There is not a single “hidden hand” guiding the anti-cult movements throughout the world. But there are various levels of international coordination.
Rosita Šorytė*
*A paper presented at the conference “Discrimination and Criminalization for Religious and Spiritual Reasons in Argentina: Legal Challenges in a Diverse Democratic Context,” Legislature Palace, Buenos Aires. July 19, 2024.
Article 2 of 2. Read article 1.
From the presentation in the first article of this series of anti-cult movements active in six different countries, it may seem that national situations are quite different. However, while domestic peculiarities should not be neglected, it is also true that campaigns against the “cults” are increasingly coordinated at an international level, although this coordination is not always visible. I will mention six examples that deserve further attention.
Table of Contents
FECRIS
As early as 1994, several anti-cult organizations came together to establish an umbrella organization called FECRIS (European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Cults and Sects), with headquarters in Paris. It has correspondent organizations outside of Europe too. It is and always was financed by the French government. For more than twenty-five years, one of its largest and most active components, which also contributed financially, was its Russian branch, which was controlled by the Russian Orthodox Church and financed by the Russian government. In March 2023, reasons connected with the war in Ukraine suggested a separation from the Russian branch, although forms of cooperation have continued discreetly even after that date. FECRIS has also supported anti-cult campaigns in China, and its propaganda can be found behind anti-cult activities and proposals all over the world. FECRIS also cooperates with the American-based ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) as evidenced by the conference held this month in Barcelona putting together ICSA, FECRIS, and Japanese anti-cultists, although it should be acknowledged that some American ICSA leaders are somewhat more moderate than their European counterparts.
Invictus
Much more discreet than FECRIS, but not less dangerous, is a group called “Invictus” (“Undefeated” in Latin), headquartered at the University of Barcelona with the ambition of putting together those in the academic minority who support brainwashing theories and the anti-cult movement. It was also represented at the Barcelona conference. None of its members is a scholar of religion. They are all psychologists who still support brainwashing theories.
Interestingly, one of them is Japanese psychology professor and anti-cult activist called Kimiaki Nishida. He is the person who drafted in Japan after the Abe assassination the controversial regulations on “religious abuse of children.” His role was explicitly criticized in the United Nations statement. While Invictus is in part a money-making enterprise, using the support of psychology schools in several universities to get European funds, it also plays a role in organizing attacks against the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other movements and in trying to keep alive the discredited brainwashing theories.
The French Government
The French government devotes a specific budget to promote the activities of its anti-cult agency MIVILUDES abroad through the French diplomacy. Even Argentinian anti-cultists have boasted about their contacts with the French Embassy. Japanese anti-cultists’ relationships with France started in the late 1980s and continue to this day. From the point of view of France, this activity is primarily defensive and aimed at countering American criticism of French anti-cult campaigns. But it also promotes French “grandeur,” as local politicians have often hailed MIVILUDES as a model the entire world should imitate.
Russian and Chinese Disinformation
Research has traced fake news targeting the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientology, and other groups to Russian disinformation TV channels such as Sputnik. They are also spread on social media by both Russian and Chinese trolls. Like France, these governments are interested in defending their repression of “cults” at home against international criticism. But there is also an interest in creating disorder and social unrest, which has led to increased troll activity after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
In Japan, solid evidence has emerged connecting the attacks against the Unification Church, who was active in political anti-Communist campaigns, and the very foundation of a Japanese anti-cult movement in the 1980s to the Japanese Communist Party and left-wing organizations, supported by China and at that time by the Soviet Union.
Netflix
Although other TV networks have now jumped on a lucrative bandwagon, Netflix remains the strongest media partner of anti-cultists. Headquartered in America, it has branches in forty-five countries and some three hundred million subscribers. Its branches obviously communicate with each other, and we have seen vitriolic series against “cults” produced in South Korea, Mexico, and the United States, and distributed worldwide. Few reputations can resist these concerted attacks.
Anti-Trafficking Agencies
Obviously, fighting the international traffic of human beings is a laudable enterprise. However, it is also true that anti-trafficking agencies are competing with other branches of the governments for funds and have a vested interest in
continuously expanding their sphere of activity. Although some Argentinian excesses have been criticized, ultimately there is an international anti-trafficking lobby that looks with interest at the experiment in Argentina of expanding the mandate of anti-trafficking prosecutors to “cults” and defend these prosecutors when they are attacked internationally. It is probably behind some strange and misleading American coverage of the Buenos Aires Yoga School case, including in “The New York Times.”
Private Donors
American scholar Holly Folk is conducting a study about private donations supporting anti-cult campaigns. It is a study in progress, but as presented in international conferences it shows that copious amounts of money were donated by certain billionaires and large corporations. Some may be ideologically motivated, but it is also clear that pharmaceutical companies, for example, are interested in supporting actions against Scientology, which in turn runs successful campaigns exposing the negative effects of psychiatric drugs, and other movements critical of certain medicines. This lobby action obtained a spectacular success this year in France, where a new Article 5 was introduced in the anti-cult law punishing with long jail terms those who for religious or other reasons dissuade their followers from using medicines and vaccines generally recommended by the medical profession.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is not a single “hidden hand” guiding diverse national anti-cult campaigns throughout the world. However, there are visible and less visible international forces promoting them, whose role should not be underestimated. This international action against religious liberty requires an international reaction in favor of it. As anti-cultists join forces putting together atheists and Russian Orthodox priests, Communist activists and Big Pharma corporate executives, who overcome their different ideologies to unite against what they perceive as a common enemy, so women and men of good will should learn to cooperate, going beyond their theological differences and affirming freedom of religion or belief as a universal value.
