Investigation into the ADFIs, Part 1
A dossier on France's ADFI/UNADFI anti-cult network republished by the CICNS, gathering an ex-member's testimony, book extracts by Paturel, Barrucand and Anne Morelli, and two 1999 newspaper reports.
CICNS Archive
127 stories
Articles and interviews preserved from the Centre d'information et de conseil des nouvelles spiritualités (CICNS).
CICNS, the Centre d’information et de conseil des nouvelles spiritualités, described itself as an independent centre, open to the new spiritualities and to anyone wanting to inform themselves seriously about them. Among its stated objectives was ending the association between criminality and spiritual minorities, which it saw as a media-driven stigmatisation. It recognised that abuses of power, trust and weakness can exist within spiritual minorities as within any other group, and held that proven abuses must be dealt with by the justice system on the same footing as abuses of the same nature committed in other groups.
The pieces on this shelf — articles, case files and interviews — are republished in English translation, each citing its source at the foot of the post; the dated ones appeared between 2004 and 2014. They are preserved here so that English-language readers can consult what CICNS and its interviewees actually said. They are commentary of their moment — France’s cult controversy of the 2000s — and should be read as period documents, not as reporting on the present.
For a guide to this collection, grouped by voice, see the CICNS Interviews Guide.
Investigation into the ADFI, Part 2: The Victims of the ADFI
An anonymous dossier republished by the CICNS setting out five cases attributed to France's ADFI/UNADFI anti-cult network, from a 1982 suicide to the 2000 death of Doctor Yves Jullien.
The Hearings of the 2006 Parliamentary Commission on Cults
CICNS's 28,000-word annotated dossier on the 2006 French parliamentary commission on cults and minors, covering eleven hearings from MIVILUDES president Jean-Michel Roulet to the Machelon report.
Hearing of Serge Blisko, President of the MIVILUDES, before the Senate Commission on Cults and Health
CICNS's twelve-part commentary on Serge Blisko's November 2012 Senate hearing: the MIVILUDES's rhetoric, the About-Picard Act's record of convictions, and the child-victim figures its president could not substantiate.
The CCMM
CICNS profile of the CCMM, the anti-cult association founded in 1981 by Roger Ikor, with quotations from Ikor's own articles and speeches of the 1980s.
Georges Fenech's Illusionist Act before the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in the Field of Health
CICNS fact-check of Georges Fenech's 30 October 2012 Senate hearing: 13 million claimed victims against the Justice Ministry's own count of 192 reports over three years.
The Case of FECRIS
Rudolf Vis's memorandum to the Parliamentary Assembly arguing against consultative status for FECRIS, republished with a CICNS introduction, and taking each of the federation's six stated objectives in turn.
Extracts from the October 2006 Hearing of Didier Leschi
The head of France's central bureau of religious affairs tells the 2006 parliamentary commission on cults and childhood that he has no evidence of public-order disturbance, and warns that stigmatisation may itself become one.
Parliamentary Reports and Their Legal Value
CICNS on the French parliamentary cult reports from Vivien (1983) onwards: official texts deny them normative value, yet courts, administrations and the media use them constantly.
Georges Fenech's 2008 Report "Justice Faced with Dérives Sectaires"
Éric Bouzou's section-by-section commentary on the MIVILUDES president's 2008 report to the Prime Minister, from its opening word "teratology" to its unfounded child-victim figures.
CICNS Commentary on the Presentation of the Parliamentary Commission Report on Cults and Childhood
CICNS's point-by-point rebuttal of the 19 December 2006 presentation of the French parliamentary report on cults and children, including the Tabitha's Place visit and the 40,000-80,000 figure.
In-Depth Inquiry into an Anti-Cult Commission: The Harms of Façade Rationalism and of Scientism
CICNS on the 2013 Senate commission on cults and health: four months in, not one targeted practitioner had been heard, while officials asserted victim numbers they admitted they could not support.
Senate Commission of Inquiry on Cults: the Hearing of Jean-Pierre Jougla
CICNS's timecoded analysis of Jean-Pierre Jougla's 6 November 2012 Senate testimony, counting his disqualifying terms and answering each passage of his argument.
Commentary on Senate Hearings of Practitioners in Non-Conventional Therapies
CICNS commentary on the 2013 French Senate hearings of naturopaths, kinesiologists and energy healers, arguing that practitioners who adopt anti-cult language against each other feed the repression.
