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We publish an English translation of the French decree establishing
an "Inter-Ministerial Mission to Fight Against the
Sects". Not only the name tells it all, but an anti-cultist, former
socialist MP Alain Vivien, president of the anti-cult
movement CCMM (Center Against Mental Manipulations) has been appointed
as President. The previously established
Observatory of Cults, although including a number of anti-cultists,
has been disbanded as not effective enough.
DECREE No. 98.890 7 October 1998
Establishing an Inter-ministerial Mission to Fight Against Sects.
The President of the Republic.
The Prime Minister's report after hearing the Ministers' Council orders
Article 1: An Inter-ministerial Mission to fight against sects is hereby established by the Prime Minister with the purpose of:
1) Analysing the phenomenon of sects; it must therefore be the recipient
of information different concerned civil services have
about the actions of sects; it can also can demand that Civil Services
carry out surveys or research in this field;
2) Initiating appropriate measures within the Public Services in order
to respect public freedom, to predict and fight against
actions of sects that violate human dignity or threaten public order.
The Mission will inform the relevant civil services of activities
they become aware of that they judge need action on their part; it
will bring to the attention of the Public Prosecutor any acts
that should be prosecuted;
3) Contributing to information about, and training of public representatives on methods to fight against sects;
4) To inform the public of the danger that the sect phenomenon represents;
5) To participate to meetings and activities concerning subjects under its responsibility that are directed at an international level;
Article 2: The President of the Mission is elected by decree for 5 years.
He is assisted by a Secretary also named by decree
issued by the Prime Minister. Representatives placed under the Mission
Secretary's responsibility are also named by a decree
from the Prime Minister.
Article 3: The President of the Mission chairs an Orientation Council
composed of political figures named by decree issued by
the Prime Minister, based on their experience and competence.
The Council is to meet at least twice a year by convocation of the
Mission's President. The President establishes the order of
the day.
Article 4: The President establishes every year, after consultation
with the Orientation Council, an action program for the
Mission. In the same way, he makes an annual activity report that is
given to the Prime Minister and is published. This report is
to state which dealings with sects have been brought to the knowledge
of the Mission and that are judged as sects violating
human dignity or that threaten public order.
Article 5: The President of the Mission is to periodically meet with
a working group composed of representatives of the
concerned Ministers.The meetings of this working group are to provide
the civil services concerned the opportunity to exchange
information about the activities of sects and to co-ordinate their
actions in order to fight against sects.
Article 6: The Decree 96.387 dated 9 May 1996 which created an Inter-ministerial Observatory on sects is revoked.
Article 7 : The Prime Minister is responsible for the execution of the
present decree that is to be published in the "Official
Journal" of the French Republic.
Executed in Paris, 7 October 1998
By Jacques CHIRAC
President of the Republic
The Prime Minister,
Lionel JOSPIN
Report of the Swedish Government's Commission on New Religious Movements (1998)
(Disponibile anche in traduzione italiana). In October 1998 the Swedish
governmental commission
released its report on new religious movements in Swedish, with an
official summary in English. The
commission interviewed a number of scholars and interested parties,
travelling extensively. Hearings
were held inter alia at CESNUR in Torino, Italy and at CESNUR-France
in Paris. Anti-cult
organizations were also interviewed. The report confirms the emergence
in Europe of a Type II or
second generation of official reports, less partisan and aggressive
than the first generation reports
(France, Belgium, Canton of Geneva). Type II reports include the Italian
police report, the German
parliamentary report, the Swiss report on Scientology, and the Berger
report (proposed to, but not
voted by, the European parliament). Type II reports are, in CESNUR's
view, not entirely free from
objectionable features (for instance, we do not agree with the Swedish
proposal of new laws against
"improper influences"). However, they are much better than Type I reports,
and confirm that scholarly
criticism to Type I reports was considered and accepted in many European
quarters. Significant
comments in the Swedish report include that "in France the state has
on the whole made common cause
with the anti-cult movement" (a fact confirmed by recent French developments),
and that "something of
the opposite attitude is advocated in Italy and Denmark and to some
extent in the United Kingdom".
