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CHRISTIAN
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CHRISTIAN
NEWS |
France Passes Controversial Anti-Cult Law
WORLD NEWSBy George Thomas1
CBN News ReporterMarch 1, 2002
Passing a controversial anti-cult law, France embarked on what some feared was a trend to restrict and oversee religious movements. And several other European governments may follow suit.
CBN.com - One of Europe's oldest democracies is accused of violating religious freedoms. France made headlines last summer, when it took bold steps to control the activities of certain religious and spiritual groups.
Passing a controversial anti-cult law, France embarked on what some feared was a trend to restrict and oversee religious movements. And several other European governments may follow suit. A Sunday morning church service in Mulhouse, France where thousands gather in the eastern corner of the country to worship, pray and hear from God is a familiar scene repeated weekly across this country and around the world. But here, where the constitution states: "France shall respect all beliefs"-- evangelical churches like this one, are under suspicion. Such scenes of absolute devotion to God are increasingly viewed as fanatical, irrational. Some even call this church, the largest charismatic church in the country, a cult.
And that makes Pastor Samuel Peterschmitt's job of bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth, all the more challenging."Now in France, it is very difficult to preach the Gospel," said Peterschmitt, who is pastor of the Full Gospel Mission Church.And he should know. French security authorities monitor his services.They mingle among the crowd. According to Peterschmitt they are listening, they are writing and they are taking down information. "They want to see what we are doing," he said.And the church in Mulhouse is not alone.
Using the equivalent of America's FBI, the French secret police have increased their scrutiny on minority groups across France. The Baptists, Evangelicals, and Protestants, along with Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Scientology, report growing intolerance and discrimination.To legitimize their crackdown, the government in Paris has armed judges with a new and powerful weapon.
Eight months ago, the French National Assembly adopted an anti-cult law to battle the growing influence of religious movements. Catherine Picard, a member of the assembly, helped write the new law. Picard is proud to say that the goal is to prevent groups of a "cult-like character" from using "psychological and physical" pressure to recruit and retain followers. "With this new law, at no time can anyone manipulate someone by forcing them to join a group," said Picard.Section I of the anti-cult law makes "mental manipulation" a crime. Anyone found guilty of causing: "a state of psychological or physical subjection resulting from serious and repeated pressures or techniques designed to alter judgement faces five years imprisonment," Picard said. Courts can dissolve religious groups and impose heavy fines. "The goal is to punish illegal religious practices that harm the dignity of individuals," said Picard.Joel Thorton of the European Center for Law and Justice said, "in my opinion, the goal of this law is the completion of the French revolution-- the eradication of religion in the life of the public in France and the opening of the door for a purely secular society."Based in Strasbourg, France, the ECLJ is the international arm of the Virginia-based American Center for Law and Justice.
Thorton fears the anti-cult law could even criminalize evangelism by deeming it an exercise in "serious and repeated pressure.""This law puts a person who has a sincerely held religious belief that they need to work to convert people to their religious beliefs-- it puts them at odds with the government almost from the moment they begin to evangelize people in public or in private," Thorton said.Ironically, in a nation that touts its motto: "liberty, equality and brotherhood," Picard had this warning for proselytizers: "proselytizing is not authorized by the French government. When religious groups talk about having the right to proselytize, the local government may authorize such activities but in reality such practices are illegal."Some argue the anti-cult movement in France intensified in 1995 following the mass suicide-murders of members of a secretive cult group. Two years later, a commission formed to investigate the cult movement in France presented the French parliament with a list of a 172 groups considered dangerous.
Among those implicated were Catholics, Charismatics and Evangelicals."From that day on we were branded a sect, a cult in France, said Pastor Vince Easterman.Pastor Easterman's evangelical church in Paris was among those blacklisted. "After that list appeared, there was never an opportunity to defend ourselves, there was never an opportunity for an appeal," Easterman said.After six years of legal wrangling, Easterman was forced to change the name of his church from Christian Life to Union of Protestant Assemblies. Since then, other churches have even considered removing the word "evangelical" from their names for fear of negative media attention. "There is no doubt that in the last ten years, France has become increasingly hostile to the Gospel and we have had to adapt ourselves to a changing society, a society that has little respect for the Bible and Christian moral values," said Easterman.
Other elements of this new law include a ban on advertising or opening religious centers near schools, hospitals or retirement homes. Churches that traditionally help the 'down and out' run the risk of being criminally convicted. Targeting the youth is also illegal. Easterman continued, "if we want to have children's church, Sunday school, that can be seen as influencing minors. If we do work for old people, it's preying on the vulnerable. If we what to have a time of prayer and fasting it's seen as deprivation of food and sleep."International human rights groups have condemned the law as anti-democratic and anti-religious. And the problem could spread.
"If something is not done in France you are going to see this law move across Europe I believe and you'll see a Europe that is united in its hostility to religion," said Easterman.A dozen European countries are now searching for tactics to contain faith groups. And it's not just the Europeans. China's communist leaders are also looking to draw up similar laws based on the French model to monitor religious activities in that country.Picard met with the Chinese leader of religious affairs."That's not something that you want to be walking around and bragging about," said Thorton.Growing public resentment against a perceived intrusion by American religious groups fuels French and European lawmakers.
"One person even suggested that it was America's new way of invading Europe and exercising an imperial influence in Europe through the cults and evangelical churches," Easterman said."Europe is very concerned about protecting its democracies. We are fully aware that behind all these prominent religious movements, 90 percent of which comes from the United States, there are hidden agendas that are against the democracies," said Picard.Back in Mulhouse, Pastor Peterschmitt braced for a court battle. A former church member, armed with the new law, brought charges against the congregation. If convicted, Peterschmitt could be imprisoned and his church shutdown.Peterschmitt is not afraid of going to jail. "I cannot say that I will be happy. But if I must go because I preached the Word of God and because the church wants to do the will of God, it will be in this thinking-- a joy," he said.
It is too early to predict whether enforcing this anti-cult law, passed in the French National Assembly, will become the norm or the exception. In the meantime, Christians in France and across Europe are bracing for what they fear could be a growing wave of religious intolerance. This month, hundreds of French Christian churches and prayer groups are involved in 40 days of prayer and fasting for France. The prayer initiative, entitled "transform our nation," seeks to bring about positive changes in the church and a reformation of French society.
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