself who spoke.

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the Republic
"Sectarian activities are unacceptable, inadmissable and we must exercise the utmost firmness."

At midday, LCI bent its antenna to capture the anti-sectarians, with its traditional players: Catherine Picard, President of UNADFI, a lawyer specialized in cults, a follower, repented, and the incontrovertible Georges Fenech.

LCI, Cults: "not a problem"?
Georges Fenech, Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Cults
"For the President of MIVILUDES and its members, I expect as soon as possible a clarification from the Prime Minister, Mr. Francois Fillon."

A few hours later, George Frenech's wish is granted by the Prime Minister who states that, and we cite: "Sectarian derivatives must be fought against in France" and that he would like MIVILUDES to be strengthened.
The hope for an opening of dialogue on the subject has thus been of short duration. We can even say that 2008 has seen unprecedented political support for anti-sectarianism. 

On November 4, in a unique consensus, a law was passed to protect witnesses heard before a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry. This vote was largely a response to the embarrassing situation for the anti-cult activists to see several of their key witnesses questioned before legal proceedings.

Nicolas Jaquette, former Jehovah's Witness
"I testified before the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on "Cults and Minors", presided over by Mr. Fenech. Legal proceedings were undertaken right afterwards, I was attacked in defamation by the Jehovah's Witnesses."

Georges Fenech, on LCI
"With that, we have a proposed bill from the President of the National Assembly, Mr. Accoyer, who wants to change the functioning of the Commissions of Inquiry so that the witnesses who are summoned by the Commissions of Inquiry have the same immunity as the parliamentarians. Myself, I was not been pursued in this respect since I had immunity. However, Nicolas Jaquette and the others that we interviewed are currently before the courts and must bear their own their legal fees, which is still very complicated."

Who then is this immunity that is so vigorously defended by Mr. Fenech for? We find, alongside Nicolas Jacquette, among the dozen of so-called cult victims interviewed in 2006, Antoine, whose real name is Jean-Philippe Vergnon, and Michael Gilbert.

Laurent Hincker, Lawyer
"Michael Gilbert was heard again by Mr Fenech, during the third Parliamentary Committee on Children, a year ago, and reiterated exactly the same thing. Like what, Mr. Fenech, who presided over the Commission this time, could not care less of what had been done the 17th Chamber by naming this person as delinquent, saying that what he did was lie, they were  fabrications, it was completely fantasy. And we start again, on a new parliamentary report on cults and childhood."

Protection of witnesses without real control of their content, diffusion in all directions and unprecedented media coverage of their work, the Parliamentary Committees of Inquiry are a worrisome dimension for some Members of Parliament. Jean-Luc Warsman, April 4, 2008, during the debates of the Assembly on the law to protect witnesses, denounced the risks of instrumentalisation of Commissions of Inquiry in his address. This objection would be, alas, soon swept away.

Journalist, LCI, Preuves à l'appui (Crossing Jordan)
"A Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry should be established by June, the fourth on the subject in thirteen years. It will address the business and the economy of cults."
It is good to revisit the targets of these campaigns that we still believe to be more distant than they are in our personal practice.

Journalist, LCI, The new cult markets
"What are they, they are internships...?"

Jean-Michel Roulet, President of MIVILUDES
"They may be personal development courses, training ..."

Catherine Picard, President of UNADFI
"Yes, everything related to the constellations, which is very, very well written in the report, family constellations, the psychogenealogy, the bio here..."

Forty formulas or keywords that MIVILUDES believes to be determinants to evaluate sectarian risk, appearing in the Guide "The company and sectarian derivatives" that she published in early 2008.

"Other hunting grounds for cults: education, where nearly 60,000 children are exposed through school support, but also the medical and paramedical fields."

Not less than twenty-eight alternative health practices on which the final report of the MIVILUDES casts suspicion.

Dr. Tal Schaller, Physician, Conference Speaker, Writer
"The impression that we have had, with regards to the practice of alternative medicine in France, is that the sentences which we have been the subject of are not isolated cases, since we have heard of dozens and dozens of therapists, holistic practitioners or naturopaths who have faced difficulties, either through the legal system, or by the tax authorities, or by host of other institutions."

