33 VOLUME 9 |ISSUE 1 |2018
Correspondents
,
Reports
Director Marco Danieli’s debut, La
Ragazza del mondo [Worldly Girl], or in
France, L’Affranchie [The Emancipated
Woman], won the Lizzani Award at the
2016 Venice Film Festival. Basing his
plot on the experiences of a friend,
Danieli takes the viewer deep inside the
stark world of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The
film made an impression because this
religious movement is not well known
in France (Racque, 2017), although it
was granted legal status in 1906 and
officially counts more than 100,000
thousand followers in the country (jw.
org).
MIVILUDES has not categorized
Jehovah’s Witnesses as a cult, although
it closely watches the group’s activities,
having received notifications from
former members about abuses. Serge
Blisko, President of MIVILUDES, asserts
that, “In several respects, one may
almost see them as a classical Christian
religious minority” (Racque, 2017).
French critics almost unanimously
recognized the film’s balanced
treatment of its subject matter and
its avoidance of binary clichés. In the
director’s words, “We discovered a very
cohesive and organised community,
they’re very determined.... We tried to
be objective and realistic in portraying
that world, we tried to make all the
characters three-dimensional because
they all have a dark side to them,
including the protagonist” (Danieli,
2016).
Mormonism
On April 7, 2017, former US presidential
candidate Mitt Romney and his wife
Ann attended the inauguration of
the first temple in France of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. Located in Le Chesnay, next
to Versailles, this temple opened its
doors to visitors for guided tours until
its consecration on May 21, when it
became exclusively a place of worship
for Mormons. The presence of Mormons
in France dates to 1849 (RFI, 2017), and
the first French Mormon temple was
founded in Tahiti, French Polynesia, in
1983.
Although there are already 110
Mormon churches in France, none of
them may serve the sacraments of
baptism, sealing—as marriage is called,
or ordinances for salvation on behalf of
deceased persons. Until now, Mormons
in metropolitan France who wished
to participate in such ceremonies had
to travel to Bern, Switzerland, where a
temple was dedicated in 1955. Today,
Mormons claim 38,000 followers in
metropolitan France and 22,000 in
overseas departments, figures based
on the number of baptisms (Laffargue,
2017). According to Bernadette
Rigal-Cellard, professor of American
Studies at the University of Bordeaux
Montaigne and author of the 2012
book La Religion des Mormons [The
Religion of the Mormons], it is more
accurate to count approximately 20,000
practitioners in all French locations
(Laffargue, 2017). The mayor of Le
Chesnay, Philippe Brillaut, estimates
that the new temple and its annexes
cost 80 million Euros to build (Laffargue,
2017).
Though sometimes alleged to be a
cult (Hassan, 2016), Mormonism is
not considered as such by the French
watchdog agency MIVILUDES (Segalas,
2017). What seems certain is that
the existence of this new temple will
serve to advance Mormonism as an
institution in France.
Raëlism
On October 15, 2016, a hybrid fiction
and documentary film was released in
France that dramatizes the activities of
Raëlians in their annual summer retreat
in Croatia. Through the adventures of
two French female protagonists who
participate in this retreat, Bonheur
Académie [Happiness Academy], by
Kaori Kinoshita and Alain Della Negra,
also conveys the teachings of Claude
Vorilhon, who calls himself Raël. Now
71 years old, Raël believes that a race of
extraterrestrials called the Elohim, some
of whom he alleges to have met in
1973, created life on Earth using cloning
technology, with the final creation
being humans.
Founded in 1974, and with its seat in
Geneva, Switzerland, Raëlism claims
to have more than 85,000 followers
worldwide (rael.org), although the
number of active followers may be
closer to 2,000 (Bilodeau, 2017).
Distinct from religious cults, Raëlism
is atheistic and denies the existence
of the soul. Its attraction lies in its
promotion of peace, the progress of
humanity, gender equality, sensuality,
and sexual liberation—on August 26,
2017, women in Geneva celebrated the
tenth international day “Go Topless,”
which was initiated by Raëlism. In
France the association dissolved itself
on September 13, 2003, believing it
was a victim of harassment by the
government and various organizations.
In 1995, a commission of inquiry on
cults had issued a report through the
National Assembly that categorized the
movement as a cult, particularly for its
financial abuses. This categorization
explains why its retreats—referred
to as the Happiness Academy—take
place in locations outside France, such
as Croatia, which is featured in the
film Bonheur Académie. As though to
show that the film does not endorse
Raëlism, UniFrance—an organization
for promoting French films outside
France, and the Cultural Services of the
French Embassy in the United States
supported the film’s release at the 2017
New Directors/New Films festival in
New York, March 15–26.
Veganism and Antispeciesism
The launch in November 2017 of a
Loving Hut restaurant in the heart of
Paris, at 92 Boulevard Beaumarchais,
close to Le Marais neighborhood, seems
to have reopened a discussion about
veganism as a cult (Hamet, 2017). The
Loving Hut chain, founded in 2009 by
a Vietnamese-born woman, “Supreme
Master Ching Hai,” whom many perceive
to be a cult leader, serves in part to
finance the operations of Ching Hai’s
international businesses. However, if
Ching Hai promotes the vegan lifestyle,
it does not necessarily follow that
most vegans are cultic. And although
veganism may be spreading in France,
as evidenced by an increasing number
of blogs and book publications, there
is little in this movement that links it to
cults. When the lifestyle is embraced
for ethical reasons, veganism may
Correspondents
,
Reports
Director Marco Danieli’s debut, La
Ragazza del mondo [Worldly Girl], or in
France, L’Affranchie [The Emancipated
Woman], won the Lizzani Award at the
2016 Venice Film Festival. Basing his
plot on the experiences of a friend,
Danieli takes the viewer deep inside the
stark world of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The
film made an impression because this
religious movement is not well known
in France (Racque, 2017), although it
was granted legal status in 1906 and
officially counts more than 100,000
thousand followers in the country (jw.
org).
