Since the suicide-homicide of 53 members of the Order of the Solar Temple in 1994 and the gas attempt by Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo’s subway in 1995, several European states have decided to fight against “sects.” Although there were already a few anti-sect initiatives in the 1980s, these were without consequence. The “sect-hunt” in Europe became serious just after the middle of the 1990s. France and Belgium were very soon in the forefront of this battle and created observatories of sects and government agencies to fight against sects. Other countries, like Germany or Austria, set up or lent their support to sect information and prevention centers as well. Since then, hundreds of non-conventional religious minorities called sects1 have been harassed without let up by governments and the media. On 22 June 1999, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, comprised of 40 member states, adopted a report critical of sects that advocated creation of a European Observatory and independent information centers.
Keywords
- Personal Data
- Sectarian Organization
- Prevention Campaign
- Religious Purpose
- Sect Observatory
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.