Philippe Dargère, Naturopath, Director of the "Universe" School of Naturopathy
"When we took over, with my wife, the Marchesseau school in 92, we were subjected to a lot of controls and pressures. It made us realize that there was discrimination with respect to all of these techniques for health, vitality, wellness and spirituality."

Jean-Claude Guyard, Founder of Ekma, School of Kinesiology and Associated Methods
"We work a lot with continuous training, with training institutions and there have been many, if not almost all documents, all records were returned, to us, refused, simply because these all organizations received circular letters telling them that we were a "sectarian activity".

Gilles Farcet, Writer, Literary Critic, Former Journalist
"At present, many terms are no longer in use, these are terms that make people angry or when we are locked in boxes, being so-called cults, terms such as "holistic",  terms such as "well-being", terms such as "vitality", terms such as "chakra" etc..."

Sylvie Simon, Writer and Journalist
"As soon as we are in medicine that is not conventional medicine and chemical, it's an attempt to demonize people. So, in order to demonize them, we say they belong to cults. It's easy that way, we reject them as a group and there is no more discussion about it."

We are certainly hundreds of thousands, if not millions to be affected in one way or another by these discriminatory and defamatory campaigns. But the people who are fully aware of the magnitude of this action as well as its unique character internationally are rare.

Anne Morelli, Historian at the Free University of Brussels
"In the Netherlands, there was also a survey of cults and the final report said: "It's not a problem. There are small religious groups, big religious groups, but they are not criminogenic and therefore we do not have to deal with them specifically."

Dr Tal Schaller, Conference Speaker, Writer
"We really felt that France was almost one of the world champions of this witch hunt. This kind of history as we have had it is not imaginable in Switzerland or, I think, not in Germany, Italy or Spain."

Eugénie Francoeur, Quebecois Journalist
"Myself, I don't understand what is happening in France, I find it unacceptable, I don't understand at all the reason for taking such a position."

The common question is actually why? Why this repressive activity? Why in France? What is the intended purpose? What is driving it, what are the reasons? Or who is responsible? Or who is pulling the strings?

During the interviews we conducted, we heard several explanations on the subject, none of which seemed to be unique. Jean Baubérot, Chair of History and Sociology of Secularism at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, referred to two historical currents that have long been opposed.

Jean Baubérot, Historian
"You have people who are anti-clerical activists, for whom all religion is bad, harmful, for whom you would free people of all religion, etc. And for a long time, Catholicism has considered that, outside the Church, no salvation, that the rest was heresy."
These two radical tendencies, and a little out of fashion so to speak, have found, according to him, reason to speak on the subject of the so-called "cults".

Jean Baubérot, Historian
"There is a kind of reconciliation of these two forces, the anti-clerical force, the Catholic force, against, precisely, the minorities because there, they say that at least they can fight, they can hammer against that. They have a bad reputation, rightly or wrongly, and so they will be able to exercise an aggression which in fact is more inclusive and more of a comeback."

Anne Morelli suggests, in turn, more pragmatic motivations rather than ideological motivations from these same two poles.

Anne Morelli, Historian at the Free University of Brussels
There is a cautious reaction from the religions that have the upper hand and have a very dim view, of course, of the arrival of small new competitors. I think that the large religions, and possibly secularism too, has an interest in keeping a certain monopoly on our societies."
Other monopolies are undoubtedly involved.

Philippe Dargère, Naturopath, Director of the "Universe" School of Naturopathy
"You should know that Marchesseau, who brought naturopathy to France in 1935, underwent seven trials in his life. That means that there are things that shouldn't be said and certainly protected professions, in this case, those that deal with disease."

Dr. Tal Schaller, Physician, Conference Speaker, Writer
"There is a kind of an attempt to keep the population within the perspective of chemicals, in a way, and tension exists because people are realizing that conventional medicine, chemical medicine and surgery, cannot do everything."