The report also states that "the great majority of members of the new
religious movements derive
positive experience from their membership" and that for most ex-members
(although not for all) "the
withdrawal is usually quite undramatic, and the persons withdrawing
feel enriched by a predominantly
positive experience". This reflects what the Swedish commission was
told by a number of scholars
about the distinction between a minority of "apostates" whose withdrawal
from the movements is
genuinely "dramatic" and the large majority of ex-members who do not
become "apostates". We offer
here the official English summary of the report, In Good Faith: Society
and the New Religious
Movements, while the full text in Swedish is available from the Swedish
Government's Web Site. ©
Massimo Introvigne and CESNUR, 1998, for this Introduction.
In Good Faith:
Society and the new religious movements
1 Summary
1.1 Deliberations and proposals by the Commission
One of the Commission’s tasks has been to gauge the extent to which
people leaving new religious movements need support
from the community. To make such an assessment possible, much of the
inquiry has been concerned with trying to understand
the phenomenon as a whole. To what extent is the community at large
affected by the activities of the new religious movements,
how widespread are the new beliefs, what problems, if any, does this
entail, and for whom?
The inquiry has benefited from the knowledge and experience acquired
by care providers, organisations, individual persons,
researchers and representatives of various religious movements. International
contacts have provided useful objects of
comparison.
This being such a strongly polarised area, it has not been easy to
strike a balance between the information received by the
Commission and to try to understand the strong feelings of the parties,
in order to place them in a perspective in which different
interests can be reconciled.
1.2 The remit
The Commission’s remit, as expressed in its terms of reference, was
to investigate the extent to which people are plunged into
states of mental crisis when withdrawing from new religious movements,
and the extent to which they need help in cases of this
kind.
In addition, special attention was to be paid to the situation of the
children in these movements, and the state of research was to
be inventoried, as well as international experience in a number of
specified countries. Lastly, questions of prevention were to be
taken into account.
1.3 Some points of departure
In a democratic social system in which freedom of religion, freedom
of expression, freedom of information, freedom of
association and freedom of assembly are guaranteed and secured, it
is not society’s task to query and evaluate various forms of
belief. It is important, on the other hand, that there should be an
ongoing discussion of society’s attitude to movements aiming to
circumscribe democratic liberties within their own ranks. One question
arising concerns the way in which society can act
without itself resorting to undemocratic methods.
There is international experience of serious criminal behavior occurring
in the name of a new religious movement, such as the
spreading of poison on the Tokyo underground. Mass suicides, which
have occurred in several countries, have in some cases
occurred, not through individual persons deciding to take their own
lives but as a result of someone else putting them to death.
Nothing comparable has happened in Sweden. These experiences matter,
of course, to the general public, politicians and the
media, and are present as a sombre background and a disturbing factor
whenever new religious movements are talked about.
History shows many instances of new religious movements coming into
conflict with the majority community. What may seem
odd and deviant at one point in time can be accepted and uncontroversial
at a later period. The interaction between society and
movement seems, with the passing of time, to smooth the edges of both,
so that a dialogue can be established on a basis of
mutual respect. Groups which do not follow this pattern but continue
to live in isolation have a fairly short survival time.
Arguably, then, all movements should be left to their own devices,
moving either towards establishment or extinction. But on the
other hand it cannot be overlooked that during this transition there
may be phenomena which society finds unacceptable. Adults
have every right to believe what they will and to express their belief
in a manner of their own choosing, always provided that this
does not involve detriment to others or infringement of the rights
and liberties of the individual. It is not acceptable that people
should be subjected to pressure and manipulation exceeding the bounds
of their own free will.
It has not been the Commission’s task to chart or single out particular
movements or individuals. But it has been essential, on
the other hand, to shed light on certain phenomena and methods within
various movements, in order to understand the
occurrence of crisis reactions or other problems which people can encounter
as members of movements and denominations.
1.4 An international perspective
Government reports on new religious movements have been presented in
several European countries during the past few years.
The main content of those reports is presented in chapter 3. The main
conclusion drawn by the Swedish Commission from
several visits to organisations in other countries acting within the
sphere of new religious movements is that nothing should be
done to augment disagreement between these movements and the rest of
the community. On the contrary, society should help
to bring about a dialogue between all parties concerned. There are
several reasons why a dialogue is needed. The discussion is
heavily polarised: one is assumed to be either for or against. Different
camps in the debate cast aspersions on each other.