Was the Anti-Cult Machination Losing Its Momentum?
The full text of Philippe Vuilque's 2006 resolution creating the parliamentary commission on cults and minors, annotated line by line by the CICNS, with the Assembly debate that adopted it unanimously.
The Guide for the Mayors of France against Cults
Emile D'Albret reads the 2001 MILS guide for mayors as a manual for using planning, tax and schooling law against spiritual minorities.
The Guide for the Public Official Facing Dérives Sectaires
CICNS walks through the 2004 MIVILUDES guide for civil servants: criteria of dangerousness with no legal basis, and 192 of 54,000 child-welfare files.
The 2010 Miviludes Guide — a Machiavellian Will to Exclude
CICNS takes apart the 2010 MIVILUDES guide on minors: the unfounded 50,000 child victims, "mental hold" as pseudo-science, and criteria that fit any family.
The New 2010 MIVILUDES Guide: The Politics of Fear
CICNS reads the 2010 MIVILUDES guide on protecting minors and finds a doctrine that asks officials to detect a dérive sectaire before it exists — risk in place of established harm.
The MIVILUDES Report: Dramatic Hysteria and Incompetence
CICNS on the MIVILUDES 2010 annual report: the "2012" apocalypse threat, resettlement in the countryside as a new cult indicator, and alternative medicine as danger.
Seminar 2003-2004, Cults and Laïcité
CICNS presents extracts from the MIVILUDES university seminar: Danièle Hervieu-Léger on three lines of dérive, and Jean Baubérot on the rhetoric of the Republic under threat.
The 2003 MIVILUDES Report
André Tarassi's line-by-line CICNS commentary on the first MIVILUDES annual report, from the "consensus" not to be broken to the criteria of dangerousness.
The 2004 MIVILUDES Report
André Tarassi on the MIVILUDES 2004 report: professional secrecy urged towards denunciation, the About-Picard law's nil record, and doctrine equated with danger.
Commentary on the 2005 MIVILUDES Report
Patrick Le Berre turns the nine "cult mechanisms" back on MIVILUDES itself, counting the 2005 report's conflations, defamations and abuses of dominant position.
The 2005 MIVILUDES Report
André Tarassi on the MIVILUDES 2005 report, which abandoned the pledge not to name groups and became an inventory of spiritual minorities and their "dangers".
The 2006 MIVILUDES Report
Two CICNS commentaries on the MIVILUDES 2006 annual report: André Tarassi on the mission's academic screen, Éric Bouzou on its psychology of "mental hold".
The 2006 MIVILUDES Report — Michel de Courtelle's Analysis
Michel de Courtelle's long reading of the MIVILUDES 2006 report, with the Leschi and Dupuis hearings that put 8 cult-linked cases against 19,000 child reports.
The 2007 MIVILUDES Report — Denis Mathieu's Reading Report
Denis Mathieu's chapter-by-chapter digest of the 234-page MIVILUDES 2007 report: 41 referrals since 2005, the OSCE chapter, and a tour of central Europe.
The 2007 MIVILUDES Report — Éric Bouzou's Commentary
Éric Bouzou on the MIVILUDES 2007 report: the mission cast as martyr, preterition as method, mental hold as an argument, and the missing figures.
The 2008 MIVILUDES Report
CICNS on the MIVILUDES 2008 report: figures Fenech gave the press that the report never printed, and the Interior Ministry's circular against lists.
MIVILUDES 2007 Report — Michel de Courtelle's Analysis
Michel de Courtelle measures the MIVILUDES 2007 report against its predecessors and takes apart at length its chapter on "induced false memories".
The 2009 MIVILUDES Report
CICNS commentary on the MIVILUDES 2009 annual report: Fenech's claim of "effectiveness", a long study of shamanism, and the mission's attack on judges.
The Belgian State Condemned for Damaging the Image of the EURD
CICNS case file on the 2005 Brussels appeal ruling that condemned the Belgian State for damaging the image of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in its 1997 parliamentary cult report.
UNADFI Before the Courts
CICNS case file on the 2005 suit before the Paris tribunal de grande instance seeking the dissolution of the anti-cult association UNADFI, with press coverage of the hearings and the judgment.
The Steiner Schools Defamation Trial: Botched Investigations and Prejudice
Martine Lagattier's account in Alternative santé – l'impatient of the February 2000 defamation trial of deputy Jacques Guyard, sued by the Federation of Steiner Schools, the Mercure fédéral and the NEF over the 1999 parliamentary cult report.