It is also incontestable that the issue of "cults" constitutes is a kind of political tool.

Raphael Liogier, Director of the Religious Observatory at IEP in Aix-en-Provence
"The fight against the cults gives the feeling we are doing something useful and that we can go into centre stage when there is a more serious problem. This is the representation of a permanent aggression that can replace the real underlying problems: social problems, economic problems ... at all levels."

For some, the "anti-cult fight" is in the service of some authoritarian drift which, in France, is more usually attributed to foreign governments.

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"In France, it is our axis of evil. The fight against cults fabricated from collective fear. People are afraid of cults. They have very friendly faces but they will brainwash people, especially the weak, children, etc… It is the terrible danger. And this fear means that people agree, from the moment that they are afraid, to accept setbacks to democracy in their interest, they believe, as this will help to protect them. So since it can protect them, well we'll go far as to say: "Look, doctor-client confidentiality, it may be necessary to put it in brackets because it might help to fight against cults", and no one asks the question: "But, what is a cult? What kind of people are these?" There are only partisan debates in the media, that close our minds, rather than open them."

Why such a struggle, finally? Perhaps simply because the stakes are high, as expressed by Christiane Singer in front of our camera in April 2006.

Christiane Singer, Writer
"I see an indirect homage rendered to religion, this religious dimension of man, this means that if we mobilize so hard to discredit it, there must be power inside the being."

To more specifically answer question about who pulls the strings, since it is often asked of us, we would say that while it is useful for certain responsibilities to see the light of day, it seems important to us not to focus on and not to exaggerate, at the same time, the power of those who seem to hold the reins of society.

Fear

Our experience leads us to consider that the only real enemy of spiritual freedom is the fear that everyone can be a carrier and on which everyone can act. We agree with this analysis by Gilles Farcet, writer, former journalist and attentive witness to the emergence of the new spiritualities.

Gilles Farcet, Writer, Literary Critic, Former Journalist
"Too often, what poisons relationships between people, within the family, is, again, fear and, from fear, judgments, thoughts, positions taken without taking the time to reflect."

Understanding
Faced with fear, a tool, the process of knowledge, the will to understand.

Gilles Farcet, Writer, Literary Critic, Former Journalist
"Where there is understanding, fear decreases. Where there is no understanding, fear increases. Where fear grows, positions become radicalized. Where positions become radicalized, fundamentalism on one side or another develops. I would suggest to those who worry about seeing a parent or loved one  turn to unconventional practices simply to try to understand and move towards an opening, which is not only on the surface, which implies, therefore, a willingness and a need to understand, given that understanding, it's work, it requires learning, to really take the time to learn, to look at, examine, reflect, rather than decide, judging, from just a few slogans, some unverified information as is so often done. So understanding is work, fear is laziness."

Laziness or sleep, it is certainly what makes us all more or less consciously accept the message broadcast by the media.

Making the realization that you are letting yourself be fooled requires a certain humility.

Maurice Duval's pathway is exemplary in this respect. Indeed, when it was proposed to him to study the so-called "Mandarom cult", he had to overcome some preconceived ideas.

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"I was a little bit afraid. I was in the ideology of the media, I thought that the people were not right, perhaps dangerous, in fact I remember telling my secretary especially not to give my phone number to anyone, and even less my address, I was afraid that people would come to harm my daughter, or I don't know ... I watch very little TV, yet I was still marked by the rumours. I conducted this study and I don't regret it. I found people about whom I knew nothing, I did not know it existed and I found it interesting, it was quite interesting."
Becoming aware of a reality far removed from a priori the most common has given rise to some hostility from the dominant way of thinking.

Maurice Duval, Ethnologist
"We have seen that I said something other than what was expected; that I would say and there, things have changed. Colleagues, institutions, tried to apply pressure for me to stop this research. But, of course, I did not stop because I thought that it wouldn't have been ethical for me to stop, I had to tell the truth about what I was seeing. For example, I was told: "What do you mean, you don't see children locked up?” Obviously, I didn't see children locked up since there were none, and so I could have invented them, but it's not really proper to the human sciences to make up stories, or I could tell the truth: I don't see children locked up.

