On May 15, the Court of Marseille rejected FECRIS’s motion to dismiss, and sentenced the anti-cult organization to pay the corresponding expenses.
Massimo Introvigne
The U.S. Department of State 2023 Religious Freedom Report: Excellent on Enemies, Soft on Allies
A masterful description of the wrongdoings of China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan is accompanied by some understatements on FoRB violations by U.S. political allies.
MIVILUDES, from Tragedy to Farce: Bailiff Compels Georges Fenech to Pay His Debts to Scientology
Former MIVILUDES chief and member of its Orientation Council had € 5,000 plus interests seized from his bank account.
Another Scandal: France’s Cultural (and Anti-Cult) Diplomacy Is Financed by the Chinese Communist Party
A report by the Czech academic center Sinopsis highlights “major donations” by United Front’s “heavyweights” to finance French “influence diplomacy.”
Alibaba Software Selectively Monitors Trips To and From Xinjiang
Foreign journalists who go to the Uyghur homeland are spied. So are Uyghurs who visit Shanghai.
France: Female Basketball Player Banned for Playing with Headscarf
Salimata Sylla denounces a discrimination, noting that the International Basketball Federation allows female players to play with headscarves.
Tai Ji Men in Leuven: Dizi Sing, Speak, and Present Their Case in a Leading Academic Conference
Belgium’s academic capital hosts an important yearly conference on freedom of religion and belief. Tai Ji Men dizi were there.
New False Blasphemy Charges in Pakistan
A Christian woman and a Muslim man have been falsely accused of burning Quran pages. They now risk the death penalty.
Anthroposophy: French State Television Censored for Its Anti-Cult Bias
The French Council of Journalistic Ethic and Mediation found that France 2 relied excessively on apostate ex-members, and presented a distorted view of Steiner schools.
China Kidnaps Southern Mongolian Dissident in Mongolia
Chinese police took writer Lhamjab Borjigin from his residence in Ulaanbaatar and deported him back to China.
Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press' Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the "Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions" of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.