«You’ll know them through their deeds»

Lyudmila Filipovich can’t stand the very term “destructive religious organization”. Mrs. Filipovich admits the existence of the organizations and cults which rites has a destructive character, but “advises to give up” calling them destructive as she proves that there were “rare facts of destruction caused by some certain members of the organizations” (an interview for the “Dzerkalo Tyzhnya” newspaper).

But the activity of the Jehovah Witnesses is forbidden or restricted in 35 countries of the world. One of the reasons is that this pseudo religious organization sets taboo on blood transfusion for their adepts. Lyudmila Filipovich gives a very strange comment on this obscurantism: “Well, I do know about such accidents”. Well, but “accident” means that something quite unexpected happens while in this very case numerous useless people’s deaths are the result of the destructive cult doctrine.

Or let’s take the “Scientology church”. Its founder Ron Habbard was acknowledged “a typical liar and fraud” by the Supreme Court of Great Britain in 1984. Even today this sect is accused in numerous criminal offences proved by court in Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, USA, Greece, Germany, Italy, Russia and Belgium. Yuriy Kalinin and Yevgen Kharkovchenko, doctors of philosophy, wrote in 2000 that “the religious system and dogmata don’t play the main role in the Scientology church, it is simply the starting point for attacking the human mind, and it uses refined psychotechnics for this attack”.

But in 2004 the group of experts that consisted of 3 Ukrainian specialists in the field of religion studies – Lyudmila Filipovich, Victor Yelenskiy and Olexander Sagan – gave the “Scientology church” the status of the “religious organization, the methods of which correspond with the Uraine’s legislations”. This expert report, made on the 8th of June, year 2004 was ratified by the academic council of the Phylisophy department of Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy; the head of the council was Anatoliy Kolodniy (transaction №11). In summer 2007 Mrs. Filipovich told in public that she is proud of taking part in experts’ estimate of “scientologists”, and in 5 days mass media told about the regular “accident” of people’s deaths resulting from “scientology’s prohibition of any medical interfering with the divine human nature” (The Guardian 10.07.2007).

«It’s all the victims’ fault»

Or let’s take the Satanists, who are a classical sample of disruptiveness. La Vey, who is their idea-monger, preaches: “If someone gets into your way, ask him to stop it. If he goes on getting in your way, annihilate him”. Last year in May 666 tombs on the cemetery in Donetsk region were destroyed by vandals – the crosses and gravestones were broken and the graves were unearthed despite of the nationality – there were Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks and Jews. The local authorities had no doubt that it was made by Satanists, the number of desecrated tombs and the date of the crime – the “witch time”, Walpurgis – night, that is on the eve of the first of May. But Anatoliy Kolodniy accuses of being intolerant everyone, who seems to be unfriendly to Satanists. Maybe, he considers them to be sweet boys, who are searching for their spiritual world and satisfy their “religious” needs with the help of violence? Maybe, we should not just be tolerant with Satanists, we ought to propose them gracefully ourselves as a sacrifice?

It is already evident that the point of view of the academic religion studies experts are at variance with the simple Ukrainian citizens’ and foreign experts’ points of view. Their position towards the tragedy of thousands of victims who suffered from the “Great White Fellowship” can serve as an illustration. Anatoliy Kolodniy thinks that Marina Tsvigun’s penalty was unfair and Lyudmila Filipovich even expresses her excitement about Tsvigun’s art of telling lies: “She’s a fake, but a cool one”. And that are the victims themselves whom she accuses of the tragedy. Using the scientific lexicon of the religion studies expert, I’ll say that that is the victims’ fault that they “ain’t able to catch that Marina took them for fools so the cool chick got a sentence”. Maybe, according to this philosophy children, who are turned into addicts by drug-dealers, are the only ones to be blamed in it.

Academic religion studies experts can write on one of the pages of the textbook: “According to the point of the possible hazard, the new religious trends are nothing either for Ukraine or for any other country of the world” and on the next page there will be following “The problem exists indeed and the situation abroad is by not a bit better”. Unfortunately, there are too many logical traps that mesmerize the reader and lull him just like a metronome, which is standing on the table, does. Good – this way, evil – that way. Of course, it’s good that is accented. So, while praising the new cults’ charity missions, the academic religion studies experts don’t even make an assumption that the “charity” is the veil for the recruiting activity and advertisement. Because real charity is a deed of soul and it doesn’t want to get anything in return.

Is the “pastor’s” word a law?

The examples of setting new, unusual to Ukraine destructive cults are dramatically increasing. Recently it was announced about the registration of a new “confession” in our country. It’s “apostle” Olexiy Ledyaev, who comes from Latvia appealed in a frank way to follow his example and “Open your own church and shear your sheep, skin them – skin each of them three times, or even five times”. There is a video with this speech, which was shot on one of the hysterical Ledyaev’s sermons. It seems that everything’s clear, we see that Ledyaev is an impudent extortioner. But “academic science is totally against the ungrounded ideas… hostility and intolerance”. And it even mentions the “freedom of worship”, which must mean that our skin doesn’t belong to us and anyone who has claimed himself to be a pastor or an apostle supposedly has right to use them according to his liking.

Ledyaev has created an extremist doctrine of “the New Universal Order”. This doctrine was analyzed by the lawyers of the Customs Academy and they discovered that the “pastor” calls them up to seize the power and to change the constitution of our country. But thanks to the appreciation of the Ukrainian academic religion studies experts his own political and religious scam was registered in Ukraine as a “new confession” in spring 2007! And in September the “Fuhrer apostle” was appealing to the public in Dnepropetrovsk and called his unnaturally excited followers to “free the city from homosexuals and Muslims”! For this kind of “religious activity” four countries have already claimed Ledyaev to be a persona non grata and prohibited him to cross their borders. The Security service of Ukraine recommended not giving this extremist even a once valid only visa according to the experts’ estimate of the “New Universal Order” doctrine.

But since the first of March Olrxiy Ledyaev has got a Ukrainian visa: the State Committee for the nation and religion-related issues once again gave Ledyaev possibility to make numerous visits to Ukraine during a half a year term in order to “doing some canonical activity” in all the centers of Ukrainian regions! But it seems that the only canonical (i.e. set as a rule) thing for the “apostle’s” activity is the brutal breaking of any law. It is interesting to know that one of the leaders of the “New Generation” organization is Andriy Tishchenko, the councilor of the head of KMDA.

I by no means have pretentions to the philosophical outlook of “academic experts in religion studies”. But it is because of their appreciation of those experts destructive cults get an official status of religious organizations in Ukraine that gives them benefits. The religion studies of this kind shouldn’t be something individual and moreover, individual on the state level. For a number of organizations, that have a status of religions in Ukraine, are extremely hazardous for us, for our children, for the society and for the state. And they are not religious in fact. Because deception, money-grubbing, and violence towards the people, their lives and traditions cannot be “from the Lord”. And it is a great sin to give licenses to those, who are obviously villains so that they could hunt the souls of our long-suffering people.

V.S.

http://www.umoloda.kiev.ua/print/84/45/40486/