One of us was accosted outside Nice train station the other day by a smartly dressed and well-spoken man who wanted to introduce the truths contained in a magazine called La tour de garde. If your French is good you might guess that that's the word for watchtower and that the importunate stranger was a Jehovah's Witness. What struck our man, though, was that this particular street missionary was accompanied by a young girl, ten or eleven years old maybe, who followed her father's speech - she called him papa - with obvious attention and approval.

No surprise there for members of France's parliamentary committee which keeps a worried eye on the activities of sects. Says committee member Georges Fenech, "It's dreadful to see how many children are drawn into these groups and live distorted lives. Some of them are born into believers' families, others - adolescents - get attracted by offers of anything from free music lessons to help with homework and soon enough the brainwashing starts and that can have very long term effects."

Worst of all, adds Fenech, are the sects living in communes. "Recently we visited some families in the Pyrénées-Orientales belonging to an American sect called Tabitha's Place. These kids were denied birthdays, toys, schooling and almost everything else that's normal. They were told they were sure to go to heaven by living strictly according to the Bible." Fenech has described the children he saw as "like so many Nataschas ... that Austrian girl who was shut up in a basement for eight years". So why doesn't the government intervene? "It's not easy. Unless there's physical or sexual abuse that can be proved you get the cry going up about human rights." In our view, this is one of those cases where the only sensible reaction is to say "bugger human rights!". According to Fenech's committee some 60,000 French children are living in sect-based communities.

From Riviera Reporter 122, Aug/Sept 2007

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form