lthough the official position of the French government, conveyed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in July 1997, is that the state has no power to limit the freedom of religion, growing religious intolerance in France has led to intrusive measures by the state which violate this neutrality. In 1996, a parliamentary commission, relying on information from known “anti-cult” forces in France while ignoring reputable scholars, identified more than 170 religious and philosophical organisations as “sects”, among them the Baptists. Although not technically a source of law, the commission’s report has been quoted in court decisions and has led to discrimination against a number of religions.
Despite criticism of the report from the academic community, the government adopted the measures recommended by the Commission and in September 1996 created an “observatory on cults.” When this observatory was seen as lacking the required impetus to “fight cults”, the government announced in the autumn of 1998 that it was being replaced by an “interministerial mission” with greater enforcement powers and headed by men who could be relied on to forward an agenda of bigotry. Along with the new office, a series of legislative measures have been proposed to control religious minorities disfavoured by the state and to sanction discriminatory legal actions against them.
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