Church of Scientology International Human Rights Office: France

Religions Targeted by a French Parliamentary Report:

List of “sectarian groups” compiled by a French Parliament Commission

In 1995, a number of MPs comprising a French parliamentary commission assembled a list of those groups it considered “sects.” The Commission has been severely criticized for ignoring expert scholarship and relying on information from militant anti-religious groups.

There are 172 groups on the list. Some of the most notable and well-known of the groups listed are:

Pentecostal and Evangelical Christian churches, including the Pentecostal Evangelical Church of Besancon and the Universal Church of God.

Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Nimes Theological Institute (Baptist Christian)

Soka Gokkai (a Buddhist group)

Paris Dharma Sah (Buddhist)

Sri Chinmoy (a major new Eastern religion)

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hindu group also known as “Hare Krishna”)

Culture Office of Cluny (Catholic religious retreat)

Order of Invitation to Intense Life (Catholic group)

Fraternity of Notre Dame (Catholic order of nuns)

Church of Scientology

The Rosicrucians (old Christian movement oriented around mysticism and healing).

Alain Vivien: The First Amendment is “crazy.”

On June 14, 1999, Alain Vivien, president of the French government’s “Interministerial Mission to Fight Against Sects,” told Reuters News Agency that:

“We are protecting freedoms at least as well as the Americans. In the United States, freedoms are crazy. In the name of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which forbids the enactment of laws dealing with religious affairs, one can say and do anything he wishes including practicing polygamy like some Mormons do.” ["Nous dfendons les liberts au moins aussi bien que les Amricains. Aux Etats-Unis les liberts sont folles. Au nom du Premier amendement de la Constitution amricaine qui interdit de lgifrer en matire religieuse, on peut dire et faire n’importe quoi, y compris pratiquer la polygamie comme certains Mormons."]

Dinah Derycke: New Religion Law Intended to Deny Due Process

During a Senate debate on December 16, 1999, a vice president of the Senate Law Commission, Dinah Derycke, stated that a new law was intended to deny targeted religions their due process rights:

“The dissolution, which is a political decision, gives the advantage of not using the judicial procedures in which sects are so skilful in maneuvering.” [“La dissolution, dcision politique, prsente galement l’avantage de ne pas emprunter les voies judiciaires dans lesquelles, on l’a vu, les sectes savent manoeuvrer et faire durer les procdures.”]

Catherine Picard: New Law Aimed at “spiritual, ethnological, philosophical” groups:

MP Catherine Picard quoted by Agence France Presse wire service on May 30, 2001:

“The presidents of the French Bishops Conference and the French Protestant Federation, Cardinal Louis-Marie Bille and Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont, had expressed their reservations in a letter they co-signed to the Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. They estimated that the [new] law could ‘harm fundamental liberties.’

“We are simply targeting all groups that operate outside the boundaries of the law under various pretexts, whether spiritual, ethnological, philosophical, and commit violations of the penal code,” stated Ms. Picard. ["Nous visons simplement tous les groupements qui sortent du cadre de la loi sous des prtextes divers, que cela soit spirituel, ethnologique, philosophique, et qui commettent des exactions par rapport au code pnal."]

Rudy Salles: No “great night” unfortunate

In the French National Assembly on May 30, 2001, French MP Rudy Salles stated:

“A ‘great night’ [NB: grand soir—a term that conveys a communist concept of violent overnight revolution involving violence and killing] of the sects unfortunately cannot take place that would allow us to handle it at once.” ["Il ne peut malheureusement pas y avoir de “grand soir” des sectes qui permettrait de tout rgler en une seule fois."]

Philippe Vuilque: We will fight Bible-based, Koran-based, Talmud-based groups

French MP Philippe Vuilque told the National Assembly on May 30, 2001, that:

“The next battles will be delivered against more professional, more discrete, more difficult to identify enemies... I think of certain NGOs, the networks of psychotherapists, certain groups which cure or fight against the devil gathered around a charismatic leader who refers to the Bible, to the Koran, to the Talmud....” ["Je pense certaines ONG ou aux rseaux de psychothrapeutes, certains groupes de gurison ou de lutte contre le diable, constitus autour d’un leader charismatique qui, la diffrence des gourous, se rfre la Bible, au Coran ou au Talmud...."]

“Security Watch” Against Catholics

Christian Daily (Denmark) June 15, 2001

Headline: ‘Security Watch Against Catholic Sects’

(Excerpt:)

After describing ADFI as “the biggest anti-sect organization in France”, the article continues:

“We have seen a sectarian development in a number of Catholic societies. They have authoritarian leaders, economic fraud and a totalitarian ideology, like in the sects. The members are isolated from their families and are hindered in leaving the groups,” says the chairman of ADFI, Jeanine Tavernier.

....

“In some cases it has been difficult to get the Bishop, who has the responsibility for the congregations in the various diocese, to react. It is positive that the church now takes this matter seriously. But we are deeply skeptical if they just want to mediate between the parties”, says Jeanine Tavernier.

Government spokesperson: Take the religion out of Catholic orders

Speaking at an event organized by the Protestant pastor of the Eglise des Batignolles on February 7, Anne Fournier from the French government’s “Interministerial Mission to Fight Against Sects (MILS)” sought to deal with concerns that MILS represents a threat to religious freedom. Her recommendation? If the Catholic Church fears an attack upon its religious orders, then it ought to secularize them, so that the spiritual and daily lives do not intermix. What a simple solution! Take the religion out of the Church!

Political corruption in France is very high, as evidenced by the number of convictions and prosecutions of political figures. The attack on religious values hides a deeper attack on society, since religion, historically, has given society its moral and ethical values. MILS stands for a fanaticism in the name of “no God”.