Police Assaults on Spiritual Minorities
CICNS dossier of violent police and gendarmerie raids on spiritual minorities in France from 1989 to 2011 — Longo Maï, The Family, Beljanski, Tabitha's Place, the Mandarom and others — with CICNS's advice to victims.
Defaming "Cults" in All Good Faith
CICNS legal analysis of the Guyard and Brard rulings, in which French courts found defamation of movements labelled cults proven yet excused it under the good-faith doctrine.
The Suicide of Doctor Jullien
CICNS case file on Dr Yves Jullien, who took his own life in March 2000 after a cult rumor and administrative harassment closed his Epinoïa centre at l'Isle-sur-Serein.
The Case of the "Presumed Guru" Robert Lé Dinh
CICNS's 2012 follow-up on the Robert Lé Dinh appeal trial: UNADFI as civil party, the About-Picard law, psychological subjection, and the media's treatment of the case.
The Lé Dinh Case: Remarkable Defence Pleadings on the Relentless Mechanics of So-Called "Cult" Trials
CICNS commentary on the 2010 assize trial of Robert Lé Dinh, reproducing the defence pleadings of Maîtres Lebonjour and Martial on how the cult postulate shapes French courtrooms.
The l'Essentiel Affair
CICNS case file on the 20 November 2000 raid by sixty armed gendarmes on the small Terranova spiritual community in the Aveyron, and the five years of surveillance, custody and trial that framed it.
Complaint by a Spiritual Minority After an Abusive MIVILUDES Raid
The full text of the 2010 criminal complaint filed by the Moulin des Vallées community against MIVILUDES president Georges Fenech over an unannounced 2009 raid conducted with undisclosed journalists.
The Arnaud Mussy and Néo-Phare Affair: Revocation of Human Rights
A 2005 CICNS member's analysis of the Arnaud Mussy / Néo-Phare appeal verdict, the first application of the About-Picard law, and the role of expert witness Jean-Marie Abgrall.
Cults, Rumours and the Courts: Laurent Hincker's Case Files
CAP-LC's 2003 review of Strasbourg lawyer Laurent Hincker's book on rumour-driven prosecutions of spiritual movements, from the Guyard anthroposophy defamation case to a Hindu movement destroyed by press inventions.
Are the Banks Taking Part in the Repression?
A 2005 CICNS investigation into French banks jointly refusing accounts to a spiritual association, the legal right to an account, and the role of FATF blacklists, TRACFIN and the DGCCRF.
The Dr Guéniot Affair
CICNS's case file on Dr Gérard Guéniot: the 2006 Lille conviction, the full 2009 Douai appeal acquittal, and how the media, ADFI/UNADFI and the MIVILUDES treated the 'Grail' cult affair.
The Trial of the Order of the Solar Temple
CICNS's press dossier on the Order of the Solar Temple trial: Michel Tabachnik's 2001 acquittal and 2006 appeal acquittal, the victims' families' fight to reopen the investigation, and the unanswered questions around the 74 deaths.
The Gettliffe / Grant Affair
CICNS's dossier on the Gettliffe/Grant custody affair (2001–2009): the annotated Thémis–Phonetag blog debate over Nathalie Gettliffe's removal of her children from Canada, the court rulings on both sides of the Atlantic, and the October 2010 addendum.
The Paturel Case and the European Court of Human Rights
Press coverage, the ECHR Registrar's communiqué and Christian Paturel's own testimony on Paturel v France (22 December 2005), in which Strasbourg unanimously found that his French defamation conviction over an anti-cult book violated Article 10.
Court Decisions in Favour of Spiritual Minorities (2007)
Three 2007 French rulings compiled by CICNS: Catherine Picard's defamation conviction over the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Cour de cassation finding Fournier and Picard's book defamatory towards AMORC, and the dismissal of Anne Hidalgo's suit against Christian Cotten.
Jehovah's Witnesses in the French Courts: A Case File
CICNS's compiled case file on the Jehovah's Witnesses in France: the Picard and Brard defamation convictions, the 45-million-euro tax battle, the court-ordered disclosure of the intelligence files behind the 1996 cult list, and local hostility to their places of worship.
Jean-Pierre Brard's Run-Ins with the Law
CICNS dossier on deputy Jean-Pierre Brard's legal entanglements: his defamation conviction over the Jehovah's Witnesses upheld in cassation, the Chouraqui and Jasmeen rulings, and his clashes with the Protestant federations.
