Sat, 02 Oct 1999

Le Monde articles: Anthroposophy is not a sect / Le Monde Artikel: Anthroposophie ist keine Sekte

By Christian von Arnim

London, 2 October 1999 (NNA) - Two articles published in the French newspaper “Le Monde” have defended anthroposophy against accusations of being a sect. In an analysis published in mid-September, “The battle against the sects and the defence of liberty”, the paper warns of unjustly stigmatising “perfectly harmless groups like the Rosicrucians and Anthroposophy” in the absence of any sound definition of what a sect is and on the basis of information “lacking any scientific and legal value”.

Another article published at the beginning of September, entitled “Is the Anthroposophical Society a sect?”, deals with the charges against Anthroposophy in greater detail. Warning of the dangers failing to discriminate between genuine sects and movements like Anthroposophy, the article describes the anthroposophical community in France as the victim of slander and rumour.

The pieces come in the wake of a report by the French parliament, published in June, which listed Anthroposophy as a sect.

“Without worrying about contradicting themselves in relation to a preceding investigation of 1995, which concluded that Anthroposophy is ”objectively harmless“, Jacques Guyard, president of the parliamentary committee, and his rapporteur, Jean-Pierre Brard, attack a current of thought which is one of the most traditional gnoses … and a modern wisdom aimed at better self-awareness, preceding the so-called New Age,” the paper writes.

ENDS

N991002-02EN Date: 2 October 1999

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