03/07/2026 17:20 - 19:30

HALL: Pola - A106

Contact: Introvigne M.

Chair: Nemes M.

This session brings together six interdisciplinary papers that examine the contemporary resurgence of anti-cult discourse and the revival of "brainwashing" narratives across diverse cultural, legal, and political contexts. The first paper maps this global revival, tracing how transnational anti-cult networks have fueled renewed anxieties in countries as varied as Australia, Argentina, Japan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. The second paper analyzes the Victoria (Australia) Inquiry on "cults," showing how the extension of "coercive control" to religious movements repackages discredited theories under a new legal vocabulary. A third contribution explores sacred eroticism and the mechanisms through which anti-cult rhetoric delegitimizes esoteric erotic spiritual practices, often enabling disproportionate state intervention. The fourth paper examines the French agency MIVILUDES, highlighting how its reliance on the legally codified notion of "psychological subjugation" exposes structural weaknesses in France's anti-cult model. The fifth paper offers an emic and psychological analysis of POYRA (Path of YahRa), showing how media campaigns construct stigmatizing representations that threaten religious liberty in the Czech Republic. The final paper presents the testimony of a Church of Almighty God refugee, documenting both persecution in China and the transnational extension of repression into democratic countries. Collectively, the session demonstrates how anti-cult discourse continues to shape public policy, media narratives, and legal frameworks, with a bizarre return of "brainwashing" theories scholars discredited long ago, raising urgent questions about pluralism, state power, and the protection of freedom of belief in contemporary societies.