Apocalyptic cults: failed utopias – and consequences for followers

Acts of the conference

Apocalyptic cults: failed utopias

and consequences for followers

Saturday October 13, 2012

Multipurpose hall, Salses Le Château[1], 66600 France

organized by the

European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism

(FECRIS)

with the logistic support of CCMM[2]

and sponsored by the Commune of Salses Le Château and the French Government

PROGRAMME

Tom Sackville, President of FECRIS, United Kingdom

Introduction and Welcome

Jean-Jacques LOPEZ, Maire of Salses Le Château and Conseiller général of the canton: Welcome

Serge Blisko, President of MIVILUDES [3], France:

Welcome

Georges Fenech, previous President of MIVILUDES, Member of the National Assembly for the 11th Rhône district, France:

Welcome (summary)

Danièle Muller (Switzerland), delegate of FECRIS at international organisations:

Welcome (summary)

Olivier Morice, Lawyer at the Paris Bar, France:

The trial of Scientology, its challenges, its difficulties placed in an overall international perspective of the Scientology organization (summary)

Sandrine Mathen, analyst and psychologist at CIAOSN[4], Belgium:

No one is a prophet in his own country, even if it is a small one  – presentation

Testimony of a former follower of a group/sect gravitating around Bugarach and Rennes-le-Chateau

Mike Garde, President of Dialogue Ireland[5] :

“The House of Prayer”: an Irish apocalyptic Marian group at the edge of Europe

Roxana-Mălina Chirilă, Romania

The Emotional Apocalypse:  A Quick View of MISA^[6] and its Apocalypse(s)

Thomas Gandow, President of DCI [7] , Germany:

Korean apocalyptic cults in Europe (summary)

Steven Hassan, M.Ed, LMHC[8], USA:

Followers of apocalyptic cults: Communication strategies that families and friends can use to empower people to think for themselves (summary)  – Video:http://vimeo.com/52740747

Roberto di Stefano, Switzerland:

The prophecies about the end of the world as experienced in a Jehovah’s Witness family (summary)

Berislav Pavišic, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Croatia:

A European approach to the destructive activities of harmful groups – Legal regulation of the activity of sects in a country in transition

Communication read by Branka Dujmic, President of CISK[9], Croatia

Round table discussion on

Comparative International law, examples of best practice on legal issues raised in the different European countries

Participants:

Carlos Villagrasa  – Lawyer, Professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain, Member of AIIAP (in absence):

Cults: An Update on the Legal Situation in Spain

Alexander Dvorkin – President of CRS[10] , Russia

Jean-Pierre Jougla – Lawyer, UNADFI[11] , France

Mike Garde – Director of Dialogue Ireland

Conclusion