The Beatitudes Community Affair
CICNS's chronology of the Beatitudes community affair: the complaints and judicial proceedings, MIVILUDES's cautious handling, and the media's role in building the group's negative image.
The Law of 12 June 2001 against Cult Movements Infringing Human Rights
Patrice Rolland's scholarly anatomy of the About-Picard law's legislative debate: a law explicitly directed against cults that never names or defines them, and what that paradox reveals about French fear of the cult phenomenon.
Is French Justice Really Independent?
Starting from the 2007 Lisieux 'Parc d'accueil' affair, CICNS asks whether French justice can remain independent of rumor, media pressure and political influence, with extracts from Charles Debbasch and Jean-Louis Nadal.
The French Judge Facing 'Cult' Cases
Engineer and CICNS member Éric Bouzou surveys how French courts handle 'cult' cases, drawing on Vincente Fortier's case-law study and testimony from Raphaël Liogier and Laurent Hincker.
Analysis of the Law of 12 June 2001 Concerning "Cults"
Marseille lawyer Philippe Perollier's clause-by-clause commentary on France's 2001 About-Picard law: how the abandoned offence of mental manipulation returned as abuse of weakness, and the power the law's vagueness hands to the judges.
Me, Anne, a Mother: Children Held Hostage by French-Style Anti-Cultism
A mother's first-person account of losing custody of her two daughters after her ex-husband, backed by an anti-cult association, branded her community — the Gens de Bernard — a cult.
The Archives of Maître Paturel — Part 1
CICNS opens the thousand-page archive of Maître Christian Paturel, the lawyer who prevailed over UNADFI at the European Court of Human Rights, starting with the 1993 mass removal of 33 children from 'La Famille'.
The Archives of Maître Paturel — Part 2: The 'Blunders' of the Gest-Guyard Report
From Maître Paturel's archives, CICNS re-examines the 1996 Gest-Guyard parliamentary report on cults: its factual blunders, its unsourced claim of 'numerous illegalities', and the fifteen court cases cited in its support.
The Archives of Maître Paturel — Part 3: Caricatures and Dark Designs
Drawing on file 45 of Maître Paturel's archives and historian Pierre Barrucand's 1996 study, CICNS traces the parallel between pre-war anti-Jewish caricatures and 1990s anti-cult imagery, and dissects the reflex answer 'I am not a cult'.
Police Raids, Searches and Garde à Vue: What Are Your Rights?
CICNS's legal guide to police raids, searches and garde à vue custody as experienced by spiritual minorities in France, with statutory rules, time limits and first-hand raid testimony.
The Archives of Maître Paturel — Part 4: The Horus Case and the Conscientious Objectors
In this interview extract from his archives, Maître Christian Paturel recounts the gendarmerie operation at the Horus agrarian community and how he came to defend more than three thousand conscientious objectors, most of them Jehovah's Witnesses.
A Psychoanalyst in Prison!
Guy Delaunay's 2007 defense dossier on psychoanalyst Claude David, jailed amid cult-manipulation accusations, tracing the Fondation PI's history, the rumor campaigns against it, and the machinery of the French anti-cult fight.
McCarthyism: Another Precedent for Witch-Hunting
CICNS analysis of McCarthyism's surveillance machinery and civil liberties abuses, drawn as a historical parallel to France's anti-cult campaign.
The CICNS Charter
The CICNS's own statement of what it is, why it was formed, and what its members pledge — republished as provenance for the CICNS material archived on this site.
Christiane Singer on Spiritual Freedom: The Full CICNS Interview
English translation of the full CICNS interview with writer Christiane Singer (Paris, May 2006): society as socially programmed hypnosis, the French anti-cult witch-hunt, and spiritual experience as an inalienable freedom.
19 November 2014
Anti-Cult France: Taking Stock (Part 2 of the CICNS Documentary)
Part 2 of the CICNS documentary: the 2006 'Enfance volée' report tested against its own hearings, and testimony from people accused of being in cults.
16 August 2014
Can the Notion of Dérive Sectaire Be Useful?
Éric Bouzou argues the state's own dérive sectaire category is incoherent: applied evenhandedly it would indict the family, the workplace and the school first.