My colleagues were putting pressure on me when I did not say what they wanted me to say. In fact, I had only one interest in writing this book, that of being able to look at myself in the mirror every morning and to say "You did your job," my work, which consists of saying during the years of observation, because I didn't go there only one or two weeks, which would be much more already than the journalists who go there for an hour, when they go."

The CICNS proposes the creation of an Independent Observatory for spiritual minorities, in response to a policy called "fight against sectarian derivatives" and considered inadequate by many witnesses in our society.
This Observatory would be an advisory body composed of both types of people, or those critical and those favourable to the spiritual minorities. It would undertake a knowledge process with regards to the spiritual movements that would then come out of the shadows as well.

What the public would discover would then be very different from the idea that it has now and in our view, it would be similar to the assessment by the sociologist Michel Maffesoli.

Michel Mafesoli, Sociologist
"That may be, of course, disordered, like everything else in the nascent state, it is for better or for worse, as always there as well. But myself, I'd rather see the expression of the welcoming the non-rational, welcoming life, welcoming the other, the foreign in its various forms. And from this point of view, in the contemporary connection, in what I call this religiosity that is a bit syncretic that is at stake, there is something, again, where new forms are being expressed, in the simplest meaning of the term, of solidarity, new forms of generosity in ways of being and in the rapport that we have with others and with the world. So, then, yes, from this point of view, this can be seen, contrary to what many say, as a form of enrichment, and it can be believed as such."

The following testimonials reflect the general impressions that are left for us from five years of meetings and studies of people and movements designated by the word "cult".

These three young girls are members of the community of people of Bernard, a small spiritual group that has been the subject of accusations of "cult" in the national press.

Louise
"For me, here, this is also a big family, so we learn from everyone, whether they are children, adults, friends... You learn from everyone and we also have a different relationship with each one and you get along more or less well with other people but that also teaches us, also, when we go back into life and you meet other people, you do things and have a little bit of perspective."

Florence
"My parents were divorced so otherwise, I was living alone with my mother and I think that perhaps I would have had more difficulty than sharing a lot of things with the people who live here, and especially the young people my age."

Myriam, Student in Medecine
"What I know about the human being, it's true that I did not learn in college, because that's for sure, it's not college that teaches us, and I think, on that side, Mr David has taught me many things, and perhaps also to be less judgemental about human behaviour, really to have an open mind, which I think is very important in the studies that I am doing."

Philippe Dargère, Naturopath, Director of the "Universe" School of Naturopathy
"We simply wanted some happiness, a bit of physiological well-being, a bit of health for our children and lots of love. So if love is spirituality, then I am totally spiritual, and I dare to assert it loud and clear."

Christiane Singer, Writer
"All that I give life to, all that I bring to flower, I do for all of my own, for all others and with all others. To reopen our world view would be something quite primordial and it is heart breaking that there is really a kind of conspiracy against the mind. Bernanos already said this: "Our society is the biggest conspiracy against the mind that ever took place."

If you would like to respond to what you just saw, you can support the CICNS through your testimonials or receive information from our association.

New Spirituality Information and Counselling Centre (CICNS)

Appearances and credits

People interviewed by CICNS:

