Proselytize, go to jail

By Julie Foster

Europe’s crackdown on what French lawmakers have deemed “dangerous
sects” — including Southern Baptists — has captured the attention of
Congress now that

France’s National Assembly
is considering a law to imprison “proselytizers” for up to two years.

The bill aims to restrict the growth of 173 blacklisted faiths, including

Jehovah’s Witnesses,


Scientologists
and

Unificationists.
Also among the targeted groups is the

Southern Baptist Convention,
one of the largest denominations in the United States and the church affiliation of both President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

The French National Assembly is considering a bill to shut down religious sects for “mental manipulation.”

Should the bill become law, evangelism by the groups could be criminalized as an “exercise [in] serious and repeated pressure on a person in order to create or exploit a state of dependence.” The socialist French government would be allowed to shut-down a religious group when two representatives are found guilty of at least one legal infraction, including “mental manipulation.”

Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, said he is concerned about the legislation.

“It is particularly disheartening that the selfless act of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ could be equated to the ‘mental manipulation’ of the public,” he said in a statement released by the Baptist Press. “God does not desire to control the minds of men but to change their hearts.”

Currently, the SBC’s

International Mission Board
has 40 workers in France and has had an established missionary presence in the country since 1960.

“Overly aggressive evangelical preaching could be interpreted by some as mental manipulation,” Rev. N.J. L’Heureux, moderator of the religious liberty panel of the

National Council of Churches,
told the Washington Times.

However, Dwayne Hastings, a spokesman for the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said the Bible commands believers to share their faith.

“The Bible is explicit in its command that we should seek to share the Gospel with everyone,” he said. “Evangelism and witnessing are actions generated out of love and concern, not hostility or hatred. It is clearly not an exercise that should be regulated by the state.”

French Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou, who approves of the measure, said she has suggested lawmakers “pause” on final approval of the legislation to give human rights and church groups a chance to comment.

Last week, Guigou called the bill “a significant advance giving a democratic state the legal tool to efficiently fight groups abusing its core values.”

However, she said the new criminal code — drafted by members of the Socialist Party — could conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights. The legislation must also be reconciled with a similar bill approved in the French Senate in December. It then would go to

President Jacques Chirac
for approval.

The Senate bill’s title defines the intent of the legislation, stating it is “aimed at reinforcing the criminal repression of associations or groups to be regarded, because of their criminal activities, as troubling public order or being a major danger for human personality.”

In his congressional testimony, general counsel for the Jehovah’s Witnesses Philip Brumley described the treatment of the blacklisted religion in France, saying the discrimination began in 1985 with an “adverse ruling” in an inheritance case.

“The Conseil d’Etat refused to allow one of Jehovah’s Witnesses to leave a portion of her estate to the Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses in France because the court did not agree with our doctrinal rejection of blood transfusions and refusal to participate in military service,” Brumley said.

Other, more widespread adverse treatment has been instituted against the church, as well.

“A direct result of the discriminatory treatment toward Jehovah’s Witnesses in France is a 60 percent tax that has been levied on donations received by the Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses in France,” he added.

“To our knowledge, no other religion is being taxed 60 percent on personal contributions made in good faith to their church. Instead,” Brumley contined, “other religions enjoy tax exemptions granted by the Conseil d’Etat. Not even most minority religions are taxed — in fact, we are only aware of one other case where personal donations to a religious association have been questioned.”

State Department officials who have spoken to French lawmakers say many of them describe the legislation as advocacy work by a charismatic citizen named Jacques Guyard, who leads an anti-sect movement and was author of the government’s sect list.

“This is something that we are going to have to watch closely,” a senior State Department official told the Times. “In a worst-case scenario, it could turn out to be a nasty piece of legislation.”

The French sect list, published in 1996, was followed by the establishment of a government agency called the Interministerial Mission to Battle Against Sects in 1998.

While France is the first nation to push for criminalization of certain religious activities, it is by no means alone in its quest to stop the growth of “sects.” France, Germany, Austria and Belgium are reported to have set up commissions to list sects, which in Belgium includes even the YWCA.

The push in Western Europe to form “sect commissions” began after the 1994 and 1995 suicides and murders by Solar Temple members in Canada, Switzerland and France.

Craig Jensen, chairman and chief executive officer of

Executive
Software,
told the House committee of his experiences in Germany.

“Purchase of my company’s software products is restricted in Germany by government edict, and attempts are being made to forbid it entirely,” he told the committee. “This is a recent development, as my products have sold well in Germany for over a decade. What prompted the embargo is the announcement that Microsoft Corporation’s new Windows 2000 computer operating system includes a component developed by my company. This fact is being used to justify calling for a full-scale German government prohibition on the sale of Windows 2000 in Germany.”

“The official reason given is that my company, Executive Software, is headed by an ‘admitted’ member of the Church of Scientology — me,” he explained, noting he has been a member of the organization for 25 years.

But Germany insists it upholds religious freedom as a “fundamental right,” according to

German Ambassador Jürgen Chrobog.

The German Embassy in Washington, D.C.

“As in the United States, freedom of worship and conscience is a fundamental right in Germany,” Chrobog said. “Our constitution, the Basic Law, stipulates that ‘Freedom of faith and conscience as well as freedom of creed, religious or ideological, are inviolable,’ and, further, that ‘the undisturbed practice of religion shall be guaranteed.’ These rights are fully respected by the German government.”

“The state is constitutionally obliged to maintain a position of neutrality,” he added.

Problems for Scientologists came to a head when Germany decided the group is not a religion and so is not entitled to protection or tax-exempt status.

“With evidence that a group’s activities are profit-oriented, the state may reject a group’s application for non-profit status,” Chrobog remarked. “It is for this reason that Scientology has been declined tax-exempt status in Germany.”

“The Federal Labor Court ruled in 1995 that Scientology was not a religious congregation, but a commercial enterprise,” he continued. “The court quoted one of L. Ron Hubbard’s instructions to ‘make money, make more money — make other people produce so as to make money’ and concluded that Scientology purports to be a ‘church’ merely as a cover to pursue its economic interests. Therefore, Germany does not consider the Scientology organization a religion. It is not alone in this assessment; Belgium, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Israel and Mexico, to name but a few, share this view.”

“It isn’t surprising, given the climate of increased repression and persecution of Christians in many countries around the world,” said the Southern Baptist Convention’s Hastings. “It is inappropriate for any government agency or faith community to attempt to intimidate or silence any other entity in the public or private expression of their faith.”

“It would behoove Southern Baptists to be aware of this proposed legislation and make their concerns known to the

U.S. State
Department,”
he added.

“The mere fact that such a proposal is being seriously considered in France should call us to reflect upon the preciousness of the liberties guaranteed to us under the U.S. Constitution,” concluded Hastings. “The cost of maintaining these freedoms remains unfailing vigilance to threats at home and overseas.”


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Julie Foster

Julie Foster is a contributing reporter for WorldNetDaily. Read more of Julie Foster's articles here.