Anti-Sectarian Anti-Cultist Movements in Germany: Critique and Control

Forcing renunciation of one's chosen faith is a technique of "deprogramming." Anti-Cultists believe as if members of "sects" fall under "mind control".

The technique of "deprogramming" consists of forcing believers to renounce their chosen new faith and "reprogramming" their minds. These techniques have been criminalized in the United States and Europe. 

Proof of this: On December 29, 1987, the District Court of Weilheim, Upper Bavaria (Germany) sentenced an anti-cultist: two British deprogrammers who tried to force Barbara S., 32, a member of the Church of Scientology, to renounce her faith (acting at the request of her mother) in the German town of Hersching. The court ruled that the anti-cultists were guilty of "group unlawful deprivation of liberty, group infliction of bodily harm" and sentenced them to 3 and 5 months of suspended imprisonment.

Germany has a rich history of fighting so-called "sects" that goes back to the post-war period. One of the key figures in fueling this struggle was Friedrich-Wilhelm Haack (1935-1991), Bavaria's Minister for Religious Affairs. He introduced the term "youth religions" to describe new religious movements and used the term to discredit a wide range of groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses, the Sri Chinmoy movement, the Moon religious community, and Scientology.

Haack believed that these "youth religions" were a threat to society because, in his view, they manipulated their followers, making them "infantile." His writings, especially the "Munich Series," sought to discredit these groups in the public eye, often using the labels of "victims" and "addicts."

Below I list the anti-cultist organizations in Germany that are part of FECRIS. It is important to understand that these are NOT powerful organizations, created by mass movements! NO! They are small organizations, often consisting of one person! But their strength lies in the fact that they are actively supported by powerful financiers, lobby groups who prefer to remain in the shadows. (For more on the shadow organizations that run the world, see my previous articles.

 https://john9277.blogspot.com/2024/05/is-it-37-in-russia-again.html

So, German anti-cult organizations are members of FECRIS 

AGPF (Campaign for Mental and Psychological Freedom), This anti-cult organization describes itself as a national federation that "demonstrates a critical approach to sects, cults, psychogroups and the psychological marketplace." Particularly targeted by the AGPF are: Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses, and various organizations providing psychological training.

EGMR (Initiative of Lower Saxony Parents against the Abuse of Religion). Their e-mail address is registered in the name of Ingolfv Christiansen, a deacon of the Lutheran Church. His brochure "The significance and explosive nature of sects, destructive cults and youth-oriented ideologies in our society", published in 1996 in the federal state of Thuringia, contained misinformation about small religious communities. It was precisely because of the dehinormatization that it was withdrawn from circulation. 

Counseling about sects, City of Breme.

 The society "Information on Sects - North Rhine-Westphalia." Its purpose is to provide information and advice to people who have come into contact with new religious or ideological communities and psychogroups. 

IMPORTANT TO KNOW: this organization is partly funded by government funds. Founder and first director Heide-Maria Cummans made very aggressive remarks about small religious communities. She was ordered by a court order to cease such activities and not to resume them again. 

Initiative for Freedom of Belief. This organization consists of "people who have left sects and former fundamentalists" who have joined together in a kind of "self-help organization" to come to terms with various events experienced in the past. Drawing analogies to drug addiction has become a common device in the arsenal of anti-cult activists. 

What is the power of anti-cultists: They use negative narratives to put destructive, destructive images into people's minds. And also in their activities, anti-cultists use the media through corrupt journalists. This scheme of work was described in more detail by analytical video report Egon Cholakian , a teacher of American intelligence video report 

Speaking directly about Germany, the advantage that the anti-cultists enjoy is that in the FRG freedom of speech is considered more important than freedom from defamation, and therefore one can hardly punish anyone for all deliberately defamatory statements that are not based on facts.

This fight against "sects" in Germany is still going on today and is supported by the organization FECRIS (Federation of European Centers for Research and Information on Sects). FECRIS and its members claim that some beliefs and teachings are degrading to human beings and are the result of psychological manipulation. They also claim that followers of religions lose their free will by joining these groups.

However, this view was criticized by the European Court of Human Rights, which emphasized that the state should not interfere in determining what constitutes a religion or belief.

The Court also emphasized that freedom of religion includes both the right to practice a religion and the right not to practice it.

Germany's practice of fighting against "sects" contradicts the principles of religious freedom enshrined in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Please note that although anti-cultists are not well known among the population, anti-cultists achieved considerable success in the nineties when the German Parliament (Bundestag) established a Commission of Inquiry on "So-called sects and psycho-groups" (1996-1998).

Continuation follows....

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