The Messianic Communities in the European Union: An Issue of Parental Authority
I. INTRODUCTION
At this International Conference on the future of Religious and Spiritual Minorities as we move into the 21st century, it is appropriate to ask the following questions:
- What can be done to ensure that governments respond to new religions with accurate information about who they are and what they believe; and what can be done to encourage officials to judge by actions and not beliefs?
- How can favored religions in a nation be trusted to represent to the government and the public accurate information if their agents are the “authorities” on sects, i.e. new religious movements?
- What real protection is there for parents to exercise their God-given responsibilities to control the education, health, and upbringing of their children if they happen to be a member of a new religious movement in a Member State of the EU?
Having served as lawyer for individuals and the group called the Messianic or Twelve Tribes Communities in the U.S. and Canada, I have documented from our experience over the last twenty years how inaccurate information has been used against us to the detriment of parents and children alike. We also have Communities in France, Germany, Spain, and England.
While legitimate concerns of government create valid reasons for inquiry (e.g., education, taxes, legal structure, etc.), our communities and members in Germany and France have experienced unwarranted oppression and discrimination because of our religious beliefs and not because of evidence of misconduct or danger. The same inaccurate and prejudicial information that caused governments to stumble by overreacting to us in fear in North America is circulating like wildfire in a climate of religious persecution and intolerance. We do not take exception to being judged by what we actually do, but we do seek to be judged by the truth and not by lies. This is very difficult, if not impossible, in the present European hysteria against religious minorities promoted by fear and ignorance.
Where we have labored to make peace with officials and come to workable solutions in very deep issues of conscience, a trail of unsubstantiated negative information follows us, creating unwarranted suspicion that must be overcome by officials in order for them to be fair. To their credit, we find most judges and education officials to have had the integrity to stand against the lies many times at the risk of political peril. One of the problems that we document in this paper is what occurs when the established state religion or its agents are relied upon by the government for its information on us.
I issue a call to the scholars of Europe to appeal to government officials in the EU to make a commitment to religious freedom and freedom of conscience, which mean more than just worship to the state or compromise with its favored religion. Its preservation costs something. What I say comes from a history of numerous legal battles in the courts in North America, plagued by the attacks of the anti-cult movement1 whose exaggerations and misrepresentations seem to never die, despite the fact their false claims are found to be without substance and without credible evidence.
At the recent conference of the 14th World Congress of Sociology in Montreal, the social, political, economic, and resulting spiritual upheaval in Europe was a well-documented and much-discussed topic. As noted in the recently (July 1998) defeated “Resolution on Cults in the European Union,” new religious movements are attractive to many and symptomatic of “a profound social, moral and civic disquiet,” acknowledging that “a longing for meaning and purpose in life is no longer being satisfied by the traditional churches.”2 “Today’s scientific and technological society marked by individualism and the erosion of the traditional social fabric” has made conditions ripe for the proliferation of new religious movements which governments in Europe are either unwilling or negligent to try to accommodate or which established religions aren’t willing to tolerate. This reactionary trend is a prime example of the oppressive nature of an alliance between the state and a favored religion, as exists in the member states of the EU. Remembering Europe’s history should help to make urgent the need for religious freedom and toleration.
However, new religious movements are increasingly seen as a threat to the world’s social order because they are different or an alternative to the established ways. The strength and endurance of social democracy as a government, combined with the brittleness3 of ecumenism, will forge an alliance to create stability that offers peace where there is no peace. People will sacrifice their rights to have their basic needs met and will pretend that there is unity in diversity, where there is no unity at all. Those who do not want to participate will not have it easy. In an effort to maintain social control, governments are increasingly tempted to violate the rights of dissenters and those who are different. The pressure to conform is becoming enormous. Many have already surrendered to this control, just to survive or to make life a little easier.
In the midst of this climate, the involvement of anti-cultists is rampant, most evident on a large scale in EU countries where this alliance between church and state is already entrenched and there is no historical protection to guarantee the practice of religious freedom. In these countries such as Germany and France the protection of religious liberty is minimized or jeopardized entirely because these governments are so entrenched in their national religious roots (Evangelicalism and Catholicism). Are you ready for what is coming next?
The dynamic relationship between the state and religious influences in Europe, given the confederation among numerous countries with differing religions, will dominate the social and political landscape for the next 50 years. Ecumenism will flourish as the European Union matures. Minority religions are in serious jeopardy because they are not recognized as legitimate socially and politically and not protected legally. Let’s take a look at what life is like for members of the Messianic Communities in Germany and France.
II. PRESENT STATUS OF MESSIANIC COMMUNITIES IN EUROPE:
ANTI-CULTISTS ACTIVELY PROMOTE INTOLERANCE WITH LIES
A. Germany