Furthermore, some countries can be said, somewhat exaggeratedly, to
have declared war on the new religious movements; if
anything, t>
1.5 The state of research
There is a shortage of coherent research and knowledge on the subject
of new religious movements. The lack of systematic
knowledge, not least with regard to the situation for children, is
a recurrent theme of the Commission’s hearings and of
conferences which the Commission has attended. Students of comparative
religion are the first to underline this embarrassing
fact. Research is characterised as scanty and inchoate. The expression
"scattered showers" has been used to describe the
situation as regards both volume and theoretical content. There is
no systematic review of the field, only individual studies --
often investigations of detailed topics -- ((which occasionally --
fattas väl något? -- research approach called for in several
quarters)).
Because the general debate on religions and creeds is often founded
on errors of>
1.6 The need for support
The Commission has conducted two major surveys, one of them in the public
sector (county councils and social services) and
the other within organisations and churches, to chart the extent to
which, and the reasons for which, people turn to these bodies
for support in connection with their withdrawal from a new religious
movement. The intention has been to gauge the magnitude
of the problem, the needs of the persons requesting assistance and
what different personnel categories have come to regard as
necessary skills for assisting individual persons in crisis.
In a third survey an inventory was compiled of existing crisis receptions
in Sweden, to ascertain whether competence is
available for helping withdraws from new religious movements and, if
it is not, to investigate what knowledge is lacking and to
canvass viewpoints on matters of method and organisation with a view
to building up crisis support for this category.
The great majority of members of the new religious movements derive
positive experience from their membership. They have
subscribed to an idea or doctrine which corresponds to their personal
needs. Membership is of limited duration in most cases.
After two years the majority have left the movement. This withdrawal
is usually quite undramatic, and the persons withdrawing
feel enriched by a predominantly positive experience.
It is not easy to gauge the number of persons affected by new religious
movements. On the basis of the Commission’s
conspectus, which includes all religious denominations in Sweden, and
limiting the term "new religious movements" to those
which have become established in Sweden in recent decades, membership
nationwide can be estimated at between 50,000 and
60,000. This estimate does not include neighbouring groups within the
New Age movement, "psycho-groups" and commercial
enterprises applying methods and organisational structures reminiscent
of those existing in certain new religious movements. If
these latter constellations were included, the figure would be several
times greater.
Something like a hundred people every year seek help for problems which
have arisen in connection with membership of and
withdrawal from a new religious movement. There is reason to suppose
that more would seek help if the special problems
occurring in this context were known to care providers and organisations;
it would then be more easily discovered, for
example, that "uneasiness" or "insomnia" concealed problems emanating
from membership of a new religious movement. Lack
of understanding for the underlying causes and for the nature of the
problem probably deters people from formulating the
occurrence of the problem. Many are held back by feelings of shame
over being "deceived", while others may have different
reasons for not coming forward. The dark figures here are presumably
large ones, and many more people, presumably, could
do with support of some kind when leaving a new religious movement.
Sometimes it is the relatives of people who belong to, or have left,
new religious movements who are most in need of help.
They need help to understand and accept a close relative or friend
having chosen a different way of life and perhaps in finding a
different attitude from the anger or disappointment which can occur.
It maybe important for entire families to receive support
when someone leaves a movement, so that the network can help with the
process. Sometimes it is whole families that need help
during the withdrawal phase.
The problems are not exclusively psychiatric: they are spiritual, social,
medical, economic and legal as well. Some people may
need a new socialisation process, e.g. if they have been living entirely
within the movement and have had no vocational activity
outside it.
A relatively small number of cases every year can require quite considerable
resource inputs, due to whole families needing
support for the whole of their situation in life.
The Commission does not recommend that special resources be established
for the rehabilitation of withdraws. The cases are
too few in number and the problem picture too manifold for this: each
individual can be expected to need help from several
different care providers or facilitators. There is an extensive need
for knowledge on the part of many personnel categories, e.g.
in psychiatry, social services and school health care, so that people
seeking help can be cared for at regional level.
The Commission recommends that the elevation of competence in this
field be made the task of the proposed Center for the
Study of Questions of Belief.
1.7 Center for the Study of Questions of Belief
Advanced, specialized crisis receptions exist in many places in Sweden.
