The CICNS Interviews: A Guide to the Video Archive, 2006 to 2014
17 July 2026
The Centre d’information et de conseil des nouvelles spiritualités (CICNS) ran a YouTube channel on which it recorded interviews, produced reports and released a documentary on the question of spiritual and therapeutic minorities in France. The videos span 2006 to 2014. This page maps the archive.
The archive is not homogeneous. It gathers academics who study the politics of religion, journalists who covered the debate in print, practitioners who spoke in their own defence, health and education professionals targeted by a cult accusation, CICNS’s own investigative reports and case files, and a documentary the organisation produced. Grouping by voice makes those differences visible before you click.
Scholars, lawyers and experts
The scholars, lawyers and specialist witnesses in this section approach the cult question from research, legal practice or professional expertise. Raphaël Liogier, whose eight videos are the most extensively covered voice in the archive, places the question in its institutional and sociological context; a separate guide maps that argument in detail. Christian Paturel is a French jurist and Jehovah’s Witness who practised as a lawyer defending religious minorities in France before turning to writing. The section also includes Jean Baubérot, Michel Maffesoli (introduced by CICNS as holder of the Durkheim chair of sociology at the Sorbonne) and Régis Dericquebourg, together with lawyers, pastors and specialist practitioners who address the question from their own professional ground.
- Laïcité, a Struggle at the Summit (1/4), Raphaël Liogier
- The Wrong Camp (2/4), Raphaël Liogier
- The Impossible Debate (3/4), Raphaël Liogier
- Individuo-Globalism (4/4), Raphaël Liogier
- Defining Cult, Defining Laïcité (Colloquium 1/2), Raphaël Liogier
- Why Cults Became France’s Scapegoat (Colloquium 2/2), Raphaël Liogier
- The Judicial System Is Sick, Raphaël Liogier at the CICNS Round Table
- Interview with Raphaël Liogier: Full Transcript
- Interview with Jean Baubérot on the Theme of Cults
- Cults: Social Scourge or Scapegoat? Jean Baubérot at the CICNS Colloquium
- Interview with Michel Maffesoli on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Régis Dericquebourg on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Pierre Barrucand on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Stuart Wright on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Susan Palmer on the Theme of Cults
- A Cult Rumour at the CEA, Patrick Le Berre
- Interview with Pastor Dominique Kounkou on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Jean-Marc Florand on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Bernard Biro on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Jean-Pierre Joseph on the Theme of Cults
- Cults: Social Scourge or Scapegoat? Laurent Hincker at the CICNS Colloquium
- Interview with Philippe Pérollier on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Anne Morelli: Full Transcript
- Interview with Maurice Duval: Full Transcript
- Interview with Massimo Introvigne: Full Transcript
- Interview with Christian Paturel on the Theme of Cults
For a closer reading of Liogier’s argument across the four 2013 interview parts, see the Raphaël Liogier guide.
Journalists, writers and media figures
The videos in this section gather people who come to the cult question from journalism, writing or broadcasting. Robert Ménard addresses the relationship between the media and the cult label. Ivan Rioufol frames the debate as a matter of free expression. Sylvie Simon appears in two videos: one on the general theme and one specifically on health and the cult accusation. Christian Tal Schaller says that after two days of searches and police custody, that strand of the case against him collapsed entirely: there was nothing of a cult, or of an extremist group of any kind, about them.
- Interview with Robert Ménard on the Media and the Cults Question
- Cults and Free Expression: Ivan Rioufol on France’s Absurd and Useless Inquisition
- Interview with Sylvie Simon on the Theme of Cults
- Health and the Cult Label: Interview with Sylvie Simon (2012)
- The Cults Debate Seen from Québec: Eugénie Francoeur’s CICNS Interview
- Christiane Singer on Spiritual Freedom: The Full CICNS Interview
- Christiane Singer on the Anti-Cult Witch-Hunt: The Short CICNS Interview
- Gilles Farcet on Cults, Mental Manipulation and Spiritual Freedom
- Interview with Christian Tal Schaller on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Bernard Renaud on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Jean-Luc Martin-Lagardette: Full Transcript
Voices from the movements
Three videos in this section feature people speaking from within, or in relation to, movements that have attracted a cult label in France. Laurent Ladouce speaks of “our teaching” and “our members” in describing how deprogrammers quoted his movement out of context. Bernard Montaud speaks from inside a spiritual movement, describing its faith as his own. The third video gives the floor to the Brahma Kumaris, whose members describe living with a place on France’s cult list.
