WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee said Wednesday new European laws that treat some religious groups — sometimes including Mormons — as dangerous cults are giving world dictators an excuse to crack down on religious dissenters.
For example, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House International Affairs Subcommittee on Operations and Human Rights, said, "China's Communist leaders are studying the French precedent for possible use against the Falun Gong movement."
She said she called the hearing to focus on actions by such countries as France, Belgium and Germany against "cults" because many countries "are considering similar legislation."
Assistant Secretary of State Lorne W. Cramer said many European countries have formed government agencies to collect and disseminate information on what they consider to be harmful cults, including evaluating their risk for brainwashing, financial exploitation and isolation from family.
For example, "The Belgian list of sects includes Baptists, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, the Roman Catholic prelate of Opus Dei and the Young Women's Christian Association," he said.
The subcommittee was most worried about a law passed by France in May that allows fining or dissolving religious groups if a leader has two or more convictions on such vague things as "endangering the physical and psychological well-being of a person," or "violation of another person's freedom, dignity or identity."
Cramer said the State Department is "very concerned that the French model of anti-cult legislation will be adopted and misused by countries that possess neither the French rule of law nor France's history of protecting human rights." Actress Catherine Bell, star of the TV series "JAG," and a member of the Church of Scientology (a target of anti-cult laws in many European countries), said, "It is ironic that the official in charge of Paris' bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games cited China's human rights record as a reason the Games should not go to Beijing.
"The testimony presented today makes clear that not only the Chinese, but also the French government, is in violation of the nondiscrimination clause in the Olympic charter," she said.
She added, "If we cannot persuade the French government to uphold standards of human rights, what must be our chances of success when dealing with countries like the Sudan or Iraq?"
Singer Isaac Hayes, another Scientologist, told how French police refused to allow a march he joined last October by people of many religious faiths to rally for religious freedom.
"These officials were nervous, frightened and intolerant," he said. "I could not help being reminded of 1989, when Chinese tanks advanced on the students in Tiananmen Square. . . . The French officials showed that same fear, that same intolerance of the right to hold and express personal belief."
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who visited France to talk to officials about the new law, said, "We have seen evidence that some French officials are actively promoting the model" of legislation it passed worldwide.
Ros-Lehtinen said some Western European countries took steps against "cults" in part because of the "Solar Temple" suicides in Canada, France and Switzerland, but much of it seems to be a reaction against anything seen as an American import.
"Some newspapers in Europe have referred to these so-called sects and an American Trojan horse," she said. "French lawmakers spoke frequently about the perceived problems relating to U.S. churches and evangelicals from America."