List of Groups Referred To As Cults or Sects in Government Documents - Controversies

Controversies

In France, Antoinism was classified as a cult in the 1995 parliamentary reports which considered it one of the oldest healer groups. However, on 27 May 2005, the 1995 annex of the French report and cult classifications in which the Antoinist worship was listed, were officially cancelled and invalidated by Jean-Pierre Raffarin's circulaire. Books published by Belgian and French anti-cult associations and activists sometimes included Antoinism in their lists of cults, such as Cults, State of Emergency — Better know them, better defend oneself in France and worldwide (Les Sectes, État d'urgence — Mieux les connaître, mieux s'en défendre en France et dans le monde), published by the Centre Roger Ikor, and others. In the early 2000s, membership of an Antoinist mother in Valenciennes was used by her former husband to remove from her the custody of their son; the decision received attention from media and was criticized by the French sociologist Régis Dericquebourg as being unjustified. When heard by the Belgian commission on cults, philosopher Luc Nefontaine said that "the establishment of a directory of cult movements (...) seems to him dangerous, because it would also give a bad image of quite honourable organizations such as (...) Antoinism".

In Belgium, the 1997 parliamentary report listed the Shri Ram Chandra Mission. This has been criticized by lawyer Lawrence Hincker, who said that "this system of meditation, called Sahaj Marg, does not lead to a life away from the world. It integrates all aspects of man, whether physical, mental or spiritual, without charge or austerity or penance or self-negation". According to the sociologist Bruno Étienne, an expert on religious issues, the SRCM publishes books as any other group but does not proselytize, and has never been convicted: "To us, it is fully a NMR (new religious movement), modern religious group, although based on an ancient tradition, and subject to serious arguments advanced by others more knowledgeable, we do not understand why it is criticized on the list of the damned". Raphaël Liogier, Director of the Observatory of religious and university professor at the Institut d'Études Politiques in Aix-en-Provence, said he did not understand the inclusion on the cult list of an association that is fully recognized in India.