As has already been made clear, the Commission’s
assessments do not warrant the development of a special crisis support
unit for people leaving new religious movements. On the
other hand, those dealing with people who are in crisis in connection
with membership of a new religious movement are in great
need of knowledge concerning spiritual matters and concerning the complexity
of the phenomenon. This knowledge concerns
social identity, articles of belief, authority, subordination and much
else besides. Public debate on the new religious movements
is dominated by misunderstandings, exaggerations and, sometimes, sheer
disinformation by different parties. Contacts with
researchers, care workers, members and others point unambiguously to
a need for serious knowledge of the new religious
landscape.
The need for greater knowledge among people meeting defectors and others
with problems connected with secession or
exclusion, or indeed with a relative’s membership of a new religious
movement, are more than just psychological. To cope with
these human crises, an individual perspective is not enough. Social,
legal and theological knowledge is also needed. The
Commission therefore proposes the setting up of a foundation code-named
KULT -- short in Swedish for "Center for the
Study of Questions of Belief". One of the main tasks of this foundation,
in addition to serving as a knowledge center, will be to
build bridges between movements and society, between the minorities
and the majority. The aims of the foundation will be to
create a dialogue, to reduce polarization, to augment knowledge and
to avert crises, at both individual and societal level. It is
further proposed that the foundation should initiate and encourage
research by administering special funds for the purpose.
The creation of a dialogue is prompted by the well-founded supposition
that movements which have become a danger to the life
and health of their members or of the community in general have developed
in isolation after society has turned its back on
them. Some movements which are out of touch with the rest of the community
can develop destructive characteristics. The
dialogue, then, is an important means of avoiding destructive developments.
Freedom of religion, moreover, stands only to
benefit from a growth of society's aggregate knowledge concerning religious
movements. Informing the general public and
arranging conferences will be among the foundations activities, as
well as training personnel whose work may conceivably bring
them into contact with people who are in crisis due to their membership
of a movement. In addition, the foundation can organize
medication in situations of conflict between individuals and movements.
In the network which it is proposed that the foundation
build up, all interests in the field will be represented, e.g. the
movements themselves. the critical NGOs, researchers, Swedish
Save the Children and other NGOs etc. The network should also include
international contacts.
Lack of true knowledge and lack of research, not least on the subject
of children and new religious movements, has been
articulated at almost every meeting of the Commission and persons or
organizations involved. In view of the rampant
rumour-mongering and the flimsy notions of conditions within the movements
which are disseminated in the media and other
contexts, the Commission proposes that the foundation code-named KULT
initiate and observe research in this field and that
the foundation be allocated funding for research projects on the subject
of new religious movements in the broad sense of the
term.
1.8 Responsibility for children and young persons
Special importance has been attached to trying to describe the situation
for children in more or less closed movements. Lack of
knowledge and research on the subject has been an impediment in this
respect. The deficiency is both qualitative and
quantitative, national and international. With this background in mind,
the Commission proposes both short-term and long-term
research into the situation for children in closed denominations. The
right of parents to bring up their children in accordance with
their faith and convictions is above dispute, but it has to be balanced
against the knowledge that there are children who suffer
harm in new religious movements. Both from its own inquiries and from
literature on the subject, the Commission has learned of
the occurrence of both mental and physical cruelty to children in a
number of cases.
The Commission considers it essential that children living in closed
groups should have the same form of support, protection
and rights as other children. At the same time it is important that
children growing up in these movements should not be
stigmatized. The outside world must be respectful and informed in its
attitude to their membership of different denominations.
Parallels can be drawn with other minority groups, and an integration
perspective being applied to these children as well. This
could mean children growing up in different denominations not being
plunged into situations of conflict between the norms of the
family and those of the community at large.
Lack of knowledge and experience for responding to children from these
movements puts many personnel categories in a
difficult position. The Commission therefore recommends that recommendations
and directions be drawn up for various
personnel categories in schools, child care services, social services
and medical care. for the same reason, the training syllabi
for teachers, preschool teachers and social workers should include
questions concerning religious minorities, as well as
subsequent training programs, organized by municipal authorities, on
the subject of cultural encounters.
