Effects of the Western Anti-Cult Movement on Development of Laws Concerning Religion in Post-Communist Russia

Shterin, Marat; Richardson, James T.

doi:10.1093/jcs/42.2.247

Cited by 55 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Also, the case of the severe and systematic repression of the Falun Gong may illustrate how a government can use a politically weak group as part of an effort to rejuvenate itself, and motivate its citizens to adhere to party doctrine. This has also occurred to some extent in former Soviet countries, including Russia [32]. Here is what happened in China, which will be our major example of massive state sponsored deprogramming.…”

Section: Deprogramming By the State: The Case Of Chinamentioning

confidence: 89%

“…This type of action has occurred in the United States particularly with political groups, and to some extent with religious ones such as was the case initially with the Branch Davidians outside Waco [37]. 18 However, such covert governmental actions are not so rare in some other countries, as shown by efforts to deal with minority faiths in some former communist countries [26,32].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Deprogramming: from private self-help to governmental organized repression

Richardson

2011

Crime Law Soc Change

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This paper examines deprogramming, a multi-faceted form of derecruitment from unpopular religious groups ("cults") developed in the United States and then spreading to other nations, as a form of social control of new religious movements. The early history of deprogramming in the United States is discussed, and then its more recent application in Japan against members of the Unification Church is detailed.

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Section: Deprogramming By the State: The Case Of Chinamentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deprogramming: from private self-help to governmental organized repression

Richardson

2011

Crime Law Soc Change

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“…It would appear that the socially constructed very negative image of "totalitarian sect" has become virtually hegemonic in Russia (Shterin & Richardson, 2000), particularly among those in the power structure of the society. It would appear that the socially constructed very negative image of "totalitarian sect" has become virtually hegemonic in Russia (Shterin & Richardson, 2000), particularly among those in the power structure of the society.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating Religion

2004

Critical Issues in Social Justice

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“…In the early post-Soviet system, Scientology was able to register as a religious body by 2004. However, aligning themselves with conservative Russian politicians, a newly empowered Russian Orthodox Church was able to overturn the initially liberal registration law (Shterin andRichardson 1998, 2000). Eventually a new law was passed in 1997 which required religions to reregister, but only groups that could show they had been operating in Russia legally for fifteen years were allowed to do so -a law clearly intended to deregister groups like the Church of Scientology.…”

Section: International Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientology: Sect, Science, or Scam?

Lewis

2015

Numen

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Numen 62 (2015) 226-242 brill.com/nu © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2�15 | AbstractThe present piece surveys different discussions of "religion" -especially in the legal realm -which have had a bearing on Scientology.In fact, scientology is not a religion. Apart from an occasional reference to scientology as a religious brotherhood and a claim to have some affinity with Buddhism and other religions, no claim was made at the Inquiry, except forlornly in the final stages, that scientology as known, carried on, practised and applied in Victoria was a religion. When the Inquiry began, the stated attitude of the HASI [Hubbard Association of Scientologists International] was that scientology was a science and not a religion. However, towards the end of the Inquiry, when it became apparent to the HASI that the practice of scientology in Victoria had been revealed 227 Scientology: Sect, Science, or Scam? Numen 62 (2015) 226-242in a very unfavourable light, and that it had no evidence with which to controvert the impressive body of expert evidence to the effect that it was dangerous to the mental health of the community, an attempt was belatedly made to present it as a religion. No evidence was tendered to that effect, but the complaint began to be made that scientologists were being persecuted because of their religious beliefs, and the suggestion was that bigotry was rampant. . . . scientology has not been, and is not, a religion.Though dramatic incidents involving other non-traditional religions have attracted more negative media coverage for short periods of time, the Church of Scientology (CoS) is arguably the most persistently controversial new religious movement (NRM) of modern times. One of the chief criticisms leveled against CoS is that it is a money-making business -or, more harshly, a moneymaking scam -which has cynically donned the sheep's clothing of religion as a way of avoiding taxes and as a way of protecting its pseudoscientific therapy from being properly examined and regulated by the appropriate state agencies.Self-appointed "cult" watchdog groups have leveled the accusation of not really being a religion against a wide variety of alternative religions. However, the question of whether or not Scientology is a bona fide religion became a pivotal issue in a series of lawsuits involving the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in the latter half of the twentieth century. The IRS's refusal to recognize the Church of Scientology's legal status as a religion provided a point of reference for the governments of a number of other countries -from Germany to Australiathat similarly denied religious recognition to CoS's branches in their respective countries. The IRS, however, reversed itself in 1993. This reversal, in turn, helped solve many (but not all) of Scientology's problems in other nations.The present article examines the various discussions of religion -especially legal conflicts that contested the religious status of CoS -which have had a bearing on Scientology since the 1970s. The founder, L. Ron Hubbard, a...

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Effects of the Western Anti-Cult Movement on Development of Laws Concerning Religion in Post-Communist Russia

Cited by 55 publications

References 0 publications

Deprogramming: from private self-help to governmental organized repression

Deprogramming: from private self-help to governmental organized repression

Regulating Religion

Scientology: Sect, Science, or Scam?

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