France has passed a shocking new law on 9th April, that targets religious minorities (though can be used against any religion) as well as certain natural health practitioners who have been recategorized as ‘cult leaders’ for not supporting mainstream medical treatments.
The core of this new law now states that it is a criminal offence to “place or maintain persons in a state of psychological or physical subjection resulting from the exercise of serious or repeated pressure or techniques likely to impair their judgement and having the effect of causing serious deterioration of their physical or mental health or leading them to commit an act or refrain from acting that is seriously prejudicial to them”
These definitions are incredibly broad and subjective and could arbitrarily apply to daily prayer (a psychological subjection) or other religious meditations being used consistently which might result in an elderly person (or person of any age) being ‘persuaded’ to donate sums of money to their church or follow a religious life outside norms of society. Whilst perhaps not likely at this time to be applied to mainstream religions in France (though see separate article on expulsion of a nun from an Catholic insitution), if this were applied to a Moslem or Jehovah Witnesses or any other groups that may be ‘disfavoured’ in society, it would seriously affect freedom of religion or belief.
For full explanation of the law please read this article in Bitter Winter
https://bitterwinter.org/against-senates-opposition-france-passes-new-anti-cult-law/