Over and above this, it should, in the Commission’s view, be both a
duty and a matter of interest on the part of social services
to acquire knowledge concerning the movements which, for example, advocate
corporal punishment of children or other
activities contrary to the laws and regulations existing in the social
service sphere.
Society’s responsibilities to all children in Sweden are governed by
several branches of the law. One precondition for the
implementation of these laws is for society to be in contact with all
children. Where certain children growing up in new religious
movements are concerned, that contact is lacking, possibly because,
instead of attending public sector schools the children
attend independent schools runs by movements or receive their compulsory
schooling in some other way, e.g. tuition in the
home. Denominational independent schools, i.e. schools based on a religious
persuasion, constitute a relatively large proportion
of all independent schools, viz. 60 out of 298 active independent schools.
Most of these schools have a Christian, Protestant
emphasis. Inspections show their teaching to be objective and impartial.
Democratic values are sustained.
The independent schools are governed by special legislation and attendant
statutory instruments. The Commission has found
deficiencies in these systems which should be reviewed, e.g. as regards
the rules governing the management of independent
schools and decision-making procedures within them, and also the qualifications
of the persons appointed as head teachers of
independent schools, in order for a school to measure up to the standards
applying to public sector schools, as well as
empowerment of the National Agency for Education to investigate the
suitability of natural or legal persons to operate
independent schools.
A review is further proposed of practice with regard to municipal insight
into independent schools and supervision of these
schools by the National Agency for Education.
Responsibility for and supervision of school health care was recently
transferred to the National Board of Health and Welfare.
It is essential that the quality of health care in independent schools
should be on a level with that provided by other schools
The Commission has observed shortcomings in municipal handling procedures,
decision-making and supervision of alternative
completion of compulsory schooling (i.e. tuition in the home). Implementation
of the Education Act in matters of consent varies
considerably from one municipality to another. The Commission therefore
recommends that municipalities be suitably provided
with an adequate knowledge of the rules and conditions governing tuition
in the home. It is further recommended that the
municipal social welfare committee make a statement in such matters
and that the municipality appoint a personal contact for the
pupil concerned and for the person or persons providing the instruction.
These recommendations are prompted by the municipality having a responsibility
which transcends quantifiable achievement
criteria. It is the duty of a municipality to ensure that the pupil’s
social situation conforms to the other goals formulated in the
Education Act.
1.9 Legal perspectives
There are phenomena in certain new religious movements which touch on
or transgress the bounds of legality in Sweden, e.g. as
regards corporal punishment of children, usury, quackery and tax legislation.
The law today affords several instruments for use
against actions of these kinds. Implementation problems occur when
actions do not come to the knowledge of the authorities
but affect individual persons in closed groups. There have also been
cases of employees of public authorities refraining from
intervention, or hesitating to intervene, because the action has taken
place within a religious denomination. This being so, it must
be made quite clear that Swedish law applies regardless of religion.
It is of course permissible to believe anything whatsoever and to exercise
the belief through rituals of different kinds. It is also
permissible top relinquish one’s democratic rights and liberties, and
to have a vision of a society with no democratic institutions.
But freedom of religion has its limits. One may not infringe the democratic
rights and liberties of others in the name of religion,
and one may not break laws in the name of religious commandments. The
legal section (chap. 7) of the Commission’s report
describes international declarations and conventions concerning, among
other things, rights and liberties. These Swedish
constitution is also considered and a number of relevant branches of
the law reviewed, viz. fraud, education, testatory matters,
social legislation and family law, to mention but a few. Statutory
safeguards for the individual are relatively comprehensive, but
the laws are not applied, because occurrences in this field are seldom
made a subject of legal proceedings. The Commission
comes to the conclusion that the protective needs of the individual
are relatively well provided for in the majority of cases. But
legislation affords insufficient protection with regard to what in
the Commission’s report is termed "improper influence" or
manipulation. Introduction of the term "improper influence" in the
legislation would benefit both serious practitioners of religion
and personal integrity. If a person is induced, against his will, to
renounce his faith (the term "de-programming" was formerly
applied), this, according to the legislation proposed, can be deemed
improper influence, just as manipulations of an individual in
a religious movement can be regarded as improper influence. The Commission
therefore proposes that the Penal Code be
made to include a new penal provision making improper influence a punishable
offense. This should be separately investigated.
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