“Victims” tell their stories to politicians and the media. But their relatives claim (and prove) they are not true.
Massimo Introvigne
Unification Church: Japan in Trouble Again at the United Nations
A new statement has been submitted to the Human Rights Committee, protesting human rights violations after the assassination of Shinzo Abe.
Waarom de media een hekel hebben aan ‘sekten’
Of misschien hebben ze aan niemand een hekel. Ze weten gewoon dat sensationele verhalen waarin religie in verband wordt gebracht met geld, macht en ongeoorloofde seks altijd verkopen.
Silantyev, Amelina: Ukrainian “Cults” Have Killed 500 Children in Russia
Propaganda journalist Yana Amelina joined the anti-cult leader in denouncing bloodthirsty Ukraine-controlled Satanists operating in Russian territory.
Gentse uitspraak in hoger beroep vernietigd: Jehovah’s Getuigen mogen het beleid om te mijden vrijelijk onderwijzen en toepassen in België
Het Gentse Hof van Beroep bekritiseert het vonnis in eerste aanleg en beslist dat het mijdingsbeleid wordt beschermd door de principes van godsdienstvrijheid.
Religious Intolerance in Brazil: Will Lula Protect the Minorities?
Violence against Afro-Brazilian religions continued during the electoral campaign. The new President promised to act. It may be more difficult than some believe.
Ernest de Gengenbach: Satanist, (Pseudo-)Surrealist, Roman Catholic
Five books by French scholar Christophe Stener rediscover a forgotten but not irrelevant character of 20th-century literature and esotericism.
“Perpetual Peace” and the Tai Ji Men Case
In 1795, Immanuel Kant proposed a conscience-based society of nations. The project quickly also found its opponents—as it happened to Tai Ji Men’s idea that world peace is inseparable from conscience.
Anti-Cultist Recruits Muslim Collaborators in Occupied Ukraine
Roman Silantyev helped creating a “Muftiate of Little Russia,” headquartered in Henichesk and supporting the Russian occupation.
Xi Jinping Takes New Standing Committee to the Site of Mao’s Bloodiest Purge
The first act of the new leadership is a pilgrimage to Yan’an, where Mao “rectified” the Party by executing 10,000 “weak” members.
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.