Chebanenko Valeriy
The Chairman of the all-Ukrainian social organization "Cult and society".
Now that cults are being active all over the world, a concept is developing among the scientists that the society should be more tolerant to the beliefs, or doctrines accepted by the cults' disciples and pay more attention to the activities held by the cults.
As a matter of fact, they suggest studying the concrete behaviour regardless of the reasons for which the person decided to behave that very way. I consider this position to be wrong in terms of the scientific research on cults. Unless we remove the source of the problem we are facing, the problem will not only continue existing, but it will also expand, develop and take new shapes.
The experience of the research on cults has shown that it is the doctrine which causes the initial conflict between a cult and a person, a cultic group and the society. The doctrine is the fundamental base of any activities performed by any cult (religious, commercial, political etc.). It is the doctrine of the cult that forms the world perception of the disciples, whereas the cultic practice only enforces it. The doctrine establishes the conceptual platform for the cultic group's activities.
There we have a question: why are there destructive cults growing on the soil of the world traditional religions' dogmas? For example, Orthodox doctrine itself might not allegedly provoke any conflicts within the society, yet we know a lot of cultic groups, calling themselves religious, whereas in fact they are destructive. I had been thinking over this question for a long time until I went to China and found the answer.
Heretical sect. There is a law in the PRC, prohibiting heretical groups. We will dwell not upon the mechanism of that law, but upon the fact that such law exists. This law gives definition of a heretical sect and with the purpose to protect religious identity, traditional basis of morality and culture, this law prohibits the activities of cultic groups, which reject the canonical forms of traditional religions (with which the cults actually associate themselves). Another question is: should the government interfere with these concerns of a cult? The two thousand year-old experience of fight against hereticism in China has shown that it is government's duty to interfere with this processes. Government must protect the conventional teaching of the traditional religions, which have an influence on society, its morals and manners. It is not the officials, who give the definition of hereticism in China. It is the special committees, which consists of the leading specialists in the sphere of theology. The Chinese specialists who study the activities of the heretical sects do not use the "destructive sect" definition, yet the criteria for destructiveness are included in the definition of hereticism.
Hereticism in the world religions, i.e. the absence of dogmas, inevitably provokes the emergence of a doctrine, which contains the destructive mechanisms of influencing people, lack of which, the leaders of the religious sects can not control their adherents. From all said above we can draw a conclusion that cultic destructive groups, which claim themselves to be traditional religious groups, while in fact they are not, since they do not acknowledge the conventional dogma, are heretical sects.
One more reference to the doctrine of the cult. Any cult exists thanks to its teaching (doctrine), which states the task of the cult; the teaching unites the adherents of the cult and it is through the teaching that the leaders of the cult influence the disciples. And if a cultic group conflicts with the law, the violation of the law must become the basis for the research of:
A. the doctrine
B. the cult's practice.
At the same time the propagation of the destructive doctrine is not considered to be human rights violation, on the contrary it is considered to be human rights protection according art. 9 part 2 of "Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms".
"Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others".
Also PACE Recommendation 1804 (2007)
16."Freedom of religion is protected by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Such freedom is not unlimited, however: a religion whose doctrine or practice ran counter to other fundamental rights would be unacceptable".
Why is the Falun Gong prohibited in China?
Coming back to the topic of the religious freedoms in the PRC, it is necessary to admit that one of the reasons for the Falun Gong activities prohibition was the fact that the Falun Gong leaders had basically created a heretical religion, which was obtruding the the unfamiliar to the nation concepts, religious extremism and conventional morality undermining. Moreover the activities held by this cultic group could be identified as those harming human health (over 1000 cases of suicide), destructing families and undermining social order. After the activities of the Falun Gong had been prohibited, "the third powers" started using that organization for running informational-andpolitical events with the purpose to influence the decision-making process in the sociopolitical, economical and other spheres. Making a conclusion from the analysis of the reasons for the Falun Gong prohibition in China we can state the following:
The Falun Gong organization as well as the free dissemination of its doctrine is prohibited in China with the purpose to provide state security, social order and human health, conventional morality.
The above mentioned points totally correspond to the International Law, i.e. Art. 9 part 2 of "Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms".
Why aren't the Falun Gong activities restricted by the law in Ukraine?
The legislation is the basis of democracy. Democracy is based on the priority of the law. Democracy without the legislation mechanism of social security is not a democracy — it is anarchy. Absence of the law priority in a state means that the democratic principles are being violated.
Unfortunately, Ukraine is a country where there is no priority of the law and where they use the word combination "law doesn't exist", which means that the legislation hasn't been removed or denied — is simply not observed. That's why in Europe it is Ukraine that has become the center of the destructive cults', which are being created as the sources of profit for their leaders. But the most important thing in this destructive process is that cultic groups with heretical and destructive doctrines are used by the radical political powers for the propaganda of the New World Order. For Ukraine the New World Order is a new ideological monster in the form of the theocratic monarchy. Today on the basis of charismatic churches, preaching the NWO doctrine, there are several political parties registered, and it should be mentioned that the NWO doctrine has been estimated by the specialists as a "religiously extremist"one. The leaders of this cult do not conceal their true motives, saying that people need to create an Orthodax state, where the church will control the political sphere and the state in general and Orthodox doctrine will become the state ideology. The NWO doctrine is being lobbied on the highest governmental level. The charismatic churches movement is the biggest cult in Ukraine. According to the unofficial data the number of its adherents exceeds 1500000 people.
If such a powerful destructive cult with its purpose of ruining democracy registered is acting in Ukraine, then such small cults as the Falun Gong have even more rights for existence.
Unfortunately the Falun Gong organization in Ukraine as well as thousands of other cultic destructive groups is acting, being supported by the government. It is not because the activities of such groups are not restricted by the law, but because from the political point of view the leaders of such groups are free to act they way they want. Today's situation in Ukraine is beneficial for the involvement of the cultic groups in the informational-and-psychological campaigns, organized both by the international economics structures and the internal policy institutions with the purpose of influencing mass and individual consciousness realizing one's own political and economical interests.
Specialists state that the actions, taken by the Ukrainian representatives of "The Falun Gong"have signs of a purpose-organized informational campaign, which is a part of the informational war, waged by the "unknown warrior". This war, led by means of manipulation of social opinion in Ukraine is aimed at undermining the international reputation of the PRC, which can possibly result in aggravation of the Ukrainian-Chinese relations. In this situation the local Falun Dafa adherents are used as an unconsciouss mean of operation.
The world famous scientists, participating in our conference, have evaluated the Falun Dafa doctrine and the Falun Gong group's activities. The conclusions are pretty alarming.
What will be next?
