The organized opposition to “cults” is different in different countries. Yet, common themes and features emerge.
Rosita Šorytė
Religion in Taiwan After the 2024 Elections
While other matters dominated international comments on the 2024 Taiwanese elections, how they may impact religious liberty and the Tai Ji Men case should also be considered.
Madam Yu Mei-Jung, Martial Arts, and Persecution
The teachings and vicissitudes of legendary master of martial arts Wong Fei-Hung offer significant parallels with the life of Dr. Hong and his wife.
Tai Ji Men: Qigong, Conscience, and Freedom
Teachings about universal life energy (Chinese “Ch’i” or Japanese “Ki”) are attacked today as “cultic deviances.” They are in fact a great gift to humanity.
Black Magic, False “Victims,” and “Religious Fraud”: Parallels Between the Cases of the Unification Church in Japan and Tai Ji Men in Taiwan
While certain features of criticism against “cults” are international, others are typical of the Sinosphere and are present in both cases.
Truth, Transitional Justice, and the Persecution of Religious and Spiritual Minorities
The victims and the public opinion have a right to know the truth also about the events where groups have been unfairly discriminated as “cults,” as happened in the Tai Ji Men case.
The United Nations, Transitional Justice, and Religious Liberty
U.N. documents and Lithuanian cases about transitional justice indicate a road that is relevant for Taiwan as well.
La Scientology, les militants antisectes et les universitaires. Une interview avec Bernadette Rigal-Cellard
L’experte française de renommée internationale raconte à Bitter-Winter comment elle a décidé d’étudier à la fois l’Église de Scientology et la « haine irrationnelle » qui la visait.
Scientology, Anti-Cultists, and Scholars: An Interview with Bernadette Rigal-Cellard
The internationally well-known French scholar tells Bitter Winter how she decided to study both the Church of Scientology and the “irrational hatred” targeting it.
Persecution of The Church of Almighty God: From Bad to Worse
The British Conservative Party Human Rights Commission report called again the attention on a brutal campaign of repression, made worse by COVID-19.
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.