“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
First Amendment in the Bill of Rights; December 15, 1791.
“(a) In General: Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except as provided in subsection (b).
(b) Exception: Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person--
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.”
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
In the USA, you shall be free to express your faith towards any god. But a problem has been born from this freedom: the guaranteed religious tolerance changed the USA into a “spiritual marketplace[1]”. New Religious Movements are blooming serially; if you look only at bible-based religion, the number of options is unbelievable and if you are not happy with any of them, you just have to go on and create your own branch. But behind this, new ultra-fundamentalist Christian sects are growing, dominated by leaders who exercise virtually unlimited control over members' lives and thoughts. Gurus are protecting their industry behind religious freedom. In Europe, particularly in France and in Germany, governments have taken measures against religious movement considered as dangerous and extremist. Paternalist, they choose to protect people from cult’s abuses of weakness. The 30 of May 2001 the French senate voted a low prohibiting “mental manipulation” that included the possibility to dissolve or ban a cult considered as criminal. The criminal offences include personal violence, illegal use of medicines or misleading publicity, but also offences such as breach of privacy or using the likeness of a person without its consent.
Those measures have been wildly commented, shown as anti democratic: after all, people have the right to be exploited. Yeah yeah, a country dominated by silly UFO’s fanatics is far freer… Anyway, finding a middle ground between religious liberty and open place for cults is still a debating subject.
[1] Wade Clark Roof; Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion; Princeton University Press, 2001
See also:
First Amendment in the Bill of Rights; December 15, 1791.
“(a) In General: Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except as provided in subsection (b).
(b) Exception: Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person--
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.”
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
In the USA, you shall be free to express your faith towards any god. But a problem has been born from this freedom: the guaranteed religious tolerance changed the USA into a “spiritual marketplace[1]”. New Religious Movements are blooming serially; if you look only at bible-based religion, the number of options is unbelievable and if you are not happy with any of them, you just have to go on and create your own branch. But behind this, new ultra-fundamentalist Christian sects are growing, dominated by leaders who exercise virtually unlimited control over members' lives and thoughts. Gurus are protecting their industry behind religious freedom. In Europe, particularly in France and in Germany, governments have taken measures against religious movement considered as dangerous and extremist. Paternalist, they choose to protect people from cult’s abuses of weakness. The 30 of May 2001 the French senate voted a low prohibiting “mental manipulation” that included the possibility to dissolve or ban a cult considered as criminal. The criminal offences include personal violence, illegal use of medicines or misleading publicity, but also offences such as breach of privacy or using the likeness of a person without its consent.
Those measures have been wildly commented, shown as anti democratic: after all, people have the right to be exploited. Yeah yeah, a country dominated by silly UFO’s fanatics is far freer… Anyway, finding a middle ground between religious liberty and open place for cults is still a debating subject.
[1] Wade Clark Roof; Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion; Princeton University Press, 2001
See also:
- Bruno Fouchereau; Les sectes, le cheval de troie des Etats-Unis en europe, Le monde diplomatique, may 2001.
- Dr Gregory Baum; The Limits of Religious Liberty in France, at <http://www.aumisme.org/>
Image from Valparaiso Universy's website at http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/religion.html
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