OFF: Europe Gets Tough on Religion

[BREVARD, Adrian R.]

Tangential to the religous debate, from the front page of todays
Washington Times comes the following headline and blurbs:


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"Europeans move to curtail many religous groups"

A network of psychiatric, legal, media and socialist groups are
pressuring European Governments to outlaw or curtail the activities of
well-known religious organizations, a new report states.

With groups such as Catholic charismatics, Hasidic Jews, Baptists,
Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers, Buddhist - and the YWCA - now
being listed as "dangerous sects" by state panels, American human rights
groups are raising concerns.

[Later in the Article]

Europe's anti-sect movement is made up of "liberal rationalist", he
said.  They Criticize the 'rising tide of irrationality'.  Since
religion is not disappearing, they are quite angry about that."  [Quote
by Massimo Introvigne, a Roman Catholic Scholar from Turin, Italy]

[Further in the article]

Mr. Introvigne said that several countries anti-sect lists or reports
are being compiled with a German report citing 800 groups, Belgium
listing 187 and France 172, including Baptist.  "The notion of cults
keeps growing, " said Mr. Introvigne, quipping that under the France's
commission report a Southern Baptist such as President Clinton "is a
cultist, but not a dangerous cultist."

[Further in the article attributed to Karen Lord]

She said during meetings in Europe last month of the Commission on
Security and Cooperation in Europe, German officials assured U.S. staff
that it will not create a list of "dangerous cults" like Belgium has
done.

The Belgian list includes four  Catholic organizations, Hasidic Jews and
the YWCA.
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Any of our European friends aware of these various movements?  Seems a
bit radical as the paper says this stuff is in response to the Solar
Temple suicides and homicides in Switzerland in 1994 and 95.

What's next on their agenda, acceptable music perhaps?

L8er
lil ab