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Dr. Massimo Introvigne, on Ban of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia | JW.BORG Videos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo...
Wikipedia excerpt:
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955, in Rome) is an Italian Roman Catholic[1] sociologist of religion[2] and intellectual property attorney.[3][4] He is a founder and the managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), a Turin-based organization which has been described as "the highest profile lobbying and information group for controversial religions.
Introvigne and new religions
Swedish academic Per Faxneld, writing for Reading Religion, described Introvigne as "one of the major names in the study of new religions."[21] Sociologist Roberto Cipriani has called Introvigne "one of the Italian sociologists of religion most well-known abroad, and among the world's leading scholars of new religious movements".[22]
In 2001, sociologist Stephen A. Kent described Introvigne as a "persistent critic of any national attempts to identify or curtail so-called 'cults'",[5] arguing that,
"In the context, therefore, of the debate over Scientology in France and Germany, CESNUR is a think-tank and lobbying group, attempting to advance Scientology's legitimation goals by influencing European and American governmental policies toward it. It is not a neutral academic association, even less so because on its web page Introvigne intermingles ideological positions within solid research and information. On issues, however, that are key to the religious human rights debates — apostates, brainwashing, undue influence, compromised academic research, 'sect' membership and the potential for harm, critical information exchange on the Internet, etc. — he advocates doctrinaire positions that favour groups like Scientology."[5]
In the mid-1990s, Introvigne testified on behalf of Scientologists in a criminal trial in Lyon.[5]
Popular culture and vampires
Introvigne is also director of CESPOC, the Center for the Study of Popular Culture.[29]
He was the Italian director of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, which included the leading academic scholars in the field of the literary and historical study of the vampire myth.[30][31] In 1997, J. Gordon Melton and Introvigne organized an event at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles where 1,500 attendees came dressed as vampires for "creative writing contest, Gothic rock music and theatrical performances".[30]
References
- ^ Introvigne, Massimo (March 20, 2021). "The Ghent Jehovah's Witness Decision: Dangerous for All Religions". Bitter Winter. Retrieved March 20, 2021. EXCERPT: The decision rendered on March 16, 2021 by the Court of Ghent in Belgium, which states that suggesting that current members of a religious organization do not associate with ex-members who have been disfellowshipped or have left the organization amounts to discrimination and incitement to hatred, is not dangerous for the Religious liberty of Jehovah’s Witnesses only. It represents a danger for all religions,..
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