Hispanos Post Uk: Open Letter to the Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Justice

Open Letter to the Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Justice

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

Dear Lord Chancellor,

I am writing to ask you to take precautionary measures in relation to a religious group, a dangerous sect that is acting duplicitously. On the one hand this group acts in a public, safe manner, and respectfully of the law. On the other hand, concealed under the cloak of secrecy, this group is involved in practices that violate human dignity.

I, Rodlfo Marquez, accuse Pastor Enrique Duarte of the kidnapping of my children, Jose Marquez and Victor Marquez, and Pastol. Maximiliano Porto of the emotional abuse of my children, and the President of the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Samuel Davis, of complicity. Behind the mask of leaders, gurus, saints and seers, these men deceive, defraud and extort people in order to turn them into slaves manipulated by their whims. Address: 25 St John's Road, Watford, Hertfordshire WD17 1PZ Phone:01923 232728

At the end of March 1997, the media reported the suicide of 39 people from the (cult sect )"Heaven's Gate" in San Diego California. A total of 21 women and 18 men killed themselves, most of them between 18 and 24 years, to address the spacecraft travelling behind the comet Hale-Boopp.

Collective suicide is one of the most striking aspects of the behaviour of so-called cults. Remember the 74 deaths in Switzerland, France and Canada within three years of the Order of the Solar Temple; the FBI assault of the community of Davidians in Waco, United States with 80 dead including 21 children; and the criminal attacks on the Tokyo subway with poison gas of the Shoko Asahara Aoum sect in 1995.

But none of these events paralleled the collective suicide in Guyana on 18 November 1978 of 923 people and around 300 children belonging to the cult People's Temple, following orders from their religious leader Jim Jones. This is the social image that public opinion associated with new religious movements. However, public opinion and scientists do not always agree in their diagnoses.

Do not forget that Waco leader David Koresh and Jim Jones were destructive cult leaders. The Branch Davidian Seventh Day Adventists, also known as the “Branch Davidians", left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1942,-the mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 soldiers began. The experiments continued until 1945. In this case, the guinea pigs were Seventh Day Adventists who chose this option instead of joining the army.

I think it is necessary for the Council of Ministers of the Member States to arrange a sharing of information on the problems of the activities of these groups, and to address the issue of their tax exemptions, their respect for the law, and the disappearance of people. There is also a need for social, occupational and psychological support services for former members and for the legal vacuum that prevents action on individuals and organizations that carry out clearly punitive actions to be redressed.

Totalitarian sects and other organizations draw on their powerful reach and coercive persuasion techniques to erase the freedom, personality and identity of their followers to their own advantage. They use these techniques so effectively that, within these groups and organizations, the individual disappears as a human being, as the "brainwashing" that takes place destroys their human characteristics such as freedom, responsibility, personal autonomy and personal identity. Under these conditions, leaders of these groups find it extremely easy to get their followers to carry out hard work to serve their sect or organization, and, in some cases, outright criminal behaviour, as mentioned earlier.

It is evident that the behaviour of sects, and not just terrorist groups, is totally destructive to both the individual and society itself. It is premeditated in character, as there is a design and strategy that forces the individual to act in an opposite manner to the minimum requirements of human rights. Hence there is a need, and an unavoidable and inescapable obligation, in my opinion, for psychologists and non-psychologists to know these processes and, most importantly, to address these coercive influences wherever they arise (sects, advertising, etc.) It is important to remember that there are degrees of sectarian behaviour; it is not a matter of all or nothing.

There are certain techniques of persuasion that when used by advertising can curtail human freedom, especially when they are directed towards children or adolescents. "Brainwashing" can also be used by destructive cults ,and some totalitarian political regimes or terrorist groups. This raises important legal problems. The problems created by coercive sects may infringe upon very different legal precepts that should be examined in each case. This leads us into the territory of crimes against freedom and crimes of torture and other crimes against the person.

In addition, coercive practices may directly violate articles (3, 4, 5, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24.26 to 2, and 27-1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees to everyone the right "to physical integrity” and the fundamentals of forensic psychology and criminal investigation, without which people may be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment. One perspective to consider here is that the expression "moral integrity" is equivalent to that of "psychological integrity", while both allude to the non-physical part of personal integrity.

Therefore, if we assume that coercive sects commit a crime on the subject, the key issue here is the production of evidence and evidence to prove sufficiently before the courts. And here comes a controversial element in trying to prove the existence of duress and coercion: the radical difference of opinion between a follower and a former follower of the same sect. i.e. a former follower who, outside the group, denounced the coercive practices applied to themselves and to their peers.

The facts denounced by former followers of a sect are not well perceived by the current followers, who interpret them as normal e.g. justifiable retribution, self-sacrifice, renunciation, etc. Again, these facts are not received or rated in the same way. One man’s evidence of coercion,is for another the free and voluntary acceptance of a discipline or unconditional submission to a doctrine and the mandates of a hierarchy.

The allegation that the person gave consent and voluntarily took part in certain practices is common in relation to coercive sects. However, you can not legally accepted the consent of the victim to exonerate the guilt of sects, since such an argument is ineffective "when a constitutional principle is violated, such as the dignity of the person or the full development of personality" which is perfectly applicable in the case of coercive sects.

In any case, often the justice system allows many things for the sake of religious freedom or the freedom of parents, as, for example, when parents, members of Jehovah's Witnesses, are not condemned when they allow their children to die as a minor, by not allowing them to have a needed transfusion of blood that would save their life. Ideally, the actions of our government should not be limited to retrospective judgement on the free exercise of beliefs that have been freely acquired or which have hampered their ability to change, but also include the proactive use of preventive measures.

This aspect of prevention should be the one that takes on greater prominence, not only to address the issue of coercive sects. But this is far from being accepted by the judiciary, and would open a Pandora’s box that few want to open in relation to any religion (Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, etc.) that tends to instil in their children, from infancy their own religious beliefs, as their own parents instilled in them, and the cycle is repeated. Where is, thus, the freedom of children and religious freedom?