How the Russian state and opposition media both manufactured the image of Konstantin Rudnev as a “cult monster.”
Rosita Šorytė
Shincheonji and the Victoria, Australia Inquiry on “Cults”: Apostates, Moral Panics, and Campus Fears
An investigation conditioned by anti-cult bias took rumors, slander, and apostate accounts of the Korean group seriously.
Tai Ji Men, Conscience, and Resilience
A long lineage of Chinese religious and philosophical reflection on the “five poisons may illuminate Tai Ji Men’s struggle for conscience and justice.
Misunderstanding Sacred Eroticism: The Demonization of Esoteric Art
Artists associated with eroticism, particularly with the esoteric erotic traditions, faced discrimination, censorship, and reputational destruction.
France TV’s “Scientology, the Empire of Secrecy” (2026). 2. Mocking Belief and Silencing Believers
The public French broadcaster treated theology as a subject of ridicule and excluded Scientologists and independent experts from its show.
France TV’s “Scientology, the Empire of Secrecy” (2026). 1. Apostates and Media Rituals
A study of a one-sided documentary that gave voice only to angry ex-members and anti-cultists—a trend that repeats itself when the media deals with “cults.”
Is There an Anti-Cult Movement in Africa?
The attempts to put religion under state control in Africa now use “cult” stereotypes imported from France, China, and Japan.
Introducing Inkosi yamaKhosi Omoya IMboni uZwi-Lezwe Radebe
Today, there would be no revival of African Indigenous Spirituality without the founder and leader of The Revelation Spiritual Home.
South Africa: The Return of the Would-Be Religious Police
The CRL Rights Commission, once rebuked for overreach, now stumbles into a new scandal as its “self‑regulation” project unravels.
Il ruolo degli apostati nel dibattito sulle “sette”
Le proposte di leggi anti-sette si basano spesso sulle testimonianze di “apostati”, un termine che non è sinonimo di “ex membri” ma ne indica una sparuta minoranza.
Rosita Šorytė
Rosita Šorytė was born on September 2, 1965 in Lithuania. In 1988, she graduated from the University of Vilnius in French Language and Literature. In 1994, she got her diploma in international relations from the Institut International d'Administration Publique in Paris.
In 1992, Rosita Šorytė joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. She has been posted to the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to UNESCO (Paris, 1994-1996), to the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 1996-1998), and was Minister Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations in 2014-2017, where she had already worked in 2003-2006. In 2011, she worked as the representative of the Lithuanian Chairmanship of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) at the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (Warsaw). In 2013, she chaired the European Union Working Group on Humanitarian Aid on behalf of the Lithuanian pro tempore presidency of the European Union. As a diplomat, she specialized in disarmament, humanitarian aid and peacekeeping issues, with a special interest in the Middle East and religious persecution and discrimination in the area. She also served in elections observation missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Belarus, Burundi, and Senegal.
Her personal interests, outside of international relations and humanitarian aid, include spirituality, world religions, and art. She takes a special interest in refugees escaping their countries due to religious persecution and is co-founder and President of ORLIR, the International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees. She is the author, inter alia, of “Religious Persecution, Refugees, and Right of Asylum,” The Journal of CESNUR, 2(1), 2018, 78–99.
Languages (fluent): Lithuanian, English, French, Russian.