- Interview with Laurent Ladouce on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Bernard Montaud on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with the Brahma Kumaris: Living on France’s Cult List
Alternative health, schools and the accusation
The four people in this section share a common situation: a cult accusation directed at their practice or institution. Philippe Dargère is co-director of the École Marchesseau, a naturopathy school; he states on camera that for him there is no cult anywhere. Jean-Claude Guyard runs ECMA, a kinesiology training school. Caroline Yaffée is a mayor whose commune was labelled a cult. Sabine, a doula, recounts being summoned by the police judiciaire after her workshops drew a dérive sectaire accusation.
- Interview with Philippe Dargère on the Theme of Cults
- Interview with Jean-Claude Guyard on the Theme of Cults
- When a Commune Is Called a Cult: Mayor Caroline Yaffée’s CICNS Interview
- Accused of Dérive Sectaire: Sabine, a Doula, on Her Police Questioning
Reports and case files
CICNS also produced its own investigative and reporting work. This section includes two counter-investigations into the Guéniot affair (a doctor whom CICNS reports the courts entirely cleared, and who died a few months later), a case study of a MIVILUDES raid on the Moulin des Vallées, a report on L’Essentiel, and testimony gathered on the place of the cult label in French divorce proceedings. Three thematic clips round out the section.
- The Guéniot Affair and the Accusation of Cult: CICNS on France 2’s Prise directe
- The Guéniot Affair: A Right to Know or a Right to Smear?
- The MIVILUDES Descends on the Moulin des Vallées
- The Incredible Case of L’Essentiel, a CICNS report on a French case built on a cult accusation
- The Spectre of the Cult in French Divorce Judgments: Three Mothers Testify
- Cults and Religions, a Double Standard (Deux poids, deux mesures), Anne Morelli at the CICNS Round Table
- Cults: Immunity, Impunity, Anti-Cult Action (a Tailor-Made Law?)
- Laïcité, a Neutralizing Neutrality?
The documentary
La France antisectes : état des lieux is a documentary produced by CICNS. Three parts are archived in full, alongside a shorter cut that draws on material from across the series. The documentary examines France’s anti-cult landscape; what it argues and reports is attributed to the documentary, not stated in this site’s editorial voice.
- Anti-Cult France: The State of Play, Part 1
- Anti-Cult France: Taking Stock, Part 2
- Anti-Cult France: State of Play, Part 3
- Anti-Cult France: The State of Play, Short Version
Further reading
- Raphaël Liogier on the French Cult Question: A Guide to the 2013 CICNS Interviews
- All interviews, every interview published on this site
- CICNS Archive, the full collection shelf
Frequently asked questions
What is the CICNS?
The CICNS (Centre d'information et de conseil des nouvelles spiritualités) was a French organisation whose stated objective was to end what it called the ridiculous association between criminality and spiritual minorities. It ran a YouTube channel from which these interviews are archived.
How many interviews did CICNS publish on its YouTube channel?
The archive holds around fifty-six videos recorded between 2006 and 2014. They range from single-speaker interviews to CICNS's own reports and a documentary, and every one of them is listed and linked on this page.
Which academics did CICNS interview?
The channel interviewed Raphaël Liogier (a political scientist and sociologist of religion, in eight videos) and Michel Maffesoli, introduced by CICNS as holder of the Durkheim chair of sociology at the Sorbonne. It also interviewed Jean Baubérot, Régis Dericquebourg, Pierre Barrucand, Stuart Wright, Susan Palmer, Anne Morelli, Maurice Duval and Massimo Introvigne.
Where can I watch the CICNS interviews?
Every interview listed on this page links to its page on this site, where a transcript and a video embed are provided. The full archive is also browsable at /library/cicns/.