• Anne Morelli, Historian - Deputy Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Religions and Secularism at the Free University of Brussels - also appeared on "Ça se discute", France 2, September 19, 2007
• Gilles Farcet, Writer, Literary Critic, Former Journalist
• Maurice Duval, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Ethnology at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, Director of the CERCE (Center for Studies and Research in Comparative Ethnology) - Also appeared on "C dans l'air", The cults are resisting, France 5, January 6, 2004
• Me Laurent Hincker, Lawyer at the Bar in Strasbourg and Paris, legal sociology teacher at the Université de Strasbourg - Has completed several missions for Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights in Morocco and central Europe.
• Jean Baubérot, Historian-"History and Sociology of Secularism" Chairholder at EPHE (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes – Trans.: The Applied School for Higher Education)
• Raphael Liogier, Director of the Religious Observatory at IEP in Aix-en-Provence
• Dr. Tal Schaller, Physician, Conference Speaker, Writer
• Philippe Dargère, Naturopath, Director of the "UNIVERSE" School of Naturopathy
• Jean-Claude Guyard, Founder of Ekma, School of Kinesiology and Associated Methods
• Eugénie Francoeur, Quebecois Journalist
• Michel Maffesoli, Sociologist, Professor at the Université Paris Descartes, Vice President of the International Institute of Sociology, Member of the Institut Universitaire de France
• Louise, Florence, Myriam (medical student), the three young girls who grew up within the "Bernard community of people"
• Christiane Singer (1943-2007), Writer

Political figures:

• Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party, France Inter, February 21, 2008
• Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Union for a Popular Movement, Podcast, LCI, February 21, 2008
• Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, at the Cabaret Sauvage, February 21, 2008.First sequence:Loveandolls TV (Images Isabelle Desmond). Second sequence: Toc Médias
• Francois Bayrou, Modem, France Inter, February 21, 2008, interviewed by Louise Bodet from France Info Bodet
• Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, LCI, February 21, 2008

People interviewed by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the influence of sectarian movements and the consequences of their practices on the physical and mental health of minors in 2006:

• Jean-Yves Dupuis, Inspector General of the National Ministry of Education, on LCP-Assemblée nationale
• Francoise le Bihan, Assistant Director of the DFAE, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of LCP-Assemblée nationale
• Didier Leschi, Chief of the Central Bureau of Religious Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, LCP-Assemblée nationale

Personalities involved in the fight against sectarian derivatives:

• Georges Fenech, Chairman of the Third Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Cults, on LCP-Assemblée nationale in 2006 and "Questions d'actu", LCI, February 21, 2008
• Catherine Picard, President of UNADFI, on "Preuves à l'appui", LCI, April 4, 2008 and "Questions d'actu", LCI, February 21, 2008
• Me Jean-Michel Pesenti, Counsel for the UNADFI on "C dans l'air", The cults are resisting, France 5, January 6, 2004
• Nicolas Jacquette, former Jehovah's Witness, on LCI, "Questions d'actu", February 21, 2008
• Jean-Philippe Vergnon (Antoine, on "Ça se discute", France 2, September 19, 2007
• Michel Gilbert, on "Ciel, mon mardi!", TF1, February 6, 2001 and Teva, "Cults": simple community or organized manipulation?", May 9, 2005

Various media:

• Le Journal by France Inter, February 21, 2008
• Le Journal Télévisé by 20h, TF1, April 5, 1975 (source: INA, archives for everyone)
• Le Journal Télévisé by 20h, France 2, August 14, 1996 (source: INA, archives for everyone)
• Preuves à l’appui, LCI, April 4, 2008
• Ça se discute, France 2, September 19, 2007
• C dans l’air, The cults are resisting, France 5, January 6, 2004
• We can't please everyone, France 3, October 3, 2004
• Ciel, mon mardi !, TF1, February 6, 2001
• Téva, “Cults: simple community or organized manipulation?", May 9, 2005
• Images from Latran: Google Video / Dailymotion / Elysee.fr
• LCI, « Questions d’actu », February 21, 2008
• LCI, Preuves à l’appui, April 4, 2008, « Education and companies: New markets for the cults"

Images whose use is subject to the condition of citing the author:

• Book cover "Les Frères: de Plymouth à nos jours. Une critique protestante de la modernité », (Trans.: The Brothers: from Plymouth to today.  A protestant criticism of modernity)
• Massimo Introvigne and Domenico Maselli, Source : CESNUR
• Ségolène Royal during his meeting in Toulouse on April 19, 2007, source: Guillaume Paumier (cropped photo)

© Copyright CICNS 2009

CICNS
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www.cicns.net – contact@cicns.net

 

published 21/1/2012

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