Non-State Actors Inhibiting Freedom of Religion and Belief
Non-state actors inhibiting freedom of religion and belief can be split into four categories. Cult-awareness groups and counter-cult groups target new religious movements. Some faith communities are also a source of concern as they fuel inter-religious and inter-communal conflicts on the European territory. Nationalistic, extreme-right movements and parties are also responsible for religious intolerance, in particular anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Cult-awareness groups[i] (CAGs) comprise governmental agencies[ii] and non-governmental associations also commonly called “anti-cult organizations.”[iii] These private groups have set as their objective to determine in what way religious movements harm or might harm individuals, families and society. The founders and members of such groups may have been directly involved in problems related to cults, as former “cult” members, relatives of “cult” members and professionals who have been requested to put their skills at the disposal of those who seek their assistance (psychologists, medical doctors, lawyers, journalists). Occupational or ideological considerations can also motivate secular humanists, freemasons, atheists, communist and socialist politicians, defenders of traditional religions (as in Russia, Poland, Germany, Belgium) to join CAGs. The distinction between these two categories is, however, not always very clear. Some cult-awareness activists may have more than one motivation, including material advantages (lawyers, psychotherapists or journalists). CAGs are favored by the media as they can provide them with horrifying stories of victims or defectors. These activists are also consulted as experts in court cases. In concert with supporters in various governments, CAGs contribute to the restriction of religious freedom of new religious movements, to religious discrimination and intolerance.
Counter-cult groups (CCGs) in Europe are opposed to religious diversity and to “religious competition” on “the free market of religions”. They can originate from majority faiths (Catholic Church, Orthodox Church or Lutheran Church) that want to stop a hemorrhage of faithful to new Christian or non-Christian religious movements. They are also to be found in Protestant minority faiths (such as Evangelical Churches) that warn against non-Christian religions.
Members of CCGs are likely to include the leadership of a Church,[iv] clerics,[v] theologians and former “cult” members who have joined the new faith. CCGs are meant to defend the doctrine of their denomination against “heresies” or deviating teachings and to defend themselves against other faiths that attract their faithful. While it is legitimate to defend one’s faith, combating other faiths with illegitimate means (false rumors, defamation, hate speech, violence[vi]) and with the help of the state[vii] is a breach of religious freedom and religious peace. Secular humanism which is particularly influential as a worldview in European French-speaking countries also has its counter-cult policy as part of its missionary work and its fight against religious obscurantism.
Europe has been the scene of religious wars in the past. Conflicts between faith communities have not fully disappeared yet, especially in the Orthodox world. While there is inter-religious dialogue between the leaders of historical religions in Western Europe, leaders of some Orthodox Churches in Central and Eastern Europe have rejected contacts with the Roman Catholic Church despite the Pope’s desire to open a dialogue.[viii] Traditionally, historically and politically, Orthodox Churches have always taken a negative stance on religions that “invaded” their territories. In countries where they are the dominant religion, the Orthodox Churches are an essential component of the national identity. Some churches are also cradles of extremist nationalism, religious and cultural protectionism, intolerance to religious diversity, and resentment of competition for the faithful. Hence, the hostility of those churches to the presence and the pastoral activities of the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant denominations and new religious movements.[ix]
In Bosnia and in Kosovo, wars opposing Orthodox populations to Muslim populations have claimed innumerable victims in the 1990s. In Romania, Ukraine and Russia,[x] inter-religious conflicts oppose groups of Orthodox believers to Catholics of Eastern rite or to Protestant missionaries. Disputes arise among Orthodox churches over competing claims to national supremacy and the role of state religion in the country.[xi]Anti-Semitism permeates some Orthodox Churches. In Belarus, the government has done little to counter the spread of anti-Semitic literature. In March 2000, for example, a Minsk court dismissed a complaint filed by Jewish organizations against the Orthodox Initiative (a state-owned publishing house) for publishing an anti-Semitic book containing the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and blaming Jews for societal and economic problems in the country. The book remained on sale at the main Orthodox Church bookstore.