1 August 2013
The Wrong Camp: 2013 CICNS Interview with Raphaël Liogier (2/4)
Part 2 of the 2013 CICNS interview with sociologist Raphaël Liogier, in English: how asking why people believe gets read on French television as siding with evil, and the political cost Emmanuelle Mignon paid for questioning the anti-cult consensus.
1 July 2013
The Impossible Debate: 2013 CICNS Interview with Raphaël Liogier (3/4)
Part 3 of the 2013 CICNS interview with sociologist Raphaël Liogier, in English: why the cults debate is impossible on television. Anti-cult positioning is a cost-free political resource, and the thirty-second format forbids nuance.
1 July 2013
Laïcité, a Struggle at the Summit — 2013 CICNS Interview with Raphaël Liogier (1/4)
Part 1 of the 2013 CICNS interview with sociologist Raphaël Liogier, in English: the struggle inside the French State between the field ministries and the laïcité ideologues at Matignon, and the proposal of an independent observatory of spiritual minorities.
1 July 2013
Individuo-Globalism — 2013 CICNS Interview with Raphaël Liogier (4/4)
Part 4 of the 2013 CICNS interview with sociologist Raphaël Liogier, in English: his individuo-globalism thesis — every age rests on a mythic ground, secularization does not mean less religion, and new religious movements draw on the emerging individual-global mythic soil.
1 July 2013
Health and the "Cult" Label: Interview with Sylvie Simon (2012)
English translation of the 2012 CICNS health interview with journalist Sylvie Simon on the "cult" label, non-conventional medicine, and the media in France.
22 January 2013
Cults and Free Expression: Ivan Rioufol on France's "Absurd and Useless Inquisition"
English translation of the CICNS interview with French journalist Ivan Rioufol on France's anti-cult campaign, MIVILUDES figures and media conformism.
21 January 2013
Interview with Robert Ménard on the Media and the "Cults" Question
English translation of the CICNS interview with Robert Ménard, co-founder of Reporters sans frontières, on French newsrooms, press freedom and the treatment of "cults".
19 December 2012
When a Commune Is Called a 'Cult': Mayor Caroline Yaffée's CICNS Interview
English translation of the CICNS interview with Caroline Yaffée, a Drôme mayor, on the 'cult' label, alternative medicine and Steiner schooling in France.
5 November 2012
Gilles Farcet on "Cults", Mental Manipulation and Spiritual Freedom: The CICNS Interview
English translation of the CICNS interview with writer Gilles Farcet: media-fed fear of "cults", the ambiguity of mental manipulation, and spiritual freedom.
5 November 2012
Interview with Patrick Le Berre: A "Cult" Rumour at the CEA
English translation of the CICNS interview with Patrick Le Berre, a former CEA research scientist, on the "cult" rumour and harassment he says he endured.
5 November 2012
History of the Anti-Cult Struggle in France
CICNS's year-by-year chronicle of the anti-cult struggle in France: laws, parliamentary reports, court cases and media campaigns from 1893 to the 2010s.
21 December 2011
Cults: Social Scourge or Scapegoat? Jean Baubérot at the CICNS Colloquium
English translation of Jean Baubérot's address at the CICNS colloquium: laïcité's Gallican roots, the 1905 law, medicine and school as sites of conflict with minorities of conviction, and the risk of charismatic domination everywhere.
24 November 2011
Laïcité, a "Neutralizing Neutrality"? The French State and "Cults"
English translation of a CICNS-published talk on laïcité as "neutralizing neutrality", the 1905 law, and the French state's treatment of "cults".
29 October 2011
"The Judicial System Is Sick" — Raphaël Liogier at the CICNS Round Table
English translation of Raphaël Liogier's round-table extract at the CICNS colloquium: the arbitrary versus the authoritarian, unenforceable-yet-enforced parliamentary reports, and his first-hand account of testifying as an expert in a Soka Gakkai discrimination case.
29 October 2011
Cults and Religions, a Double Standard: Anne Morelli at the CICNS Round Table
English translation of historian Anne Morelli's CICNS round-table remarks on the double standard between "cults" and recognised religions.
28 October 2011
Accused of 'Dérive Sectaire': Sabine, a Doula, on Her Police Questioning
A French doula's first-person account of a two-hour judicial-police questioning in Montpellier over suspected 'dérive sectaire' — CICNS testimony in English.
4 July 2011
Anti-Cult France: The State of Play (CICNS Documentary, Short Version)
English translation of the short version of the 2011 CICNS documentary on France's anti-cult apparatus, the 2006 parliamentary inquiry and its unheard victims.
