Chinese, foreign scholars discuss "evil cult" problem at Beijing symposium

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific/November 13, 2000

Resolute measures must be adopted to solve the problem of evil cults was the conclusion of an International Symposium on Evil Cults in Beijing, China's official news agency has said. It added that religious freedom and human rights should not get in the way of combating these organizations. It said that although differences in historical and cultural backgrounds lead to differences in understanding of the cults, the common characteristics of evil cults are that they are "anti-humane, anti-society, in violation of human rights, and hazardous to individuals' legitimate rights and interests".

The news agency added that dealing "with evil cults according to law is an important measure to respect the international norm of human rights, protect human rights, and protect people from the harms of evil cults"and that those who are under the influence of these cults should be educated and cared for and not discriminated against.

Text of report by Ni Siyi and Wu Liming, carried by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Beijing, 10th November: In view of internationalization of the evil cults and their exploitation of legal loopholes in some countries to carry out transnational propaganda and commit transnational crimes, Chinese and foreign experts on evil cults appeal here: The strength of one country alone is not enough to stop the rampancy of evil cults. In combating them, it is imperative to strengthen international cooperation.

A two-day International Symposium on Evil Cults ended [here] today [10th November]. More than 60 experts and scholars from France, the United States, Canada, Russia, Uganda, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and China's Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions and mainland proposed that relevant countries should increase exchange of information and cult control experience and cooperate in action to prevent and combat the evil cult activities.

The experts and scholars discussed such topics as "evil cults and the society", "an introduction to evil cults", "the evil cults in various countries", "the history, tradition and current situation of evil cults", "the harms of evil cults", and "control measures", and expressed their views without any inhibitions. They comprehensively and thoroughly discussed all angles and aspects of the evil cult problems and put forward some creative and enlightening views.

They generally believe: Although the evil cults in various countries are disguised in various forms, their essence is invariably anti-humane, anti-society, in violation of human rights, and hazardous to individuals' legitimate rights and interests and to the overall interests of the general public. The most notorious ones of them are China's "Falun Gong", the "Davidians" of the West, and Japan's Aum Supreme Truth sect. To deal with such evil organizations, we must adopt resolute measures to solve the problem once for all; and we must not sit by idly letting them become rampant in hurting people in the name of "religious freedom" and "human rights."

On how to prevent and deal with the evil cult problem, an American scholar pointed out that if the people know what a genuine religion is, it will be easy for them to distinguish any evil cults under the cloak of religion. A scholar from Japan held that if we do not solve the problem of perplexedness caused by secularization and modernization, we will be unable to stop the spread of the evil cults. A scholar from France made some suggestions on how to stop the infiltration of evil cults into enterprises and eliminate their influence on children. A scholar from Canada made some comments on the activities of opposing evil cults in the United States. Some Chinese scholars pointed out that it is necessary to establish and improve community organizations that are beneficial to the public, and give full play to their role of providing the necessary service to meet the need of the people's cultural life and to weaken and prevent the influence of evil cults. Both Chinese and foreign scholars generally believe that individual, family, community, mass organization, and government should all do what they can do and cooperate closely with one another to deal with the evil cult problem in an all-round way, and the government should step up organization and coordination of the efforts.

Some scholars said it is necessary to increase academic studies and international academic exchange, bring into full play the strength of the academic circles, and carry out a multi-discipline systematic research on the evil cult problem, so as to produce more useful enlightenment for the human society and some constructive opinions and suggestions for all circles of the society to jointly deal with the evil cult problem.

It is reported that after two days of discussion and exchange of experience, Chinese and foreign scholars have basically reached the following consensus on the evil cult problem:

1. Because of different historical and cultural background, different countries have different understanding of the cults. For this reason, in defining whether a cult is evil or not, we should not excessively debate whether it is a genuine religion or not. We should mainly view it from the angle of whether it is harmful to the society.

2. The harms of evil cults are many-sided and evil cults are harmful to various groups, various regions and various trades and professions.

3. In view of the serious threat and great danger caused by evil cults to the human society, we must not ignore the evil cult problem and let it spread. We should take an attitude of being responsible to mankind and actively adopt measures to prevent and deal with the evil cult problem, and we must not let evil cults harm the society.

4. Evil cults should be dealt with according to law. To deal with evil cults according to law is an important measure to respect the international norm of human rights, protect human rights, and protect people from the harms of evil cults. For this reason, we should act according to our law and our actual situation and also learn from the good practices of other countries in doing a good job of solving the evil cult problem, so as to protect the citizen's legitimate rights and interests and the overall interests of the general public. Whoever commits crime in violation of the law must be punished according to law.

5. To deal with the large number of victims who have joined the evil cults by mistake, we should educate and guide them, care for them, and help them restore their normal mentality, learn necessary job skills, completely free themselves from the influence and fetters of evil cults, and return to the society. We must not discriminate against, reject, or attack them. Otherwise, they will sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire of error, become the sacrificial objects of evil cults, and become anti-social.