A proposed “anti-sect” law, currently pending in France’s legislature, violates international human rights law protecting the freedom of religious belief, says Dr. John Graz, Secretary-General of the International Religious Liberty Association.
The law, which was adopted by France’s National Assembly on June 22 and is awaiting approval by the Senate, provides for the dissolution of groups that engage in activities including “mental manipulation.” Addressing a group of civil rights and religious liberty activists in Washington, DC, on July 13, Graz called the law “inherently discriminatory” and a “step further in the ideological war against religious freedom in France.” The July meeting, entitled “The State vs. Religion in France,” was convened by the civil rights group Institute on Religion and Public Publicy.
The proposed law states that its intention is to “provide individuals and the public authorities alike with new causes of action to allow them to paralyze the activities of cult organizations.” France’s Parliament has compiled a list of 172 sects that includes Scientologists, Unificationists and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“Our concern is not with the desire of the French government to protect their citizens from potential violence done in the name of religion,” says Graz, who is also director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department for the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide. “But this goal can be achieved through the implementation of the existing criminal law. It is not necessary to pass legislation specifically targeting religion.” Graz cites Professor Jacques Robert, a former member of the French Couseil Constitutionnel and President of the French Center of Comparative Law, who says “Sects are not above the law, any more than any other religious groups. If they are guilty of criminal actions then deal with them, but not through a witch-hunt.”
Graz lists other concerns about the proposed law, including the vague, malleable criteria used to define “sects” and the lack of legal precedent or definition for the new crime of “mental manipulation.”
Although the Adventist Church is not included on France’s “list of sects,” Graz says that such legislation creates an environment in which all minority religious groups face increasing discrimination and hostility. He points to the growing number of difficulties faced by Adventist students and teachers in France who request exemptions from school attendance on Saturday (their day of worship). Despite the existence of a long-standing agreement with the State to allow such exemptions for Sabbatarians, reports are increasing of students being forced to attend school on Saturday and of teachers being threatened with losing their jobs over the issue, says Graz.
This bill does not represent “the French tradition of tolerance,” says Graz, “but is the result of the current politics of intolerance against religious minorities in France. As a church, we believe that the right to choose one’s religion, or to have no religion, is a fundamental freedom that we have a responsibility to promote and defend.”