The Russian anti-cult leader spoke in Novokuznetsk, the economic center of Kuzbass.
Massimo Introvigne
Remembering Archbishop Giuseppe Casale (1923–2023), CESNUR’s First President
The Italian prelate died shortly before his 100th birthday. He was a larger-than-life figure, whose ideas on new religious movements still deserve to be studied.
Pakistan Claims 400,000 Social Media Accounts Spread Blasphemy
It also reports eleven “Internet blasphemers” have been sentenced to death, and two of the sentences have already been confirmed on appeal.
“Psychological Subjugation”: France Ready to Invent a New (or Old?) “Cultic Crime”
Secretary of State Sonia Backès announces a new anti-cult statute. It is yet another incarnation of the discredited notion of brainwashing and of the fabrication of false “victims.”
The Vatican-CCP Compromise on the Bishop of Shanghai: Who Won and Who Lost
The Holy See has accepted an appointment illegally made by Beijing. But the incident led the Vatican to acknowledge that a “clandestine church” still exists.
Why Senegal’s Mourides Want Vatican-like Status for Their Holy City of Touba
The proposal is criticized by non-Mouride Senegalese but has a clear political significance as the country prepares for the 2024 presidential elections.
“Cult Victims”: Real, “Time-Bomb,” and Imaginary
A controversial Belgian report offers the opportunity of reflecting on real and fabricated “victims” of new religious movements.
Xi Jinping: The End of the Soviet Union Is “Too Painful to Look Back Upon”
Xi, like Putin, believes that the end of Communism in Eastern Europe was a tragedy, still causing him an almost physical pain. It is a key that explains many of his policies.
Pakistan: Muslim Retired Teacher Arrested for “Offending the Prophet’s Companions”
A comparatively rare enforcement of Article 298-A of the Criminal Code shows that a private “Internet police” looks for blasphemy everywhere.
USCIRF: Religious Liberty Worse than Ever in Russia and Russian-Occupied Ukraine
Two well-written reports highlight the systematic persecution of religious minorities by the Putin regime, and its crimes against religion in Ukraine.
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.