Islam is a minority religion in almost all the European countries, except in Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia. The right to change religion is largely impeded at all levels of Muslim communities, from the leadership down to the family level. Mixed marriages tend to be discouraged or prevented, unless the fiance(e) converts to Islam. Due to the conflict opposing the Palestinians to Israel, the main locus of anti-Jewish speech and deeds is moving from the Muslim world to Western Europe through the Muslim Diaspora. In Europe, Muslim extremists carry the banner of anti-Semitism[xii] and constitute a physical threat to Jews. In France[xiii], during October 2000, the month following the outburst of the Second Palestinian Intifadah, more than 100 anti-Semitic attacks, ranging from graffiti to harassment and to firebombing, occurred across the country. On October 10, 2000, a synagogue in Trappes was set on fire and destroyed. Between October 12 and 14, 2000, local authorities in Strasbourg uncovered several Molotov cocktails that had been planted in a synagogue. Three synagogues in the Paris suburbs of Bagnolet and a Jewish shop in Toulon were firebombed. In Belgium, attacks, both verbal and physical, occurred mostly in Brussels and in Antwerp, especially in locations with concentrations of Arab/Muslim and Jewish populations.[xiv] An increase in attacks was stimulated anew by the events of September 11 and the reactions that followed. Anti-Semitism, historically a Christian phenomenon in Europe, is now also a Muslim phenomenon, and not just in the Middle East.
The anti-Semitic mindset is also reinforced by West European media reporting of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. A good example is the battle of March-April 2002 in the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank. TV stations and leading newspapers in Western Europe reported a “massacre” of 3000 Palestinians, “though the main propagator of this story, Saeb Erekat, has been shown time and time again to be a liar. In fact, there was no massacre, no mass graves. Human Rights Watch has since put the death toll at a total of 54, including, on their count, 22 civilians – the Israeli say 3.”[xv]
Apart from some faith-based communities, other non-state actors sew hatred against Moslems and Jews. All over Europe, nationalistic, extreme-right movements and parties favor a climate of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.[xvi] This results in insults, physical aggressions, destruction or damages to property against Jews[xvii] (Jewish cemeteries, synagogues) and Muslims,[xviii] not only by extremist activists but also by ordinary citizens, members of ‘non-extremist’ political parties and intellectuals.
[i] The terms “cult-awareness groups”, “counter-cult groups” and “research-oriented groups” used in this essay have been proposed by Professor Eileen Barker in Cult-Watching Practices and Consequences in Europe and North America in J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies Baylor University, Derek H. Davis and Gerhard Besier (eds.), International Perspectives of Freedom and Equality of Religious Belief 1-24 (2002).
[ii] Specific state agencies have been created to deal with the “cult issue” in some European countries, including France, Poland, Belgium, Germany, and Austria.
[iii] FECRIS (Federation Europeenne des Centres de Recherche et d’Information sur le Sectarisme/ European Federation of Centres Research and Information on Sectarianism) is a trans-national network of such anti-cult associations. FECRIS was founded on 30 June 1994 in Paris, following the Congress on Sectarianism in Barcelona in 1993.
[iv] An example is the Anti-Heretic Department of the Greek Orthodox Church.
[v] In Germany, the so-called “Sektenberater” (cult-advisers) make public conferences and are active in schools and in the media. In France and in Belgium, some Evangelical pastors see cult-hunting against non-Christian denominations as part of their missionary work.
[vi] For several years, a splinter group of the Orthodox Church in Georgia has been carrying out more than a hundred violent attacks mainly on Jehovah’s Witnesses but also on Pentecostals and Evangelicals, in total impunity.
[vii] This is particularly the case in Austria, Germany and in a number of Orthodox countries.
[viii] The Pope met hostility almost every time he wanted to visit an Orthodox country: Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, etc.
[ix] This is particularly the case in Greece where the Constitution opens with a tribute to ‘the holy, consubstantial and indivisible Trinity”. Laws adopted during the interwar period protect the Orthodox Church against proselytism. Since their promulgation at the end of the 1930s, Orthodox clerics have successfully lodged thousands of complaints against missionary activities carried out by Jehovah’s Witnesses and Protestants. In Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Romania, constitutions stress the historical role played by the Orthodox Church or their privileged position in the state.
[x] In Romania, in Ukraine and in Russia, there are important Catholic congregations of Eastern rite. They have sworn allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. Under communism, they were banned and their places of worship were put at the disposal of the national Orthodox Church. After the fall of communism, they started legal battles for the restitution of their property used either by the state or by the Orthodox Church. This is the main source of inter-religious conflict with the Orthodox Churches. These claims, supported by Rome, have aggravated already tense relations between both religions. In Ukraine, the nomenclature used to refer to Catholics of Eastern rite is largely determinate on geographical location. The name “Ukrainian Catholics” is favored in West Ukraine whereas the term “Uniate Catholics” is more common in the Central and Eastern regions. Diaspora communities also prefer “Ukrainian Catholics” or “Ukrainian Greek Catholics.”
