Introduction to the hybrid seminar “The Stolen Youth of Tai Ji Men,” co-organized by CESNUR and Human Rights Without Frontiers on August 8, 2022, in Walnut, California, in sight of the UN International Youth Day of August 12.
Massimo Introvigne
Maharaja Ranjit Singh: Both Lahore Statue and Man Who Vandalized It Attend Their Fate
The monument has been restored, but may not be re-installed where it once was. The man who attacked it has confessed he planned to kill an Indian politician.
“The Unknown War”: Re-Assessing Anti-Soviet Lithuanian Partisans
A new book in English edited by Arūnas Streikus was written before the war in Ukraine but is published in the right moment.
Pakistan: Swearing You Are Not an Ahmadi Mandatory for Marrying in Punjab
Spouses should take an oath that they believe there can be no prophets after Muhammad, according to instructions issued on July 30.
Cloridano, Medoro, and the Epic of Tai Ji Men
Epic tales of friendship remind us of the importance of global networks of friends for solving the Tai Ji Men case
Les Témoins de Jéhovah face aux ex-Témoins. 6. Pourquoi respecter leur choix de ne plus s’associer avec d’ex-adeptes
L’exclusion fait partie des pratiques et enseignements fondamentaux dans lesquels les autorités gouvernementales ne devraient pas s’immiscer.
Allya Ayat: A Global Kazakh Esoteric Movement Persecuted in Russia
Russian FECRIS affiliates instigated for years a police repression of the group, which has started again in July 2022.
Les Témoins de Jéhovah face aux ex-Témoins. 5. L’exclusion est-elle une pratique « illégale » ?
Plusieurs cours de justice dans le monde ont décrété à bon droit que les Témoins de Jéhovah sont libres d’enseigner à leurs membres de ne plus fréquenter des membres exclus de leur organisation, au titre de la liberté religieuse.
Les Témoins de Jéhovah face aux ex-Témoins. 4. Les mineurs sont-ils concernés par l’exclusion ?
Les opposants des Témoins de Jéhovah soutiennent que « même des enfants » sont excommuniés. De plus, ils désignent des jeunes de 17 ans comme étant des « enfants » et transforment de rares faits, pourtant compréhensibles, en un problème majeur.
Donald Westbrook’s “L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology Studies”: A New Way of Studying Scientology
The book in the Cambridge Elements series may one day be remembered as the first textbook of “Scientology Studies 2.0.”
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.