29 April 2011
Raphaël Liogier at the CICNS Colloquium (1/2): Defining "Cult", Defining Laïcité
First half of Raphaël Liogier's talk at the CICNS colloquium, in English: how Western Buddhism became a good religion while Soka Gakkai did not, three definitions of the word cult, and laïcité as a contested neutrality caught in a struggle of classifications.
19 April 2011
Raphaël Liogier at the CICNS Colloquium (2/2): Why "Cults" Became France's Scapegoat
Second half of Raphaël Liogier's talk at the CICNS colloquium, in English: liberty defined from above (Rousseau vs Locke), education and medicine as the privileged conflict domains, the Longo Maï case, and the declamatory function of the anti-cult law.
19 April 2011
Cults: Social Scourge or Scapegoat? Laurent Hincker at the CICNS Colloquium
English translation of Laurent Hincker's address at the CICNS colloquium: defamation trials over the word 'cult', the 1995 criteria, the About-Picard law.
4 April 2011
Anti-Cult France: The State of Play (CICNS Documentary, Part 1)
English translation of part 1 of the CICNS documentary tracing the French anti-cult movement's origins, from Jonestown to the 1996 parliamentary report.
4 April 2010
Cults: "Anti-Cult France: State of Play", Part 3
English translation of part 3 of the CICNS documentary « La France antisectes »: TV talk shows, staged testimony and the 2008 Mignon controversy.
1 April 2010
Interview with the Brahma Kumaris: Living on France's "Cult" List
Brahma Kumaris members in France describe fiscal audits, lost jobs, surveillance and an arson attempt after the 1996 parliamentary 'cult' list — CICNS video.
24 January 2010
The MIVILUDES Descends on the Moulin des Vallées, Accused of Being a "Cult"
Residents of the Moulin des Vallées monastery recount a 2009 MIVILUDES raid led by its president and the media coverage that followed. Translated CICNS report.
23 December 2009
The Guéniot Affair and the Accusation of "Cult": CICNS on France 2's "Prise directe"
CICNS counter-investigation of France 2's "Prise directe" (17 Nov 2009): the Guéniot affair, a physician acquitted on appeal, and trial by television.
6 December 2009
The Guéniot Affair: A Right to Know or a Right to Smear? A CICNS Counter-Investigation
English translation of the CICNS report contrasting TV and book coverage of the Guéniot "cult" affair with the Douai appeal court's full acquittal.
14 November 2009
Interview with Jean-Luc Martin-Lagardette: Full Transcript
Full transcript of the CICNS interview with journalist Jean-Luc Martin-Lagardette on France's anti-cult policy, the MIVILUDES, and the role of the media.
1 October 2009
Interview with Stuart Wright on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with American sociologist Stuart Wright on leaving new religious movements, apostates, and the 1993 Waco standoff.
3 July 2009
Interview with Susan Palmer on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Susan Palmer, Canadian sociologist, on her fieldwork among France's listed "cults" and the About-Picard law.
3 July 2009
Cults: Immunity, Impunity, Anti-Cult Action, a Tailor-Made Law? A CICNS Clip
English translation of a 2009 CICNS clip arguing that France's 2008 witness-immunity law reinforces the impunity of parliamentary anti-cult commissions.
9 January 2009
Interview with Philippe Dargère on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with naturopath Philippe Dargère on administrative pressure, the anti-cult climate and alternative health in France.
9 January 2009
Waco: What Really Happened?
CICNS's account of the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel: the ATF raid, the 51-day standoff, the final assault, and the media narrative.
1 January 2008
Letter to My Brothers Said to Be “Under Influence”
Guy Delaunay of the Gens de Bernard community answers the January 2007 raid and the imprisonment of Claude David with a meditation on influence, reference points, guilt and freedom.
27 November 2007
The Spectre of the "Cult" in French Divorce Judgments: Three Mothers Testify
Three divorced mothers and three lawyers describe how "cult" accusations were used in French divorce and custody proceedings, in a 2007 CICNS documentary.
10 June 2007
Interview with Laurent Ladouce on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Laurent Ladouce of the Unification Church on the "Moon cult" media campaigns, deprogramming and the MIVILUDES.
