Use of Blacklists McCarthy’s accusations led to actual blacklists carrying the names of anyone vaguely suspected of communist sympathies. In 1950, many people in the Western world associated communism with the totalitarian regimes fought in World War II. In the ensuing witch hunts, thousands of Americans were blacklisted, including numerous celebrities—most not actually accused of any crime and not members of the Communist party. They suffered because they held, or were alleged to hold, unpopular political views. A number of American artists, entertainers, musicians and scholars persecuted for their political beliefs sought refuge in France. Now, half a century later, a blacklist exists in France too. It consists of religious minority groups named by a 1995 parliamentary commission report as “sects.” The Commission held hearings, in camera, for a total of 21 hours. It ignored two decades of research and expert scholarship, relied almost exclusively on reports by activists with vested interests or disgruntled apostates, and ignored the human rights community. The Commission drew up its blacklist arbitrarily, and provided no means for an organization to have its name removed. Members of the blacklisted groups have suffered ruined careers, their families have been broken up, and their children harassed at school. Often they are denied access to social organizations—witness the 10-year-old girl refused admittance to the scouts because of her parents’ religion. Just as in 1950s America, these individuals, who include educators, businessmen, artists, scientists and others, are accused of no crime. As Pastor Vince Easterman of an evangelical church in Paris told the Christian Broadcasting Network, an Internet news service, in February 2002, “from that day on we were branded a sect, a cult in France. After that list appeared, there was never an opportunity to defend ourselves, there was never an opportunity for an appeal.” The very word “evangelical” has been turned into a brand, just as McCarthy tarred his opponents with the brush of “communist.” According to the president of the French Protestant Federation, representing 16 major churches and 5,000 associations including Reformed, Lutheran and Pentecostal, some Protestant churches in France are considering removing “evangelical” from their names for fear of official repercussions. A spokesman for the Federation said, “everyone is frightened when you say ‘evangelical.’” In the days of McCarthyism, merely being suspected of association with communists was enough to wreck one’s career. One of those whom Senator McCarthy accused in the early 1950s was Owen Lattimore, a distinguished China scholar at John Hopkins University. In March 1950, McCarthy alleged that Lattimore was “the top Soviet espionage agent in the U.S.” The influential Wall Street Journal took up the cry. The Journal described Lattimore as “a main storm center in the McCarthy charges.” While the jury noted that, “Senator McCarthy has thus far been unable to produce against Lattimore the type of evidence which led a jury to convict [communist spy] Alger Hiss,” it went on to state, “But a careful study of Lattimore’s writings does not bear out the picture of an objective, anti-communist scholar, victimized by an unscrupulous ‘witchhunt’.” A U.S. congressional committee cleared Lattimore in 1950, but in 1951, at McCarthy’s instigation, the U.S. Senate reopened the investigation. Lattimore was eventually found to be innocent after an FBI investigation that accumulated 38,900 pages. But his career as a distinguished American scholar was ruined and he left the United States in 1963. Today in France suspected association with an evangelical or minority religion can have the same consequences. When a dentist seeking to change his profession applied to train at a law school in France, he was denied admission. The reason? He had treated the pastor and congregation of the Institut Theoligue de Nimes in Uchaud, a Baptist Bible college and seminary on the parliamentary commission’s blacklist of 172. The French Ministry of Interior claims that the blacklist is not a government document and has no legal force. That is scant comfort to those who have been victimized. Martine Rhein was a teacher at the ecole Lecomte, used as a training center by the Ministry of Education. In October 2001, she was made the target of a campaign to oust her from her post because she is a member of the Church of Scientology and “might be proselytizing.” Her professional record was impeccable and none of her enemies could produce a scrap of evidence of anything improper. But she was denounced because of her very innocence: According to her persecutors, that she had done no wrong simply meant that she was dangerous because she was too “nice.” As a result of a campaign by MILS, conducted by means that included banner headlines in national media, demonstrations and activist meetings, Martine lost her job and her career was ruined. And since, Daniel Groscolas of the Ministry of Education has cited Martine to justify a government campaign to warn schoolchildren against proselytism by “sects.” No one noticed that Martine’s inquisitors had cited not a single instance where she had attempted to proselytize. The hysteria was enough to condemn her. In some cases the consequence of the discrimination is even more serious. Dr. Yves Jullien ran a respected natural healing practice that he had opened in L’Isle-sur-Surein in 1993. He was successful and well loved, helping drug addicts and psychotics, often referred to him by a local hospital and the courts. Then rumors of his being a “cult guru” started, leading to the closure of his center. “The thing I find most difficult is the way others look at me,” a devastated Dr Jullien stated shortly before he killed himself. After his death, his former colleagues, friends and patients testified to his character and his credentials. “The atmosphere was warm and friendly... Yves Jullien was an honest, independent man....”