Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu
The {{Lang|fr|Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu}} (UNADFI) is a French anti-cult association founded in 1974,{{cite book|title=Religious Freedom: Its Confirmation and Violation During the 20th and 21st Centuries. 18. Jahrgang (2017), Heft 1+2|editor-first1=Gerhard|editor-last1=Besier|editor-first2=Ilkka|editor-last2=Huhta|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|year=2019|isbn=9783643997456|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55V9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA134|pages=134}} recognized as a public utility association by a decree of 30 April 1996,{{cite web |title=Décrets du 30 avril 1996 portant reconnaissance d'associations comme établissement d'utilité publique |url=http://legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000730314 |publisher=Legifrance |language=fr |year=1996 |access-date=2 December 2009}} and directly subsidized by the French state. It gathers and coordinates the Associations de Défense des Familles et de l'Individu (ADFI), whose purpose is to acquire information on the cult phenomenon with prevention and assistance for its victims.
In 1992, Janine Tavernier was the president of the association. But, in 2001 she resigned and began to criticize it.{{cite web |title=Chasse aux sorcières? |url=http://membres.lycos.fr/balisedepaix/Jeanine_tavernier.htm |publisher=La Balise de paix |work=Technikart |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823004507/http://membres.multimania.fr/balisedepaix/Jeanine_tavernier.htm|first=Joseph|last=Veillard|archive-date=23 August 2012|date=November 2007 |access-date=2 December 2009}} She was first replaced by Bernard Le Heritte, then in 2004 by Socialist deputy Catherine Picard.{{cite web |first=François |last=Koch |title=Catherine Picard — Une militante contre les sectes |url=https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/une-militante-contre-les-sectes_490164.html |work=L'Express |language=fr |date=26 March 2004 |access-date=2 December 2009}} As of 31 December 2004, UNADFI was composed of 26 ADFI associations and totaled 1,520 member families. The association is currently member of the Union nationale des associations familiales (UNAF),{{cite web |title=Union Nationale des Associations pour la Défense des Familles et de l'Individu |url=https://www.unaf.fr/article.php3?id_article=2382 |publisher=Union nationale des associations familiales |date=1 August 2005 |language=fr |access-date=2 December 2009}} as well as the FECRIS, an international anti-cult organization.
The association is sponsored by various ministries, including the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and by social affairs, as well as by various communes and departments totaling 450,000 euros in 2002, over 80% of its budget.[http://www.coordiap.com/enq37.htm Une entreprise militante soutenue par l'État], an investigation of the "Coordination des associations de particuliers pour la liberté de conscience". The [http://www.miviludes.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Miviludes_2006.pdf 2006 report] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304070354/http://www.miviludes.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Miviludes_2006.pdf |date=March 4, 2011 }} of the MIVILUDES confirms the sources.
The association publishes a magazine named BULLES (Bulletin de liaison pour l'étude des sectes), which criticizes many groups, including those which were listed in the 1995 Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France report, and many others (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,{{Cite web |last=UNADFI |date=2011-06-12 |title=Les mormons |url=http://www.unadfi.org/IMG/pdf/Les_Mormons.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612141106/http://www.unadfi.org/IMG/pdf/Les_Mormons.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-12 |access-date=2022-08-13 |website=UNADFI}} Community of the Beatitudes{{Cite web |last=UNADFI |date=2012-04-14 |title=Familles victimes des dérives de la Communauté des Béatitudes |url=http://www.unadfi.org/IMG/pdf/Familles_victimes_des_derives_de_la_Communaute_des_Beatitudes.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414215110/http://www.unadfi.org/IMG/pdf/Familles_victimes_des_derives_de_la_Communaute_des_Beatitudes.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-14 |access-date=2022-08-13 |website=UNADFI}}).
Criticism
The UNADFI as well as associated groups has been criticized by psychologists and religious specialists as well as from targeted groups. Associations created to defend new religious movements such as the CAP LC (Coordination des associations de particuliers pour la liberté de conscience) and the CICNS (Le Centre d'information et de conseil des nouvelles spiritualités) publish testimonies of the victims of the ADFI member groups.
In 1992, Jean Miguères, who AFDI had declared a cult leader, was assassinated by his father-in-law, a member of the AFDI, which resulted in criticism.{{Cite book |last=Faubert |first=Serge |title=Une secte au coeur de la République: les réseaux français de l'Eglise de scientologie |publisher=Calmann-Lévy |year=1993 |isbn=978-2-7021-1947-1 |location=Paris |pages=220–221 |language=fr-FR}}
=Criticism of ideological bias=
The association has been criticized of defending conservative values and favoring Catholicism, to which the majority of the member organizations belong.
The sociologist Bruno Étienne notes that "the only beneficiary is a system which is clearly ideologically positioned". He believes that "The concepts of 'family' and 'of the individual' are not any more neutral than the notion of brainwashing".Bruno Étienne, La France face aux sectes, Hachette littératures, 2002, 318 p. ({{ISBN|2-01-235569-2}}).
Historian of religion Anne Morelli estimated in 1997 that the methods of anti-cult groups are "the same everywhere: to discredit all the religious groups outside of the large classic religions and to seed disinformation about them. The 'cult of the anti-cult' squeezes the media and politics in particular, but doesn't neglect the university research sector either. In France two associations share this 'market', corresponding to the two fundamental options in French society: one is secular (the CCMM), and the other is catholic (The UNADFI)".{{cite book|first=Anne|last=Morelli|author-link=Anne Morelli|title=Lettre ouverte à la secte des adversaires des sectes|date=1997|publisher=Labor|location=Bruxelles|pages=96|isbn=2-8040-1246-8}}{{cite book|language=nl|title=Open brief aan de sekte van de sektetegenstanders|location=Berchem|publisher=EPO|date=1997|pages=124|isbn=90-6445-052-8}}.
Since her resignation from the movement in 2002, Janine Tavernier, president from 1993 to 2002, has leveled the same kind of criticisms towards her former employer. {{Blockquote|The association was founded by persons of Catholic faith, but open about it. I wanted to go towards more openness. Little by little a lot of Freemasons have entered the UNADFI, giving it a shade it hadn't had originally.|Janine Tavernier|Xavier Ternisien, "[http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=966158 Janine Tavernier : "Il faut distinguer les mouvements religieux des vraies sectes"]", in Le Monde, 17 November 2006.}}
{{Blockquote|Today I worry when I hear the president of the UNADFI, Catherine Picard criticise without distinction at the reunion of "evangelical churches".|Janine Tavernier }}
Tavernier explains that she resigned because a "witch hunt" had taken place.
Associations critical of the UNADFI reproach the association of involving itself in divorce proceedings, where an abusive use of the word "cult" would result in winning guardianship over children.{{Cite web |last=CICNS |title=Le spectre de la secte dans les jugements de divorce |url=http://www.cicns.net/Divorce_Sectes.htm |access-date=2022-08-13 |website=www.cicns.net}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.unadfi.org/ Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu]
{{Opposition_to_NRMs}}
{{New Religious Movements}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Union nationale des associations de defense des familles et de l'individu}}
Category:Organizations established in 1974
Category:French anti-cult organizations and individuals
Category:Government opposition to new religious movements