12 February 2007
Christiane Singer on the Anti-Cult 'Witch-Hunt': The Short CICNS Interview
English translation of the short CICNS interview (2006) with writer Christiane Singer: the French anti-cult witch-hunt as a passing fever of morbid rationalism.
12 November 2006
Interview with Bernard Biro on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with French lawyer Bernard Biro on 'cult' accusations in the courts, the About-Picard law and defamation remedies.
11 November 2006
Interview with Bernard Montaud on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Bernard Montaud, founder of psychanalyse corporelle, on France's post-Solar-Temple climate around "cults".
11 November 2006
The "Cults" Debate Seen from Québec: Eugénie Francoeur's CICNS Interview
English translation of the CICNS interview with Québec journalist Eugénie Francoeur on new spiritualities in Canada, Britain and France.
11 November 2006
Interview with Jean-Claude Guyard on the Theme of "Cults"
Kinesiology school head Jean-Claude Guyard on the Brittany trial, UNADFI and the anti-cult climate in France, in his 2006 CICNS interview.
11 November 2006
Interview with Jean-Pierre Joseph on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Grenoble lawyer Jean-Pierre Joseph on the 1995 French parliamentary report on "cults" and the events around it.
11 November 2006
Interview with Christian Tal Schaller on the Theme of "Cults"
Christian Tal Schaller's CICNS interview: the 1997 gendarmerie raid on his health institute, the trials that followed, and the "cult deviance" label.
11 November 2006
Interview with Bernard Renaud on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Bernard Renaud, esoteric bookseller and publisher, on how France's 1990s anti-cult campaign hit publishing.
10 November 2006
Interview with Christian Paturel on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS video interview with Christian Paturel, the jurist vindicated by the European Court of Human Rights in Paturel v. France (2005).
10 November 2006
The Incredible Case of L'Essentiel: Report on a French "Cult Case"
Unnamed members of the publishing venture in France's L'Essentiel affair recount the raid, custody, house arrest and years of proceedings in this translated CICNS report.
10 November 2006
Interview with Michel Maffesoli on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS video interview with sociologist Michel Maffesoli on postmodern religiosity, the wild sacred, and France's anti-cult scapegoating.
10 November 2006
Interview with Philippe Pérollier on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Marseille lawyer Philippe Pérollier on French anti-cult case law, the 1996 list and the About-Picard law.
10 November 2006
Interview with Régis Dericquebourg on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with sociologist Régis Dericquebourg on fieldwork among healing churches and France's anti-cult climate.
10 November 2006
Interview with Pastor Dominique Kounkou on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with pastor and jurist Dominique Kounkou on the "cult" label, African-expression churches and the About-Picard law.
9 November 2006
Interview with Jean Baubérot on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Jean Baubérot on the 1905 law, the MILS, the MIVILUDES, and religious minorities in France.
9 November 2006
Interview with Jean-Marc Florand on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with lawyer Jean-Marc Florand on the legal void around "cults", the About-Picard law and France's anti-cult bodies.
9 November 2006
Interview with Pierre Barrucand on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the CICNS interview with Pierre Barrucand, CNRS researcher, on the history of French anti-cult campaigns.
4 November 2006
Interview with Sylvie Simon on the Theme of "Cults"
English translation of the 2006 CICNS video interview with French journalist Sylvie Simon on the branding of alternative health practices as 'cults' in France.
4 November 2006
Interview with Massimo Introvigne: Full Transcript
Full transcript of the CICNS interview with sociologist Massimo Introvigne on the history of brainwashing theory, MK-ULTRA, deprogramming, and anti-cult laws.
1 November 2006
Interview with Raphaël Liogier: Full Transcript
Full transcript of the CICNS interview with sociologist Raphaël Liogier on French laïcité, state neutrality as intervention, and how 'good' and 'bad' religions are classified.
1 May 2006
Interview with Anne Morelli: Full Transcript
Full transcript of the CICNS interview with historian Anne Morelli (ULB) on who decides the label 'cult', media treatment of religious minorities, and freedom of conscience.
1 November 2005
Interview with Maurice Duval: Full Transcript
Full transcript of the CICNS interview with ethnologist Maurice Duval, in English: his four-year field study of the Mandarom, the censorship that followed, why the word 'cult' has no sociological meaning, and the manufacture of collective fear.
1 March 2005
Amalgames: The Elements of a Manipulation
A CICNS essay of pointed questions about conflation: why acts found across all of society are treated as defining crimes when they occur in spiritual minorities.
1 January 2004