MIVILUDES has not categorized
Jehovah’s Witnesses as a cult, although
it closely watches the group’s activities,
having received notifications from
former members about abuses. Serge
Blisko, President of MIVILUDES, asserts
that, “In several respects, one may
almost see them as a classical Christian
religious minority” (Racque, 2017).
French critics almost unanimously
recognized the film’s balanced
treatment of its subject matter and
its avoidance of binary clichés. In the
director’s words, “We discovered a very
cohesive and organised community,
they’re very determined.... We tried to
be objective and realistic in portraying
that world, we tried to make all the
characters three-dimensional because
they all have a dark side to them,
including the protagonist” (Danieli,
2016).
Mormonism
On April 7, 2017, former US presidential
candidate Mitt Romney and his wife
Ann attended the inauguration of
the first temple in France of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. Located in Le Chesnay, next
to Versailles, this temple opened its
doors to visitors for guided tours until
its consecration on May 21, when it
became exclusively a place of worship
for Mormons. The presence of Mormons
in France dates to 1849 (RFI, 2017), and
the first French Mormon temple was
founded in Tahiti, French Polynesia, in
1983.
Although there are already 110
Mormon churches in France, none of
them may serve the sacraments of
baptism, sealing—as marriage is called,
or ordinances for salvation on behalf of
deceased persons. Until now, Mormons
in metropolitan France who wished
to participate in such ceremonies had
to travel to Bern, Switzerland, where a
temple was dedicated in 1955. Today,
Mormons claim 38,000 followers in
metropolitan France and 22,000 in
overseas departments, figures based
on the number of baptisms (Laffargue,
2017). According to Bernadette
Rigal-Cellard, professor of American
Studies at the University of Bordeaux
Montaigne and author of the 2012
book La Religion des Mormons [The
Religion of the Mormons], it is more
accurate to count approximately 20,000
practitioners in all French locations
(Laffargue, 2017). The mayor of Le
Chesnay, Philippe Brillaut, estimates
that the new temple and its annexes
cost 80 million Euros to build (Laffargue,
2017).
Though sometimes alleged to be a
cult (Hassan, 2016), Mormonism is
not considered as such by the French
watchdog agency MIVILUDES (Segalas,
2017). What seems certain is that
the existence of this new temple will
serve to advance Mormonism as an
institution in France.
Raëlism
On October 15, 2016, a hybrid fiction
and documentary film was released in
France that dramatizes the activities of
Raëlians in their annual summer retreat
in Croatia. Through the adventures of
two French female protagonists who
participate in this retreat, Bonheur
Académie [Happiness Academy], by
Kaori Kinoshita and Alain Della Negra,
also conveys the teachings of Claude
Vorilhon, who calls himself Raël. Now
71 years old, Raël believes that a race of
extraterrestrials called the Elohim, some
of whom he alleges to have met in
1973, created life on Earth using cloning
technology, with the final creation
being humans.
Founded in 1974, and with its seat in
Geneva, Switzerland, Raëlism claims
to have more than 85,000 followers
worldwide (rael.org), although the
number of active followers may be
closer to 2,000 (Bilodeau, 2017).
Distinct from religious cults, Raëlism
is atheistic and denies the existence
of the soul. Its attraction lies in its
promotion of peace, the progress of
humanity, gender equality, sensuality,
and sexual liberation—on August 26,
2017, women in Geneva celebrated the
tenth international day “Go Topless,”
which was initiated by Raëlism. In
France the association dissolved itself
on September 13, 2003, believing it
was a victim of harassment by the
government and various organizations.
In 1995, a commission of inquiry on
cults had issued a report through the
National Assembly that categorized the
movement as a cult, particularly for its
financial abuses. This categorization
explains why its retreats—referred
to as the Happiness Academy—take
place in locations outside France, such
as Croatia, which is featured in the
film Bonheur Académie. As though to
show that the film does not endorse
Raëlism, UniFrance—an organization
for promoting French films outside
France, and the Cultural Services of the
French Embassy in the United States
supported the film’s release at the 2017
New Directors/New Films festival in
New York, March 15–26.
Veganism and Antispeciesism
The launch in November 2017 of a
Loving Hut restaurant in the heart of
Paris, at 92 Boulevard Beaumarchais,
close to Le Marais neighborhood, seems
to have reopened a discussion about
veganism as a cult (Hamet, 2017). The
Loving Hut chain, founded in 2009 by
a Vietnamese-born woman, “Supreme
Master Ching Hai,” whom many perceive
to be a cult leader, serves in part to
finance the operations of Ching Hai’s
international businesses. However, if
Ching Hai promotes the vegan lifestyle,
it does not necessarily follow that
most vegans are cultic. And although
veganism may be spreading in France,
as evidenced by an increasing number
of blogs and book publications, there
is little in this movement that links it to
cults. When the lifestyle is embraced
for ethical reasons, veganism may