[xi] Apart from Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus and other Orthodox countries, Ukraine is the best example of such problems. Most Ukrainian citizens identify themselves as Orthodox Christians belonging to one of three churches : UOC Moscow Patriarchate is the largest with communities located predominantly in Central, Southern and Eastern Ukraine. The UOC Kiev Patriarchate was formed after independence in 1991 with the majority of its communities located in the western part of Ukraine. The smallest is the Autocephalous UOC, with its communities located mostly in the West. The Catholic Church of Eastern rite is second largest faith in the country. The Roman Catholic Church located predominantly in the West serves the population of Polish ancestry. The Jewish population is a half million, historically higher in the West where as much as 10% of the population was Jewish. Islam (Crimean Tatars) and Protestant churches are other religious communities of note.
Restitution of property confiscated by the Soviet regime is a source of tension and conflict. Representatives of the UOC Kiev Patriarchate and the Autocephalous UOC alleged until the Orange Revolution that governmental preference is given to the UOC Moscow Patriarchate in the east for settling property claims.
Since 1991, increased tensions in inter-religious issues in Ukraine have been culminating in acute conflicts, violent actions, and violations of the law. Inter-Orthodoxy rivalry, raising of crosses near Jewish or Moslem burial grounds and the visit of the Pope caused tensions among some religious groups.
Intolerance remains high in Ukraine. All four traditional churches in Ukraine have continued to oppose vigorously state acceptance of new religious movements in Ukraine, seeking to block their official registration, foreign missionary programs and local evangelical activities. See U.S. Department of State, International Religious Freedom Report 2004 (Washington D.C: Department of State), <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/> (31 August 2004). See my update 2004 instead of 2001.
[xii] In Sweden, the broadcast of excerpts from Hitler’s Mein Kampf on Radio Islam led to the condemnation of Ahmed Arami to 6 months of imprisonment.
[xiii] The following facts are drawn from the International Religious Freedom Report 2001, U.S. Department of State.
[xiv] In 2002, there have been many reports of verbal harassment in Belgium. Jews attending services at the synagogue in Brussels/ Forest have been assailed by anti-Jewish epithets such as “Bastards”, “Dirty Jews”, “We’ll kill you” or “Long Live Ben Laden” from hooligans of Arabic descent. On April 4, 2002, three young Jews were attacked as they were leaving the synagogue of the Belz Hassidic community in Antwerp. The attackers were a group of about 30 Muslims who severely beat them while shouting curses at the Jews, Israel and Prime Minister Sharon. On April 21, 2002, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, who headed a delegation of the World Jewish Congress in Brussels, was attacked by a young person of Arabic origin. In mid-November 2002, David Berman, a Jewish teacher in a Brussels public school, was a victim of insults, acts of anti-Semitism and death threats. The case raised unanimous disapprobation in the media and in political circles.
[xv] Harold Evans, The Voice of Hate in Index for Free Expression, 4-02 INDEX ON CENSORSHIP 5-15 (2002).
[xvi] The term Islamophobia refers to unfounded hostility towards Islam. It refers also to the practical consequences of such hostility in unfair discrimination against Muslim individuals and communities, and to the exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political and social affairs. Anti-Muslim prejudice has grown so considerably and so rapidly in recent years that a new item in the vocabulary is needed so that it can be identified and acted against.
[xvii] In Germany, the Federal Ministry of Interior wrote in its “2001 half-year report on politically motivated criminality” that two-thirds of such crimes had been committed by right-wing extremists”. See IHF Report 2002 on Human Rights in the OSCE Region, < http://www.ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_id=3&d_id=1322> (31 August 2004).
[xviii] Over the Alps, the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, famously proclaimed the superiority of Western over Islamic civilization. His government previously included the Lega Nord (Northern League) leader, Umberto Bossi, who had protested about the use of public land for mosques for the “Muslim invaders.” In Naples, two councillors of Forza Italia (Force Italy) and the Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance) called for the closing of two mosques located in the centre of the city. At the European Parliament, an MEP from the Lega Nord, proposed an amendment to bar Muslims from entering the European Union.
In Belgium, the Vlaams Blok has become the largest party in several cities by campaigning to reduce the number of mosques and institutionalizing discrimination against Islam. In December 2002, a teacher of Islamic classes was killed by a neighbor in Antwerp where the extreme-right party got more than 30% of the votes at the last municipal and national elections.
In France, Michel Houellebecq, a provocative writer, called Islam “the stupidest religion”. He denied inciting racism but argued in court the Koran was inferior to the Bible as a literary work. He was sued by four Muslim groups and a French human rights group after his comments appeared in a magazine interview. He claimed that he had the right to criticize religions and won his case.
In Denmark, a poster declaring “By the time you retire, Denmark will be a majority-Muslim nation”, helped the Danish People’s Party leader, PiaKjaersgaard, win a place in the ruling rightist coalition in November 2001, shortly after she declared a “holy war” on Islam. In Austria, the voters swept the party of Jorg Haider who had campaigned on an anti-Muslim platform into power in 1999.
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