We, participants of International Conference "Totalitarian Cults - Threat of Twenty-First Century", are extremely anxious about uncontrolled activities of totalitarian sects (destructive cults), which has the character of an unmasked expansion, bearing an irretrievable loss to human health, violating fundamental human rights, threatening family, society and state.
We believe that the state must be interested in the unhindered activity and well-being of traditional, culture-founding religions, professed by the majority of population, and in giving support and help to them.
The experience of Russia has shown that a country in which spirituality of ethical monotheism is destroyed is susceptible to the dangerous development of the most primitive pagan superstitions and practices arising both from within the country and brought in from without. We note with dismay that those people in the West who have fallen away from Christ are now preaching their neo-pagan and occult doctrines in Russia. At the same time we must also admit that numerous occult, neo-pagan and totalitarian movements are being created in Russia as well.
A totalitarian cult could be defined as an authoritarian organization whose leaders, seeking exploitation of and power over their adepts, hide their intentions behind religious, politico-religious, psychotherapeutic, health care, educational, pseudo-scientific, cultural sociological and other masks.
Totalitarian sects practice fraud, hiding their intentions and obtrusive propaganda to attract new adepts. They censor the information coming to their members, and use other unethical methods of control over personality, including psychological pressure, threats and other means of keeping the adepts in the organization. Thus the totalitarian sects violate the human right for a free informative choice of ideology and way of life.
Moreover, the sectarian nature of an organization is shown by its rejecting of all world culture outside the limits of that organization.
Currently, totalitarian sects (destructive cults) are actively infiltrating educational institutions, the health care system, state agencies, industrial and commercial structures. They often change their names and disguise themselves, acting in confessional anonymity or under pseudonyms, under cover of specially created fictitious organizations, whose relation to the cult is either not advertised or altogether concealed.
We would like to appeal to mass media to warn all the people about the danger of destructive cults. In our opinion those who work in secondary and higher educational systems should inform pupils and students about the existence and activities of totalitarian sects.
We assume that our country's legislation on freedom of conscience and religious activity up to now is not adequate. While traditional religions may not need any specific state protection from totalitarian sects, citizens of Russia do. We put forward an initiative to introduce into Russian legislation alterations or amendments, or to adopt new legislative acts of direct action in order to put under astrict control, to restrict or even to ban the activity of totalitarian sects (destructive cults) and other groups falling under such definition. Here we can use legislative experience of such European countries as France, Belgium, Germany and Austria.
We would like to underline that in speaking of totalitarian sects (destructive cults) we do not mean new religious movements. We speak about the groups whose ideology and practice are dangerous for the personality and the society. We, participants of the Conference - people of different countries, nations and convictions, professing different religions and belonging to different Christian confessions are unanimous about one thing: menace from totalitarian sects is to be overcome, which requires consolidation of efforts of state, traditional religions and public. We express the hope that the XXI century will not be an age of pseudo-religious totalitarianism, but an age of freedom of speech, conviction and religion.
The following modern destructive cults are considered most well-known and
dangerous:
The Church of Scientology and other Hubbard's organizations (Dianetics
centers, Narconon, Criminon etc.), The Jehovah's Witnesses, The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), The Unification
Church and other Moonie organizations (including Family Federation for
World Peace and Unification, CARP, et. al.), The Krishna Consciousness
Society and other neo-krishnait missions in West, The Transcendental
Meditation and other organizations of Maharishi, Ananda Marga,
Sahaja-yoga, the cult of Shri Chinmoy, Brahma Kumaris, the cult of
Satya Sai Baba, 3HO (Kundalini-Yoga), cult of Osho Rajnesh, The
AUM Shynrikyo, Soka Gakkay, The Falung Gong, The Family (Children of God), The
Church of Christ (Boston Movement), The Local Church of Witness Lee, The
Faith Movement (Neo-Pentecostal movement, including such cults as The
Church of New Generation, The Word of Life, The Church of Testament, The Living
Faith, The Living Water, The Church upon the Stone, The New Life, The Dew, The
Grace, The House of Pot Maker, The Church of Love of Christ, various Churches of
Full Gospel et. al.), The Church Universal and Triumphant, New Acropolis, Sinton
of N. Kozlov, The Church of God’s Mother The Reigning One (The
Birth-Giver of God Center), The White Brotherhood, Zealots of True Godliness
(sect of Peter), The Church of the Last Testament (sect of Vissarion), cult
of Porfiry Ivanov, cult of ‘Anastasia’ (authored by V. Megre), The
School of Schetinin, the cult of Evgeny Berezikov, Rhythmology
(Radasteya of E. Marchenko), the cult of Stolbun, Tetrada, the cult
of Tolgat Akbashev, The Land of Anur, the cult of Olga Asauliak, The
School of Lhasa (the cult of A. Chervonenko), The Zolotov Academy of
Frontal Problems, The Path of Trajan, Towards the Rule of God (the cult of a
retired general Petrov), pseudo-tantric cults of Lapin and Rudnev, Astral
Karate, Reiki, OTO, Landmark International Education - Forum (formerly EST),
Life Spring, International Interrelationship Centers (Seminars of Bill
Ridler), various commercial cults et. al.
We witness to an anti-Christian and destructive character of different cults, based on the New Age movement, theosophy, anthroposophy, teaching of Roerikh family, astrological and UFO cults, neo-pagan and nativist cults, magic work, witchcraft (Wikka), neo-shamanism, cult of Lucifer, and Satanism.
We affirm the interdiction of forcing upon high school and college students, under the guise of pseudo-scientific studies of various kinds, the ideas and practices of the occult-magical and immoral character (Valeology, The Basics of Life Process in the Space of Education, various pseudo-psychological seminars and trainings, et. al.). In addition, a school must not become the field of propaganda of various pseudo-religious cultic doctrines.